The 1947 - Present Chevrolet & GMC Truck Message Board Network - View Single Post - Ball joints spinning so cannot tighten AND castle nut issue

truck-kid · 02-06-2020, 04:44 PM

67C20's suggestion is a good one to color the ball joint taper with a marker. Take new ball joint and test fit into the spindle right out of the box. it should be a nice fit with absolutely no play or slop at all with just hand pressure with no exposed taper protruding thru on thread end.Sometimes a washer is supplied if a slight amount of taper protrudes to take up that space. You should be able to thread the nut on by hand all the way down with but with a nice fit on the threads.
On any part with a taper its imperative to be torqued properly and to have a good fit as a damaged/worn/improper taper when tightened can crack and fall off later on with obvious catastrophic results....
Having changed Numerous suspension components I have seen lots of issues like correct part # with wrong part in the box, taper machined wrong, threads very loose just to name a few- all these issues becoming more frequent with overseas parts. hope this helps .
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02-06-2020, 04:44 PM	#24
truck-kid Registered User Join Date: Jan 2017 Location: cortland ohio Posts: 27	Re: Ball joints spinning so cannot tighten AND castle nut issue 67C20's suggestion is a good one to color the ball joint taper with a marker. Take new ball joint and test fit into the spindle right out of the box. it should be a nice fit with absolutely no play or slop at all with just hand pressure with no exposed taper protruding thru on thread end.Sometimes a washer is supplied if a slight amount of taper protrudes to take up that space. You should be able to thread the nut on by hand all the way down with but with a nice fit on the threads. On any part with a taper its imperative to be torqued properly and to have a good fit as a damaged/worn/improper taper when tightened can crack and fall off later on with obvious catastrophic results.... Having changed Numerous suspension components I have seen lots of issues like correct part # with wrong part in the box, taper machined wrong, threads very loose just to name a few- all these issues becoming more frequent with overseas parts. hope this helps . .