Ball joint ?

[Sublime]

So I am redoing the front suspension. While installing the new ball joints I noticed the right side spanner nut went down a lot farther than the left side. To the point I can see a thread or two of the spanner nut between the grease seal and the axle yoke. I remember thinking while removing the old spanner nut that it was set farther in the yoke than the left side. Is this normal for a 40 yr old truck or is there something else going on?
With the new ball joints in the knuckle I torqued the lower ball joint to 70 ftlps, then torqued the upper spanner nut to 70 ftlbs, then the upper castle nut to 100 ftlbs. Both knuckles turn easily.

 

[hirschdalechevy]

I have never seen that , that being said I only torque the spanner to 50lbs and the rest the same as you called out ,(70 lower and 100 upper). Maybe the lower ball joint is not seated all the way , the crappy parts we get today maybe the joint itself has a bad taper to it and not seating far enough or there is a burr on the joint or the housing hanging it up. I myself have not seen that spanner nut out the bottom before on my square's.

 

[hirschdalechevy]

After thinking about it , it could be a bad taper on the upper joint as well.

 

[Sublime]

I cleaned the yoke of the axle before installing the ball joints and I did not noticed a bur on it or the ball joints. It all appears to be seated and the knuckle moves freely and no up and down movement. Ya the 70 ftlbs for the spanner nut is what the ball joint instructions stated. The manual states 50 ftlbs. I figured if it felt too tight at 70 I would back it off to 50.
The thing that has me puzzled is that right side spanner nut was low with the old ball joints. could the axle yoke be bent slightly?

 

[Sublime]

So after some time to think about this im done with these moog ball joints. Something just does not add up and am not comfortable using them. I read some other threads about junk ball joints, who like what brands ect. and thought you all are splitting hairs - Now I understand......

 

[Sublime]

so I just ordered ACDelco professional ball joints. Hopefully the install will go better than the moog's did.

 

[hirschdalechevy]

I dont run anything moog , (Garbage). You have to watch ACDelco as well now , they farm out to crappy companies in todays world and put that junk in there box. That being said , the ACDelco professional joints seem to have good reviews so let us know how it goes. All my square's have the spicer 706116x kit in the front and have done well. My blazer with 38's I wheel hard and they are doing pretty good , one lower has a little play but they are far from new. On all the mall queen trucks they are lasting fine. I was told you have to watch spicer as well now because they are reboxing other crap as well.

Good luck!

 

[Honky Kong jr]

It’s a crap shoot regardless of brand.....

 

[OkieFishMan]

I'm following this closely, as I'll be doing ball joints in the near future.

 

[Sublime]

I will update when I get them installed, hopefully sometime next week. I almost went with alloy usa ball joints but did not research them enough to verify they would indeed fit. According to the GM Professional specs they are a one piece forged housing, greaseable and are manufactured at TS 16949 facilities. Hopefully there is a better chance at a properly fitting Ball joint. We will see.

 

[Rusty Nail]

Useless without pics.
Good thing @hirschdalechevy is here.

 

[Don5]

I put Moog ball joints on my truck and IIRC I had to take one back and get a replacement because something wasn't right when I opened the box. I think the boot was bad or something. Sorry its been too long ago. I figured they were definitely better than the Chinese lifetime warranty crap that the main parts stores sell. I can't give you a review as the truck is still sitting in the damn garage and hasn't moved in two f...king years. Sorry rant over. Hey in any event they are still NEW though..

 

[Rusty Nail]

:

 

[Sublime]

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 ....

 

[Honky Kong jr]

You got it fixed and at the end of the day that’s the important part