the upper ball joint on both sides are Dana Spicers that I picked up from 4 wheel parts, the holes for the cotter pins were drilled way to low, after I took pictures and sent them to my local 4 wheel parts the manager confirmed what I saw to be a problem. He told me that he would give me some washers that I could use to lower the bolt a little so that the cotter pins fit snugly. I however found out that the driver side upper ball joint nut had stripped the ball joint stud slightly, now the bolt is all the way up so thats its tightened and I can't remove it to put the washers in.

Does anyone else think that I am in deep **** here? Suppose I hit a pot hole and the nut breaks free... My main concern here is that since the cotter pin is not lined up and the threading is slightly stripped, can this cause the nut to break free and cause a bad accident?

 

The ball joint is interference fit, if you move it out it will not stay put. Perhaps pics would help. If what your talking about doing is to place washers under the nut-- that should worlk.

 

Drill your own hole.

 

the ball joint is a press fit into the axle. the knuckle is pressed on by both the upper ball joint nut and lower ball joint nut, so if the top nut were to come loose, you still have the lower nut taking the load.

best option would be to get a nut splitter and remove the nut and press in a new upper ball joint.

 

So I drove out to four wheel parts this afternoon and had their technician take a look at my ball joints, he said that they looked fine and that though the cotter pin hole was drilled low I should be okay. I will probably get a second opinion tomorrow from another shop where I am going to get my alignment and wheels ands tires balanced.

 

is there enough thread that you can jam another nut up against the one on there now?