Balljoint won't tighten

[Justin86]

So I'm a little pissed now cause thie ball joint won't tighten on the upper A-arm. The nut will go on a few turns then it just spins in the hub-arm. I tried to lower the car to put presure on the joint but it still spins in place. I finally got my big brake kit swap done and I want to go for a drive, so I'm not very happy right now.

[Vinny]

The sedan did the same thing. Try one of 2 things, beat the bastard down into the knuckle or hope ya have a spare arm. I drove for a week on 1 lude arm and one accord arm. Trust me Justin I feel your pain

[Justin86]

I'm allmost ready to weld the bitch on, I want to break in these new brakes. I would get the lude arms but I can't get just the balljoint for them, I have to get the whole arm which is $76 a peice. I have other accord arms but I can't get the upper arm off the hub, with out destroying the seal.

[lightbulblxi]

damn man, i am having this same problem, the only thing i can think of doing is drilling a hole near the end, and one near the front, so i can put something in the hole to hold the bolt in place while i thighten it. anyone know what to do?

[nswst8]

I had the same problem, this is another reason to go to air. Hold the shaft of the balljoint with the vise grips this is the reason for "long nose" just enogh to hold the then spin the nut on.
Seem like you bent some of the threads on the balljoint when seating it in the knuckle, this is why it won't catch.
Hope this helps
NSWST8

[Justin86]

well I finally got in. I had to drop the supension so I could hit the upper arm, but the bigger hammer theory work once again. Now if I can get my brakes to work.

[89cordlx]

you were replacing the upper arm for the ball joint, where is the knuckle involved with that?

[bobafett]

i had to use air to get that tight on my car as well!

[Vinny]

you were replacing the upper arm for the ball joint, where is the knuckle involved with that?

Thats what the ball joint attacthes to the top of the steering knuckle

[89cordlx]

are you talkin about the one that goes to the upper arm?

[Slavic]

So I'm a little pissed now cause thie ball joint won't tighten on the upper A-arm. The nut will go on a few turns then it just spins in the hub-arm...

I used a ball joint press I rented from Auto Zone to press it just enough for it to grip and then removed the press and proceeded to tighten the nut.

[Justin86]

hum a balljoint press, I just got a huge hammer and beat the crap out of it.

[BMS]

there's your problem. i tried the hammer thing and i learned the expensive way it's owrth having a pro push the thing in. if you buy the parts from napa they generally have machine shops attached. the one here pressed the old joints out and the new ones in for $10. once you get the arm bolted back onto the body all you gotta do is cinch it down.

[Justin86]

oh yea I don't it to shop to have the balljoint pressed in but I ran into problems when I was trying to hook up the upper A-arm, the joint didn't want to stay in good, so I bitch slap it with a 5lb hammer.

[SQ is the SQUAD]

a air gun always fixes that

[Slavic]

a air gun always fixes that

^ What he said.

There was nother thread with that topic where I suggested renting a "ball joint press" (C clamp) from AutoZone to get it pressed in just enough to be able to screw the nut back without it spinning.

Reportedly using a hammer also works.

[LX-i BOY]

dude this was from may iam sure he fixed it by now

[Justin86]

yea way to dig it up. I had to use my own press invention, aka a long board and big hammer to hit the sucker in place.