Control Valve & Ball Stud Services

We offer a quality rebuilding service for the Ford/Bendix Control Valve assembly that is one of the best. We specialize in rebuilding your control valve and restoring it to like new operation. Our rebuilds are easily superior to national-chain exchange units.

Each unit is completely disassembled, cleaned, inspected, blasted, painted, reassembled, lubricated and adjusted. No "spray bomb" rebuilds here. We replace all seals, gaskets and o'rings with new parts. We install new a new Ball Stud, Ball Stud Seats, Ball Stud Bumper, Bumper Spring and Grease Fitting. We always install a new bronze Ball Stud Bushing - never a used or re-machined bushing. If used on your unit, we also replace the Tube Hose Seats for leak free fittings. Many other parts are replaced or rebuilt, depending on the need. For an illustration of the parts we replace in a rebuild, see diagrams below.

Rebuilt Control Valve Assemblies are already lubricated and adjusted and should not require any additional work other than installation.
Standard rebuild includes painting parts a combination of Stainless Steel, dark Cast Iron, Alumi-Blast and Silver Metallic colors. If requested, control valve can be brushed to a more natural metal finish and clear-coated for a more "concours" appearance.

Every spool valve is carefully polished to remove light pitting and score marks. Those valves which are too deeply pitted for polishing are re-ground to a new surface before polishing. This is done as a standard part of a rebuild at no extra charge. Spools that are too deeply pitted to turn and remain within acceptable tolerances must be replaced.

Some people rebuilding Mustang and Early Ford control valves (even some national parts rebuilders) re-use the Ball Stud, Ball Stud Seats, Ball Stud Bumper & Bumper Spring or Ball Stud Bushing if possible to cut costs. Some will turn down the old Ball Stud Bushing on a lathe to make it fit an out-of-round Ball Stud Sleeve rather than repair or replace the sleeve. We always replace these items with new parts.

A national steering parts rebuilder will even turn down the old Ball Stud Bushing on a lathe to get it to fit into an out-of-round ball stud sleeve. This removes the bronze bearing material coating and exposes the steel liner. We always replace the ball stud bushing with a new piece and repair the ball stud sleeve so the bushing slides smoothly inside.

These pictures illustrate the difference between a new bushing and one that has been turned down to fit. As you can see, the bronze bearing surface has been removed in many areas and the gray steel backing exposed. See how shallow the lubrication dimples are on the
turned bushing due to the reduction in diameter.

This picture shows an exploded view of a typical Control Valve & Ball Stud Assembly. All of those items shaded in blue are always replaced in one of our standard rebuilds. This consists of all the gaskets, seals and o'rings that would normally be replaced, but also several hard parts such as the Ball Stud & Seats, Ball Stud Bushing, Ball Stud Bumper & Spring, Ball Stud Boot & Clamp, and Hose Tube Seats.

Some rebuilders will replace all the rubber parts but reuse many of the wearable hard parts in the Control Valve/Ball Stud assembly in order to cut costs. At least one will grind bronze bearing material off of an old ball stud bushing to make it fit an out-of-round sleeve tube. It is easier to repair the sleeve than grind the bushing, but they save a couple of dollars this way.

The parts shaded in blue, in the diagram to the right, shows those parts that we will replace if neccesary to insure a proper rebuild. There is no extra charge if these parts are replaced. Some rebuilders charge extra to replace some of these parts and they do not come with any rebuild kit.

Valves come painted in a combination of Stainless Steel, Silver Metallic, Aluminum and dark Cast Iron colors. All components are painted separately and then assembled - not painted as an assembly. We do not paint our control valves "rebuilders black". At customers request we will brush the parts to a bare cast finish and clear-coat seal to give a more natural cast appearance for cars requiring a more "concours" look.
If you send in your control valve with an adjustment clamp still on it or the pitman arm still attached to the ball stud, we will properly remove the items, clean, blast and paint them at no extra charge. If you send your valve in still attached to the centerlink, we will clean, blast and paint the link and thread the control valve on it to the correct adjustment length, at no extra charge.
If your control valve is disassembled, cleaned for inspection, and found to have damaged or worn components that need replacing (and are not part of our standard rebuild), we will contact you before working any farther on your valve.

Repair Stripped Threads - Drill, tap & Heli-Coil stipped threads for end cap bolts or ball stud socket bolts ......
Replace Spool Valve - If old spool cannot be machined to spec, replace with good used part .......................
New Spool Valve - If old spool cannot be machined to spec, replace with NEW repro valve ............................
New Aluminum End Cap - If old cap is too damaged to repair, replace with NEW repro cap ...........................
Ball Stud Sleeve - If old sleeve is too worn, cracked or irreparably bent, a replacement is needed

Standard Ball Stud Sleeve - 1967 and later Mustangs & Fords - Good used part .................................
1965/1966 Mustang 6cyl & Falcon with removable sleeve - NEW repro part ..................................
Galaxie with power assisted steering - NEW repro part ................................................................
Pre-1967 Fairlane with power assisted steering - NEW repro part .................................................

Housing with 1/4" pressure port - 1960 to 1967 ..............................................................................
Housing with 5/16" pressure port - 1967 to 1980 Tube Seat or O'ring style .........................................

Complete Rebuild - 1957/1961 Bendix-style Control Valve & Ball Stud assembly ..............................
Complete Rebuild - 1973/1977 F150/F350 Truck - Ford & Garrison style assembly .............................

The nipple that the grease fitting screws into is easily broken off of the ball stud sleeve or centerlink. You cannot just thread a grease fitting into the remaining hole. The fitting is too long and will screw into the Ball Stud Bushing and cause it to lock or bind.

This ball stud sleeve is obviously bent. The Ball Stud Bushing will not fit inside it, much less slide smoothly back and forth like it should.
Unfortunately, these non-tapered sleeves are hard to find and expensive. If the sleeve is not worn too thin and is in otherwise good condition, we can generally straighten and repair a sleeve like this.

On the 1965-1966 Mustang the ball stud area is part of the centerlink. This area is sometimes bent after bottoming on some road obstruction or by interference by using the wrong tie rod ends. When bent the ball stud bushing will not slide smoothly inside like it should. We can usually straighten this area and return the centerlink to use.

Often the aluminum end cap is broken or has a piece missing around the bolt holes or on the top. This is usually caused by contact with a tie rod end or adjusting sleeve bolt. We can usually repair this type of damage and return the end cap to use.