y5mgisi
1 ton status
because then the shank will have been seated. When you removed the nuts the on the old ball joints the shank didnt spinn did it? thats becasue they were seted into the axel"C". See what im saying?
CK5
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Who else hates lower ball joints???
- Thread starter colbystephens
- Start date
y5mgisi
1 ton status
heres what i mean...
G
goldwing2000
Guest
Just to clarify, you HAVE loosened or removed the adjuster sleeve on the upper joint, right??
If the upper adjuster sleeve is too far down, then it won't allow the lower joint to seat in the knuckle.
The correct procedure for tightening ball joints (starting with a loose or removed upper sleeve) is lower nut to 1/2 torque, upper sleeve to 50 ft-lbs, lower nut to 70 ft-lbs, upper nut to full value (120? 150? I forget).
I've never had any problems with that method.
If the upper adjuster sleeve is too far down, then it won't allow the lower joint to seat in the knuckle.
The correct procedure for tightening ball joints (starting with a loose or removed upper sleeve) is lower nut to 1/2 torque, upper sleeve to 50 ft-lbs, lower nut to 70 ft-lbs, upper nut to full value (120? 150? I forget).
I've never had any problems with that method.
hmmm... didn't think about how the upper sleeve would affect it. guess i'll have to tear my knuckle apart again. 
yay!
yay!
I had the same issue when I did the ball joints a little while ago. I took a junk allen wrench I had laying around. Ground it down to fit in the slot on top of the ball joint. Then I used a wrench to get the nut seated and tight. I was then able to use the torque wrench without any problems.
I did cheat a little bit though, by welding that allen wrench to some scrap 1" square tube (12" long or so) so it wasnt hard to wedge against the knuckle while using the wrench.
I came up with this idea after screwing around with the one ball joint for about an hour and getting pissed off.
After coming up with this way, I had the other side completely done in about 20 minutes or so.
Z
I did cheat a little bit though, by welding that allen wrench to some scrap 1" square tube (12" long or so) so it wasnt hard to wedge against the knuckle while using the wrench.
I came up with this idea after screwing around with the one ball joint for about an hour and getting pissed off.
After coming up with this way, I had the other side completely done in about 20 minutes or so. Z
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goldwing2000
Guest
Good Lord... some of you people go through a LOT of trouble to do things the wrong way. 
goldwing2000 said:Good Lord... some of you people go through a LOT of trouble to do things the wrong way.
So what is the correct way of doing this if the axle is out of the vehicle and on stands? If I had the adjusting sleeve on at almost 2 threads (exactly what the instructions said) and the lower ball joint was not seating enough to keep it from spinning (it would spin after 1-2 turns with a wrench, so nowhere near 20+ ft-lbs) . What should I have done then other than use the obvious slot on the stud
, 
?
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goldwing2000
Guest
cwn_anwyn said:
Huh? "On at almost two threads"??
Ignoring that statement, a c-clamp or a pair of vise grips should be more than sufficient to hold the lower ball joint in place while tightening the nut. If it's not, then you have some other issue. Either a bad tapered hole, the wrong ball joint, the upper sleeve still not out far enough... something.
If the tapered stud seats into the tapered hole properly, then the increasing friction from tightening will hold it in place, no matter how much torque you put on it.
Ok got the lowers in, used a c-clamp, a small socket and some washers... 
Washers on grease zerk side, small socket on other side, gave room to lift the wrench off the nut, and the c-clamp sandwhiched it all together, I might get a pic of it up, sounds more complicated then it is... couldn't get the tapping it to work...
Colby how are you coming along?
One more question, what are you suppose to torque the adjusting sleeve to? Moog instructions say 70lbs but when I did that it came through the bottom of the C on the axle... alot... I didn't like the looks of it, any help?
Washers on grease zerk side, small socket on other side, gave room to lift the wrench off the nut, and the c-clamp sandwhiched it all together, I might get a pic of it up, sounds more complicated then it is... couldn't get the tapping it to work...
Colby how are you coming along?
One more question, what are you suppose to torque the adjusting sleeve to? Moog instructions say 70lbs but when I did that it came through the bottom of the C on the axle... alot... I didn't like the looks of it, any help?
haven't had a chance to work on it yet... saturday. 
Bah I had to leave early so I didn't get anything else accomplished, probably be a couple more days before I get out there as well...
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goldwing2000
Guest
Adjuster sleeve is 50 ft-lbs.
Here's step-by-step instructions:
http://www.chuckschevytruckpages.com/chevy_truck_4wd_front_axle_ball_joint_replacement.html
Here's step-by-step instructions:
http://www.chuckschevytruckpages.com/chevy_truck_4wd_front_axle_ball_joint_replacement.html
Yeah I thought I had read that some where, but I went back an retorqued it to 50 and it is still through the bottom of the "C"... hmm...
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goldwing2000
Guest
mr.smartass said:
I wouldn't worry about it unless like half of the adjuster is showing. Then you might want to check the C for bending or damage.
Measure the distance between the top and bottom of the C and compare it to the other side. If they're the same, then don't sweat it. If you want to post up the numbers, then other people can measure theirs to compare.
