I presume that you mean that when you try to tighten the nuts the "ball" just spins in it's housing because the taper hasn't seated enough in the female taper in the spindle.

A number of ways to tackle this.

in order of increasing potential damage to the joint and boots:

Safest is to use a nut of the right size and thread that isn't a locknut (so much less torque applied to the ball and taper. This can allow you to get the taper seated enough to "stick" then remove plain nut and replace with locknut.

Take it by surprise! I don't think you can get a rattle gun anywhere near these nuts but sometimes imitating one with conventional spanner does the trick.

Smack the ball joint with a mallet to get the taper to seat.

Jack up the that corner of the car a bit with the jack under the ball joint to press the taper together

Use a g Clamp or vicegrips to press the ball joint into the spindle housing to get enough stick to turn the nut without turning the ball.

 

The WSM shows pressure from above which I tried....then jack under the LCA and pressure.....running out of hands

 

Hi Malcolm,

When I removed mine, I tried different things to lose the nut, and the the only way that worked for me was to jack the LCA.
All the other ways did not put enought pressure on the ball joint.

You're almost done my friend.

Brand new spindle!
Always cool to see brand new parts!

 

If your still having trouble with this ,
then remove the sway bar link bolt ,
then jack up the the LCA , tighten the lower BJ bolt,
then get a big prybar and pry the upper control arm down with the jack still in place.
tighten the upper BJ bolt

 

thx Jon.....is there a nut that size I can 'borrow' off the car somewhere else?

 

that might just be the trick Stan as jacking up the LCA just lifts the car.

 

merci Bertrand.

We are watching the football game then Ill be back in garage

Go Stamps

 

thx all....I got them

Remove sway bar bolt, jacked up LCA and pry bar down on upper CA. Torquing the upper ball joint may require some tricks but the lower BJ and tie rod are easy to access.

The GTS has a few sensors to get back in place, then hub with new brgs and seal, brake rotor and caliper then wheel.

I think Im rolling very soon.

 

another few hours this morning and its all back together.....took her for a shakedown run and alls well

a month off the road is nothing compared to what could have happened at speed and a total bearing failure.

thx all for your help and best wishes....cheers

 

I'll close the thread now but please PM if more details needed for anyones own project