screw in ball joint

[flyinlow]

The ball joints on my 73 dont seam lose. 90k miles. Car drives ok. I was however going to change them along with the control arm bushing that are showing wear and deterioration.

I have been soaking the treads with rust buster. Are the treads usually serviceable after removal?

If  damaged what options are there ?

[HPP]

The ball joints have a very shallow, self tapping thread. Once removed, you do not want to re-use them. The new ball joints don't have to be lined up perfectly with the original threads to go in, but it does help them go in smoother with less effort if they are somewhat lined up. You do not need to service the threads in any way and probably shouldn't mess with them at all. If the thread is damaged, best solution is to replace them. You could get in to all sorts of fabrication stuff to save them if your so inclined, but you can find decent used arms and joints for $20-40, so why bother.