Ball joints, wrong size?
 

so i just installed new ball joints that i ordered off ebay in a kit with 3 tie rid ends for $65. i installed all of them and i'm very happy with how much tighter my steering is and how much smoother the turning is. However, the ABS wheel on the axle shaft is grinding on the top of my pass side ball joint. I also noticed when installing them that the upper ball joint stem seems really long. I cranked it as tight as i could before putting the cotter pin in and the top of the steering knuckle still had and inch+ to the bottom of the ball joint boot. It's a 93 with the HP dana 30.

Pic?

Most of the Bay stuff is one size kinda fits all, I hope nothing comes apart on you.

Attachment 377948

this is a pic of when i installed them.

Attachment 377949

I'll see if i can get outside to crawl under and get a better pic today at some point.

is it grinding on the grease zerk?
if so, you may have to remove the zerk and only screw it in when you grease it up.

I've got to do these to mine, I've got them bought, just haven't had the time to do it. But, I thought the bottom one didn't have a zerk fitting, just the top. If they're the same size diameter, maybe you got them in the wrong spot?

EDIT:

I just wondered out to the garage and the bottom one on mine (Dana/Spicer) doesn't have a zerk fitting, but the way they are made it doesn't look like you could swap the upper for the lower. Maybe the Ebay ones have zerks and like was said, just remove it and plug it until you need to grease it.

Yeah the lower fitting is removed after you put grease in. The abs wheel on the shafts I have is actually still rubbing on top of the lower ball joint a little. No I didn't leave the grease fitting in it. My camber looks way off too. This front axle is driving me crazy and I don't have the money to rebuild my spare yet.

Its no good... Mines doing the same... Different manufacturers different lengths... Same part numbers... All over when I searched it... Actually from what ive read on the wj knuckle swap they are longer on the bottom so im thinking these are for WJ's and parts makers think they are all the same...

Think Im gonna get WJ knuckles and see what happens...

yeah somebody told me you can get V8 balljoints that are heavier duty but the info came from one of those losers that i'm pretty sure just talks out his *** all day so i havent looked into it yet.

All the research ive done and never heard that... Lol...

yeah thats why i didnt bother looking into it. This was the same guy that has a 96 zj with 6" of lift and stock control arms. He says he'll be fine. I say keep that jeep away from me.

Eh... Ya... Lol

this thread too old to add to?... Don't care. Doing it anyway. I had a similar problem replacing the ball joints on my '95 XJ. I had purchased a set from O'reillys. First thing I noticed was that the upper ball joint shaft was longer than the original, factory installed spicer ball joint. The next thing I noticed was that the surface of the O'reilly ball joints where they mate to the steel of the axle had vertical grooves engraved into them. NOT smooth like the spicer ball joints. Surely, that wouldn't be a problem tho...right? Huh..

Those cheapie ball joints caused me all kinds of mechanical agony.

So here's what happened. I installed the O'rielly ball joints using that cool little tool from Harbor Frieght. And when I tried to bolt on the knuckle. I found that the upper ball joint was waaaaay too long. So much so that tightening the castle nut all the way to the end of the threads still left about an 1/8" of space between the nut and the knuckle flange itself. And the castle nut had completely left the cotter pin hole behind.

Clearly, that wasn't going to work.

So, I removed both ball joints and took them back for replacements. Only to find that the part numbers on those parts were correct for ALL XJs from 84 to 2000 at least.

"But, But... LOOK at this! It CLEARLY doesn't FIT!!!"

"I'm sorry sir, that's the only part number we have."

I went to Auto Zone and got the same response.

So, now I was confused. How could it be that the ball joints from both stores are too long for my axle? Could it be that I had the wrong knuckles? Could I somehow have the wrong AXLE even? I knew it was a Dana 30.

Finally, I put one of the 20-lb knuckles and the pair of ball joints into my backpack and carried it the mile from the train station to my work. And than the 1/2 mile to a nearby jeep specialist shop. (nobody can tell me I don't love that jeep)

Anyway, the fellows over at the shop knew what was going on right away. Explained to me that the diameter of the shaft on the cheapie ball joints was juuuust a little too narrow. Making the upper ball joint slip too far down into the receiving hole of the upper knuckle flange.

"uh huh... so, you wan't me to buy the 'good' Spicer ball joints from you, right?"

"well, yes"

"fine... how much"

"$150. for the four of them"

"what? for the Spicers, right?...gimme"

Added those new Spicers to my strained backpack and made the trek back to the train station and to home... (Man, I needed to get that jeep back on the road.)

I installed the Spicer ball joints on the opposite side of the axle to start. They went in and everything went back together perfectly. Specifically, the taper of the shaft was correct and kept the upper ball joint from pushing too far down through the knuckles receiving hole. Was able to torque both castle nuts to 100 ft-lbs and use the cotter pins.

cool man...

But, when I went back to the side I had originally installed the O'reilly cheapies.... Remember those vertical grooves I had mentioned earlier? Well they had opened up the receiving holes in the axle C to the point where the Spicer ball joints just dropped into their holes loosely. Rattling around with NO tension at all.

.....uh oh...

Luckly for me, I have a mig welder. I was able to put in some, hot, deep spot welds around the interior of those receiving holes in the axle C to replace the metal that had been pushed out of the way by the grooves on the nasty ball joints. I then ground down the extra metal (using a dremel tool) till the spots were allllmost flush with the original surface.

Now, the Spicers had to be _PRESSED_ in like the other side.

Much better.

Moral of the story?.. dunno, cuz I know many of you have had success using the cheapie ball joints.

wow, that seems like a lot of work, but good to see you got it all figured out.

sometimes saving a little costs more in the end. OEM for the win.