Anyone seen this type of ball joint?

[BuggyDad 4410]

M3. I'm looking for something that connects nearly in line, rather than at or around 90 degrees as a normal ball and cup connector does in the small sizes we use. It's to join two static rods that meet at a slight angle. They're not required to move in use. So something that pivots in just one direction would be another option. 

[SupraChrgd82 1425]

The only thing that comes to mind is the Hornet shock mounts (part # 9805082) mated to a heim joint….

[SlideWRX 781]

mcmaster.com (McMaster-Carr) has some "Internally Threaded Inline Ball Joint Linkages", but the smallest they have is m5 thread.  They have clevises too, but the smallest I saw was m4 thread.  you could check rc plane vendors for clevises or kwiklinks.

[BuggyDad 4410]

Thank you both. Food for thought. I was also looking for something similar to the Hornet mount so that's an option. Heim joints I have in stock. 

There are M3 clevis joints but I think they're too long to do what I want to do. 

It's to brace from my front shock tower to back along the chassis. Will mull over further... 

 

 

[KEV THE REV 2307]

Could you use 3mm threaded rod or a long M3 bolt bent to the angle you want ? . I have done this sort of thing before and then sleeved the visible threaded part with black heatshrink .

You could also bolt turnbuckles together through the eye holes , 2 x M3 turnbuckles then use M3 bolts or 3mm threaded rod to mount them if that doesn't sound too ugly for you . You can take the swivel balls out of them and just bolt them up to reduce the thickness at the ball end area

[BuggyDad 4410]

6 hours ago, KEV THE REV said:

Could you use 3mm threaded rod or a long M3 bolt bent to the angle you want ? . I have done this sort of thing before and then sleeved the visible threaded part with black heatshrink .

You could also bolt turnbuckles together through the eye holes , 2 x M3 turnbuckles then use M3 bolts or 3mm threaded rod to mount them if that doesn't sound too ugly for you . You can take the swivel balls out of them and just bolt them up to reduce the thickness at the ball end area

What I have done at the moment is simply to use one piece of threaded M3 bar. It is so near to straight that it does work. To the eye it is almost dead straight. It's taking the hits in compression though its mode of failure is to buckle, which may in turn snap the tower. So I thought the better solution would be for it to pivot freely at both ends. It can't pivot anywhere but right on the end though, or it'll just buckle there under light compression and apply a nasty bending force to the tower. I think on reflection the likely answer is I leave it as it is actually, since I wonder also whether that bit of give it has as the buckling initiates may actually be a good thing in reducing the impact shock it translates along into the chassis. 

Here it is:

If I was to try the Hornet brackets, I might move the shocks to out front, where they would fit if I used ball joints on the front of the lower arms. However that brings its own issues, by simply putting them more into harm's way. What I have currently may be the best compromise. The whole thing feels very solid. 

Now something I might consider is a forward brace for the rear tower, mounted using Hornet brackets at the shock top bolt. Ooh. Interesting..... 

[BuggyDad 4410]

Hmmm. 

Or indeed, Heim. 

[KEV THE REV 2307]

Cool .

For the front you can buy 3mm internal threaded tube / rod , they come in a variety of lengths so you could adapt those ? - or make your own 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/274467889297?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&var=574618660332&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649