F***ing ball joints!

fireturk41

Member
Joined
Sep 5, 2010
Location
Greenville
i finally got some ball joints pressed into some flat top knuckles, ive had the problem of when trying to put the nuts on the top, the whole damn balljoint wants to spin, how do i stop this
 
Impact gun?
 
Does it have ball joint pre load inserts? If so you need to torque the bottom joint then the preload to 80# iirc dont quote me then tighten the top nut. The preloader looks like a castle nut except threaded on the outside. Most people think its for camber adjustments
 
loosen the top and put weight on the bottom one by jacking up on the axle housing? then redo the top of course. Jack up on the knuckle I mean....
 
I just did a set yesterday and had a helluva time. I could not get the top joint to torque right. It turned out the threaded bushing that came with the new joint was not machined correctly. Fortunately I had some extra bushings left over from when I did this type work. I tried one of them and presto... all was well. The one that came with the new ball joint was not machined correctly and was not properly contacting the taper on the joint. Good parts are getting hard to find these days.
 
us ome wd40 on the threads then in most cases you can just use a floor jack to put more pressure onto the taper therefor locking it in place.works for the jep :)
 
I disagree somewhat on the torque specs...

bottom joint nut = 80 ft. lbs. (tolerance = 70-90)
bushing/sleeve = 50 ft. lbs.
top joint nut = 100 ft. lbs.
 
I just put a set in a D44 and I'm with Granny on the tq spec. My fullsize Jeep manual had
75 ft lbs for the bottom nut
50 ft lbs for the sleeve
100 ft lbs for the top nut ( if you need to line up the cotter pin hole turn the nut clock wise until the hole is lined up )

I had one that turned and since the axle was sitting on stands I couldnt use weight to hold it. I used a 3/8 in bolt a bout 6 in long with a washer between two nuts and used it to hold the slot in the stud until it got tight enough to hold its self.
 
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