Cant tighten lower ball joint?

[83chevyk10]

Bought ball joints from 1A auto not sure if their brand joints are considered decent or not but money was tight and the Moogs were expensive. Anybody used them before? Anyways, both lower ball joint nuts wouldnt tighten they would only spin the stem on the joint. Put a floor jack under the drivers side knuckle and was able to tighten it fine, but having no luck with this method on the passenger side. I over torqued the upper adjusting sleeve (70 lbs) and was thinking maybe it was restricting the bottom joint from being able to seat properly? Went to remove it with the tool and it stripped the hell out completely... so my questions are, how the hell can i tighten the lower nut? And should i be worried about the adjusting sleeve being 20 lbs over torqued? And if so how can i remove the stripped sleeve and loosen the lower nut when the entire stem spins? Sorry if this is all confusing yall. Hard to put into words. Thanks

 

[Frankenchevy]

impact gun might do it…lots of penetrating oil. make sure threads are free of paint, crud, etc.

heat will help a lot with stubborn things. put a wet towel on the rubber part. heat expands materials, so try to concentrate heat onto the 'outer' of the two parts you're trying to get apart/loosen. don't light anything oily on fire. have a way to extinguish fire just in case...

sometimes stuff just needs to be cut off and start fresh.

 

[Frankenchevy]

take some pictures if you can of what you're working with

 

[83chevyk10]

Impact wont do anything either. The stem on the ball joints spins with the nut its essentially like trying to tighten a wheeli believe the problem is with the adjusting sleave. Problem is my only chance at removing the COMPLETELY stripped sleeve is if i can pull the knuckle/ ball joints back out, which i cant do because THE JOINT JUST SPINS WITH THE NUT

 

[bucket]

Heat the nut with a torch, just be careful not to direct the heat anywhere else. It should expand the nut and make it easier to unthread from the stud.

Is it a lock nut?

 

[Dougnsalem]

Torch the bottom joint stud in half, then return it as defective and get a free new one. You may be able to hack saw the sleeve by hand. Its gonna take forever, and will cut into the spindle threads, which you should be able to clean up. Other option is to carefully blow out the sleeve with a cutting torch. Probably the best way....

 

[Honky Kong jr]

Try to keep pressure on the taper.

 

[83chevyk10]

Dont plan on cutting my new ball joints in half thats not necessary and pressing them is a bitch. Let me reexplain. To get to the stripped out sleeve i have to pull the whole knuckle back out. In order to do that, i have to remove the lock nut from the bottom ball joint, but i cant do that because the ball joint spins with the nut. I could spin for days and nothing. I need a way to keep the stud from turning with the nut. Which would usually be yes to keep pressure on the taper. But it wont allow me to snug it up tight because the stripped out sleeve is over torqued, which is restricting the ball joint from being able to properly seat into the taper (so it doesnt spin.) i appreciate all the quick answers and appologize for being confusing its hard to explain but im positive there is a way

 

[Dougnsalem]

Dont plan on cutting my new ball joints in half thats not necessary and pressing them is a bitch. Let me reexplain. To get to the stripped out sleeve i have to pull the whole knuckle back out. In order to do that, i have to remove the lock nut from the bottom ball joint, but i cant do that because the ball joint spins with the nut. I could spin for days and nothing. I need a way to keep the stud from turning with the nut. Which would usually be yes to keep pressure on the taper. But it wont allow me to snug it up tight because the stripped out sleeve is over torqued, which is restricting the ball joint from being able to properly seat into the taper (so it doesnt spin.) i appreciate all the quick answers and appologize for being confusing its hard to explain but im positive there is a way

Lol. Nah, you explained it fine. The torch is just my favorite tool. What if you use one, and blow the nut off the stud? Then just go buy a new nut...

 

[yevgenievich]

Fit a jack or long pry bar in to the knuckle to press on the ball joint and see if can apply enough force for it to stop spinning. Can make a lever with a pry bar, some wood and metal stock couple with a jack as possibility as well. And impact might help even if the ball joint is spinning

Dont plan on cutting my new ball joints in half thats not necessary and pressing them is a bitch. Let me reexplain. To get to the stripped out sleeve i have to pull the whole knuckle back out. In order to do that, i have to remove the lock nut from the bottom ball joint, but i cant do that because the ball joint spins with the nut. I could spin for days and nothing. I need a way to keep the stud from turning with the nut. Which would usually be yes to keep pressure on the taper. But it wont allow me to snug it up tight because the stripped out sleeve is over torqued, which is restricting the ball joint from being able to properly seat into the taper (so it doesnt spin.) i appreciate all the quick answers and appologize for being confusing its hard to explain but im positive there is a way

 

[Rusty Nail]

Vice-Grips!

 

[83chevyk10]

Spun for a while with an impact on it but eventually the nut wriggled loose from the stubborn joint. Pulled the knuckle and loosened the sleeve with a screwdriver and hammer close to where the other side was since i couldnt exactly torque it being stripped like it was. Turns out the tapered yoke in the axle was actually worn out from the old ball joint which was shot for who knows how long. Had to fill it and re drill the taper after that it seated fine and its all back together and torqued up right thanks guys

 

[Dougnsalem]

Spun for a while with an impact on it but eventually the nut wriggled loose from the stubborn joint. Pulled the knuckle and loosened the sleeve with a screwdriver and hammer close to where the other side was since i couldnt exactly torque it being stripped like it was. Turns out the tapered yoke in the axle was actually worn out from the old ball joint which was shot for who knows how long. Had to fill it and re drill the taper after that it seated fine and its all back together and torqued up right thanks guys

Well, it would have been more fun if you had used a torch. Lol. That's cool you got it going though! Thanks for the update too....

 

[Rusty Nail]

See?
Vice grips fix rverrthang!