MTFCA Forum

I just replaced one of my tie rod / pittman arm ball caps with a new spring loaded one from Langs. When I removed the old one that I THOUGHT was spring loaded, It wasn't. the old one looked exactly like a spring loaded one but had no spring in it and had

I'm guessing I fat fingered something while I was typing my question??? anyway, The old cap had TWO shims on either side of the ball. The shims were thick and had holes in the center of them?? My question is...Should I keep the one shim in on the tie rod end? I hope this post makes sense! bobt. 1915 touring

Maybe the spring was missing in the old one? Or?

Hi Robert,
This is one of those a picture is worth a thousand words times. It sounds like someone before you has made some shims out of washers?
The thing to find out now is just what is worn out, the drag link or the pitman arm or both? it is best to think of the APCO cap as a
maintenance item instead of a repair part. If the ball on the pitman arm looks like a egg it's time to replace it. Same goes for the other
end. I personally like & use the APCO ends, Henry liked them too because he made that system standard in 1928.
Craig.

I bought a drag link with Apco caps that had no springs. They were filled with lead.

Is it lead, or is it a decayed pot metal adjusting plug?

TXGOAT2 wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 07, 2022 2:01 pm

Is it lead, or is it a decayed pot metal adjusting plug?

Decayed pot metal is exactly what it is Pat. It would have had a spring & cup inside.

bobt wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 07, 2022 9:20 am

I'm guessing I fat fingered something while I was typing my question??? anyway, The old cap had TWO shims on either side of the ball. The shims were thick and had holes in the center of them?? My question is...Should I keep the one shim in on the tie rod end? I hope this post makes sense! bobt. 1915 touring

I'd completely remove any of the old, apparently cobbled together set-up, and use the new spring loaded cap as it was intended.

The ball caps are on the drag link, not the tie rod. There is a way to do this job to avoid any cobbling together of various worn bits.

New pitman arms and standard ball caps are available A new straight shank tie rod end ball is available. Its shank can be threaded. The old ball on the tie rod can be cut off, the rod drilled and tapped to take the new threaded ball. The only worn parts left to work with are the two yokes on the drag link. Shims are available for these. Doing it this way gets you back to round balls on the joints and a smooth action with no binding.

Allan from down under.