The new AC Delco Professional ball joints arrived so I spent my weekend in the garage buttoning up the new leaf springs, greaseable shackles, swaybar disconnect, shocks etc. install and ya this ball joint issue. I must admit half of the ball joint issue was my fault and the other was Moogs. I believe the lower ball joint locking nuts were manufactured incorrectly. My fault because I should of caught this sooner! As I was removing the new un-driven Moog ball joints I realized the lower ball joint was not seated completely (close but not completely). The lower ball joint nut became very difficult to move. With my foot pushing on a 1/2" breaker bar I could not get it off. Ended up cutting it off. I do not have air tools so everything is done the old fashion way, manually (LOL). Once removed I could see the threads on the Ball joint were gouged, almost like the locking part of the nut was cutting new threads. I believe the nut reached 70 ftlbs during the install too soon not seating the lower ball joint completely (I should of caught this!) And I believe that is what allowed the upper ball joint spanner nut to go so deep (my assumption). The AC delco pros installed very nicely.
A few things that I noticed between the two. Moogs grease seals fit tighter than AC's they almost "snap" into place leading me to believe they will hold grease better? Moogs upper ball joint grease fittings install on the edge at a 45 degree angle which allows the fittings to clear the axle u-joint. The AC ball joints are dead center on the bottom of the upper ball joint which means you have to remove the grease fitting and install a plug (supplied) after greasing. Also Moogs torque specs for the lower Ball joint nut is 70 ftlbs, AC's are 80 and moogs upper spanner nut is 70 ftlbs, AC's are 50 ftlbs.
With that being said I will be very hesitant using moog components, yes this can happen to any manufacture BUT it happened to Moog in this case. Leaves a bad taste ....
