lower boljoint nuts

OK, I've been chasing noises in my steering for a while and by a total accident I looked at my lower balljoint nuts and I have noticed that they were loose on both sides :scared: Those balljoints were installed in June and torqued to spec: any idea what would make them get loose?

They do have cotter pins in them? The only thing I can think of, is the seats weren't cleaned out and the dirt compressed. I wipe mine clean and then put a really thin coat of grease on the seats.

8Mud said:

They do have cotter pins in them? The only thing I can think of, is the seats weren't cleaned out and the dirt compressed. I wipe mine clean and then put a really thin coat of grease on the seats.

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THe cotter pins is what saved me from having to get replacement nuts When I installed them I cleand them out, but I didn't install a coat of grease when seating them, but I don't see how that could result in the loose nuts.

my buddy went through the same thing after carefull inspection he found that they were worn oblong and thats what was making them loosen so quickly

az4wheeler2002 said:

my buddy went through the same thing after carefull inspection he found that they were worn oblong and thats what was making them loosen so quickly

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you mean nuts were oblong? or the holes in the knukles?

Do you have castle nuts on there?

8Mud said:

Do you have castle nuts on there?

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yup which is what makes it really weird!

Just a WAG (wild arsed guess) but I've heard there is a difference between how far the late and early model ball joint studs fit into the seat.
You may be able to feel if something is wrong, by loosening the nut, whacking it with a hammer just hard enough to unseat it and pushing sideways on the threads with a wooden hammer handle. There really shouldn't be any side play, with the nut snugged.
Figuring out if the seat is oblong might be harder. In similar situations, I've painted a seat with a black magic marker and spun the stud lightly in the seat. I used a little valve lapping compound. The low spots show up pretty quick.
I usually take it to the specified torque, then tighten it to the next slot to insert the cotter pin. I doubt as big as those studs are they are gonna be that torque sensitive. But if they have been over torqued, you can often see it on the threads, if you look close.