Hey guys. I feel pretty dumb right now. I've never had this problem doing ball joints. I was putting the knuckles back on the truck tonight with new MOOG ball joints. Got one side done, no problem. Now onto the passenger side. Get the upper ball joint tightened up. Move to the lower. The lower ball joint uses a staked nut. When the staked part of the nut got to the stud, it just spun the stud rather than tightening down. I cannot for the life of me get this thing to tighten down. I've tried sticking a screwdriver in the slot on top of the stud and using a wrench, nothing... It just spins the stud no matter what I do. Anyone else had this problem with your ball joints? How did you solve it? Now I'm having trouble even getting the nut back off since the stud is spinning like that. Oh and the nut is not cross threaded or anything. Maybe there is something I'm not thinking about for some reason. Thanks fellas.

 

Try setting a jack under the knuckle to press it upward, locking the tapered stud into the body of the knuckle, then turning the nut.

 

Or use a socket wrench (the bigger the better) with the 1/4 socket and a size 10 slot screwdriver bit, with the added leverage you will be able to prevent the stud from turning while you tighten the nut. Weird enough, i once used a camping axe's edge on the slot (it worked quite well actually).

 

Hmm.. I will throw a jack under it tomorrow night and see what happens. I guess this is kinda common, just never has happened to me. LOL. If that doesn't work I will try again with a socket and screwdriver bit. Thanks guys. reps to both of ya