thanks guys i too went to the mcmaster carr book and found the rod ends and will fab one of those up..thought about the heim joints but therod ends are covered so might be better?...for now i got a cpl from the auto parts..dorman and are both right hand thread..oddball size thread..1/4-28....since i dont have a left hand thread die set i bought a piece of brake line that the threads slip into..i will purchase 2 bolts for the female sides and weld them in the brake line after i cut everything to length..will be a good solid fix till i get the correct parts..thanks again for the ideas and im only in the hole $8 and change at this time ..sure beats $35-$55 dollars

 

Its a little more of a chore to adjust, (you have to disconnect 1 end) but you can use right hand threads on both ends. I used 2 throttle ends from a riding mower application on mine, 1/4" threads. This has lasted 200,000 miles with an occaisional lube of the throttle *****. I had to drill out the holes slightly, but no other problems. BTW, of the several trucks I have seen with a plastic ball end failure, all broke where the socket slips over the ball stud. On my dually, the first one failed in less than 2 years/50000 miles. Dealer said wasn't a warranty part, so I found this cheaper, stronger alternative.

 

An easy way to tell which one of most anything Left Handed is there should be an indicator going the same directions as the threads; it could be a ring, a raised ridge or simply a mark to denote that it has a left hand thread.

See the grove around the end of the Heim Joint?



For all of you youngsters,
Back in the early years from about 1940 to early 70’s Chrysler Corporation had an idea to install Left Handed Lugs on the left side of the vehicle.

The idea was so centrifugal force would keep the lug from falling off.
And yes the Left Hand lugs had a ring around the end of it.

I used to cringe at the Junior Tire Monkeys as they snapped off half of the lug nuts with the impact wrench and laugh at them as they tried to screw them back on going the wrong way.

Jim

 

My dad's got an early 80's light duty Ford 350 setup like this.

 

i also remember the fords with the left handed lug nuts....i got the truck up and going last night but only half way finished..i discovered that the ball end on the fulcrum needs to be ground out...i noticed today after looking at jims pics i can see grind marks where he must have done this..by the way thanks for the pics..so i have the plastic socket on that end until i can get to the shop this weekend...truck seems quicker to respond but smoke comes on faster now..lol i had to back out the full throttle screw so it wouldnt pop the end off the other one...is there something to bend inside the pump if the ip lever is pulled to far..i had read where some just remove the screw it...why did it even exist if not needed..thanks again for all the info..by the way the dorman # for the rod ends is dor 115-102 these are 1/4-28 thread and no drilling to fit in existing hole...1.29 a piece

 

Yeah, ****** did that too. What is mind boggling to me is that Chrysler stuck with it for so long when it was completely unnecessary. I mean, it's not like the left side tires were constantly falling off of Fords and GM's.

 

A lot of the I-H trucks/scouts also had the left-hand threads; sometimes on both ends; sometimes only on one rear.

We get the occassional Ford truck of fairly recent model that will still have one rear left-handed; there seems to be no rhyme or reason to this, as others that look just like them will have rights all around.

There are a couple 1st Gen. DRW Dodge/Cummins that have the left-hand nuts on one side; why I do not know.


Nearly every big over-the-road truck that we work on will have lefts on the left, rights on the right, especially the old-style double-nutted BUDDs.

 

I just looked at my Dually. My linkage ends are all metal just like the plastic ones. I know the older W123 model Mercedes (pre 85 at least) had the exact same ball and cup style lingage. Bet they would work, and they had left and right handed threads as well.