TheDudeAbides

Hey everyone, first time poster here.

Just installed new driver side ball joints, upper and lower. The lower looks great, the upper, not so much. There is a good 1/8"-1/4" of exposed bolt between the rubber shroud (?) and knuckle. I checked the old part vs the new, same length, flare on the bolt etc. I did have some trouble getting the knuckle back on, where it was seated nicely on the lower, but not on the upper. I torqued the nuts to spec thinking they'd snug up, no change. I reassembled everything thinking the weight of the car would compress it a bit, no change. Everything is flush, upper and lower.

I'm worried I whacked the knuckle out of shape, but find it hard to believe that I could do that. I measured the distance between the control arm and knuckle on the passenger side, and they're the same as far as I can tell.

Another possibility is that the bolt is stuck in there on an angle, every so slightly (hence why I had trouble getting the knuckle back on, and thatd keeping it from all coming together) but then the lower would be off too.

I took it for a drive with no issues, minimal vibration, though that could be from the worn tie rod. No hitching on turns, same in 4WD.

Any insights into whats going on? Any words of advice? I'd hate to run out and buy a new knuckle just to realize its some stupid oversight.

Here is a gallery with a few pics of what Im talking about.

http://imgur.com/a/kC1WG

1. New joint next to old joint that was removed.
2. New upper with separation
3. New lower

Thanks!

93gc40

Did you remove the joints with a hammer or a press.. If you used a BFH you very easily could have damaged the knuckle. Are you sure you have the correct joint? was there is there debris in the socket?

TheDudeAbides

93gc40 - thanks for the reply. I used a press from autozone to remove and install. Cleaned the socket, pretty sure I have the correct joint. It matches the old one, and autozone gave me the same part twice, from two different stores (they originally gave me 3 uppers, 1 lower and I didn't check the boxes before walking out, brought them back to a different store, and they did a total swap, looked up the parts again etc and thats what they have on file).

I cant figure it out...

Edit: to clarify, I did use a hammer to separate the knuckle from the joints before the reomving the joints themselves. Is that what you were asking?

mwilliams0311

Welcome! Did you use the press to install the ball joints as well as remove them or a BFH?


Your making me nervous as I am about to do this in a couple days as well..

kjc

That pic looks like the knuckle is bent to me. I doubt you did it with your BFH tho.. maybe it was damaged previously. I'd measure the distance on the pass side.. the space between the upper and lower ball mounts.

TheDudeAbides

good thought kjc - just remeasured as accurately as possible (universal joints aren't identical on each side) and they appeared to be the same, possible that there is a 1-2mm difference, but not as much as the gap on the upper joint.