Lower Ball Joint Nut Failure
03-06-2009, 07:45 PM
#31
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Me being the impatient Bastard that I am, I went to my neighborhood Advance Auto Parts and in the back they had M12x1.5 in the Grade 10 variety so I bought 4.
On the Passenger's side I installed the first nut and torqued the crap out of it then I installed a second one to lock the first one in place. There is plenty of thread for this. I recommend that anyone that replaces their Lower Ball Joints replace the original lock nut as well. You can use my method or another one that assure your safety. I dodged the bullet on this one, other's might not be so lucky.
On the Passenger's side I installed the first nut and torqued the crap out of it then I installed a second one to lock the first one in place. There is plenty of thread for this. I recommend that anyone that replaces their Lower Ball Joints replace the original lock nut as well. You can use my method or another one that assure your safety. I dodged the bullet on this one, other's might not be so lucky.
03-07-2009, 03:11 AM
#33
Rennlist Member
Angel, you really should put the correct nuts on there when you have time. First, there is the question of whether the nuts are of a proper grade. Also, if you tightened them to spec, (and it sounds like you tightened them much tighter) then the tapered ball joint is being pulled into the knuckle with more force than was intended by the designer. The designer factored in that the toplock nut takes a certain amount of torque to turn, leaving less torque available to pull the taper into place than a straight nut would have at the same torque. That could really freeze them into place if you leave them for a long time, or worse -- snap the threads off of the joint.
I'd recommend you get the correct nuts, pop the joints loose and put a thin film of anti-seize on the tapers, then reassemble and torque to spec. If you can't get a torque wrench on the lowers, then torque the uppers to spec, use an end wrench to get a feel for how tight that is, then tighten the lowers with the end wrench. Ideally you would get a crow's foot and calculate the torque compensation, but you can get very close gauging it by hand.
I'd recommend you get the correct nuts, pop the joints loose and put a thin film of anti-seize on the tapers, then reassemble and torque to spec. If you can't get a torque wrench on the lowers, then torque the uppers to spec, use an end wrench to get a feel for how tight that is, then tighten the lowers with the end wrench. Ideally you would get a crow's foot and calculate the torque compensation, but you can get very close gauging it by hand.
Last edited by SharkSkin; 03-07-2009 at 01:03 PM. Reason: choice of words - said spline when I meant taper
