My advice:
#1 Don't take the truck back to whoever installed the wrong joint.
#2 Have a good all around machine shop weld up the mounting surface and machine it back to spec. To minimize mess & hassles, I'd reccomend TIG(heli-arc) welding. The taper shouldn't be too much of a problem for a good machine shop. Either they'll put the spindle in a lathe or grinder to make the taper, or they'll use a special ground reamer. The flat surface is the easy part, the hard (read: expensive) part is the taper.
I guess depending on the depth of the concavity, you might not need to even worry about the taper as long as the concavity was filled up and flattened, and the ball joint shaft still seated properly (assuming the correct ball joint).
If you go the welding route, I think TIG would yield the best results. It offers very good controllability, low spatter, and more overall heating of the part than a regular arc welder. Penetration can be (for this purpose) as good as a regular arc welder, if not better. As far as heat warpage goes, having the welder heat up that area to a few hundred degrees before welding might not hurt. This also reduces the heat stress in the weld area. As long as the forging is a fairly standard alloy, rod type shouldn't be a problem.
Good luck however you do it.
Daniel
#1 Don't take the truck back to whoever installed the wrong joint.
#2 Have a good all around machine shop weld up the mounting surface and machine it back to spec. To minimize mess & hassles, I'd reccomend TIG(heli-arc) welding. The taper shouldn't be too much of a problem for a good machine shop. Either they'll put the spindle in a lathe or grinder to make the taper, or they'll use a special ground reamer. The flat surface is the easy part, the hard (read: expensive) part is the taper.
I guess depending on the depth of the concavity, you might not need to even worry about the taper as long as the concavity was filled up and flattened, and the ball joint shaft still seated properly (assuming the correct ball joint).
If you go the welding route, I think TIG would yield the best results. It offers very good controllability, low spatter, and more overall heating of the part than a regular arc welder. Penetration can be (for this purpose) as good as a regular arc welder, if not better. As far as heat warpage goes, having the welder heat up that area to a few hundred degrees before welding might not hurt. This also reduces the heat stress in the weld area. As long as the forging is a fairly standard alloy, rod type shouldn't be a problem.
Good luck however you do it.
Daniel
