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Question on the 'grooves', and 'scratches' on the inside of the ends of the drag link. Are these going to cause me grief down the road?

As long as everything sets up tight w/no slop I don't see why it would be a problem. After all it's not a high speed bearing surface. Let's see what the rest of the group has to say..

Aaron,
I am assuming you bought a rebuild kit. If you look at one end of
the link the ball rides in a machined pocket away from the end.
On the other end of that ball/end assembly is a cup machined
to hold the other end of the ball.

On the other end of the link both sides of the ball are held with cups.
Very little of the ball end is actually touching the inside of the
drag link itself.

Mine wasn't bad inside those areas. I cleaned it with mineral
spirits, then polished up those areas with finder and finer
grits of emery cloth. You can do a surprising amount of good with
emery cloth or sandpaper and your finger.

The other and probably more important bit are the ball links.
You don't want them egg shaped as it will cause turning issues
depending on how bad. Mine were egged just a little with
obvious edges. I filed the edges smooth with the surrounding
material, then finished them with finer grits of emery cloth and
sandpaper until they looked round and polished.

Again, if the balls are smooth and round, and the cups are new
and that one end concentric and cleaned up, and no rough edges
anywhere you should be good.

Take care.

willys overland made rebuild kits for the drag links years ago, it had 2 cups, to go on both sides of the bellcrank,spring, end nut, rubber gasket, and spring steel cover. I don`t remember the wo # though.