Ball joints screw three, press one?

[Muskulls]

73 dodge charger, got three of the ball joints out with the super 1 59/64” socket.
Then found that the driver side lower ball joint doesn’t take the socket. Looked and it’s a round head. I’m going to assume it’s a press in but… WTF?!
I don’t ever remember that there was a mix of socket and pressed ball joints.
Anyone else run into this?

 

[Vaanth]

73 dodge charger, got three of the ball joints out with the super 1 59/64” socket.
Then found that the driver side lower ball joint doesn’t take the socket. Looked and it’s a round head. I’m going to assume it’s a press in but… WTF?!
I don’t ever remember that there was a mix of socket and pressed ball joints.
Anyone else run into this?

Initially, with the new suspension design on 1973 B-bodies, the lower ball joint threaded into the lower control arm, similar to upper ball joints. For 1974, and later, the design was changed to a press in ball joint. However, very late build 1973 B-bodies switched over to the control arm with press-in ball joints. The control arms with ball joint as a whole are interchangeable between the screw in style and the press in style. It seems unusual for a car to have a mix, but there may have been a service replacement, or it just happened that way on the assembly line with the interchangeable assemblies.

The following image shows the technical service bulletin (TSB) advising of the change:

 

[Muskulls]

What fun! Now to find a press in that doesn’t require a weeks plus wait.

 

[Muskulls]

Initially, with the new suspension design on 1973 B-bodies, the lower ball joint threaded into the lower control arm, similar to upper ball joints. For 1974, and later, the design was changed to a press in ball joint. However, very late build 1973 B-bodies switched over to the control arm with press-in ball joints. The control arms with ball joint as a whole are interchangeable between the screw in style and the press in style. It seems unusual for a car to have a mix, but there may have been a service replacement, or it just happened that way on the assembly line with the interchangeable assemblies.

The following image shows the technical service bulletin (TSB) advising of the change:
View attachment 1948573

That’s really interesting. What a stroke of luck I have to get three screw ins a single press in.
Thank you very much, that’s actually a really cool bit of information.

 

[Vaanth]

What fun! Now to find a press in that doesn’t require a weeks plus wait.

View attachment 1948574

Some press-in and screw-in lower ball joint numbers from older and newer companies are as follows:
- TRW 10285 (10163N 1973 screw-in)
- Sealed Power 801-10285 (801-10171 1973 screw-in)
- Spicer or Raybestos 505-1028 (505-1001 1973 screw-in)
- Moog K7069 (K719 1973 screw-in)
- McQuay-Norris FA952 (FA958 1973 screw-in)
- Mevotech MK7069 (MK719 1973 screw-in)
- Dorman B7069PR (539937 1973 screw-in)

FYI...