Lower Ball Joint

[John J Phillips]

A couple questions concerning the ball joint in the lower control arm that came standard with the FFR complete kit. First question concerns the tightening of the castle nut. The ball joint bolt doesn't seem to seat properly and just spins not allowing the castle nut to tighten. Any thoughts? Second, if I wanted to replace the lower ball joint, is that pressed into the LCA? Thanks for your thoughts.

[CraigS]

A couple of thoughts on getting it to tighten. Put your jack right under the BJ (may need to remove the grease fitting) and give the spindle a wack on top to try to get it seated. Check at this point whether you will need a washer under the nut. This is quite common so you don't want to discover it after the nut is on. If it's a castellated nut w/ slots for a cotter pin sometimes there are small burrs from cutting the slots that make it catch on the threads. Clean them up w/ a small file. If it's a nylock nut an impact wrench will usually help. Even if the stud spins some usually a lot of 1/4 second hits w/ the impact will get you a tiny bit of rotation of nut vs stud w/ each one. Actually an impact will help w/ either type nut. good luck

[smithbks]

Another common fix when using the washer Craig notes is to take a Dremel and chamfer the inside of the bottom of the washer. Giving it a nice taper lets it sit on the ball joint lower and then you can torque the castlet nut. I had this problem and the chamfer solved it.

[John J Phillips]

Thank you so much. I used a little of both - a good wack on the spindle and used a Dremel on the bottom of the washer. Went on easy and tightened up nicely. Again, my thanks for your help.