ball joint question

[Stormin]

I am installing new ball joints in a dana 44 and I had a question about torque on the lower nut. I have read some of the older threads and picked up that the lower nut must be torqued first (75 lbs) then the sleeve (50), then the upper nut (100). The directions that came with my ball joints say to tighten the lower nut finger tight, then put in the sleeve and torque it down, then tighten the upper nut to torque. It says nothing about retightening the lower nut and gives no torque value.
After reading the posts on here I would just tighten the lower nut first to the 75 ft lbs except I can't get it any tighter without the ball joint spinning. Do I need to get this nut tight before I put in the sleeve? If so what is the best way to go about doing it?

 

[Muddytazz]

When I did mine last yr, I tightened up the lower one as far as I could get it with a standard ratchet, then did the sleeve, then torque'd the top nut, then torque'd the bottom nut.

 

[spearchucker]

I did mine like this. To keep the lower ball joint from spinning put a bottle jack under it and put a little pressure on it.

 

[fireplug]

Not to jack but how often should we be replacing ball joints? It seems like I'm doing mine WAY too often.

 

[Stormin]

The life you get out of your ball joint is going to depend on a lot of things. Do you keep them greased regularly, especially when they have been in off road conditions?

If the sleeve in the upper ball joint is not installed properly that can decrease life.

The size or rather weight of tire you are running makes a difference.

Also it probably depends on how bad they have to be before you replace them. The only reason I am doing mine is because my blazer has developed a rather serious death wobble and I'm hoping this will solve my problem.

Until recently I ran my blazer with 33x10.50s and in the 5 years I've driven it I have only had to replace an upper ball joint on one side (pass I think). And I didn't even check the sleeve around the upper joint when I did that.


One thing I try to do to be a little nice to my ball joints is only turn my wheel when moving.


Anyways I'm off to the shop to finish up my ball joints. I'll try to get a jack under it and see if I can get that lower nut tighter before I do the sleeve.