Ok, so I've been replacing ball joints and front-end u-joints on my '95 f150 4x4, and now I positively can't figure out why the axle shaft (where the u-joint is) is rubbing against the top of the stud on the lower ball joint.

This is on the driver's side. I haven't even gotten to the other side because of all the troubles I've run into.

I can get three out of the four corners of the u-joint to clear the top of the stud (when turning the axle), but the one side won't clear. Fact is they shouldn't be that close to the stud anyway. I looked at the passenger's side for reference, and that clearance was a good .25 inch.

I noticed that the new bottom ball joint stud on the driver's side protrudes a good 1/16 or so of an inch farther than the old one on the passenger's side.

Another annoyance: the nut that was in the package with the lower ball joint was much taller than the old one I took off, so I ended up putting the old one back on to gain some clearance.

Anyhow, what am I missing here? How can a simple u-joint and ball joints change all of a sudden change the angles and clearances? As far as I know I did everything correctly, so I'm really frustrated about this. Any of you ever run into something like this?

I have pictures, but I don't know how to post them. Probably not necessary, as it's just like I explained.

Not that it matters any, but here's the original thread pertaining to this project: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...ll-joints.html

Forgot to mention that I also changed out the camber bushing while I was in there. It is now reading too much + camber (until I get it aligned), but it was like that with the old bushing too. My point being, I don't think the clearance issue has anything to do with that, but I thought I'd mention it anyway.

 

Lack of clearance and taller nut as well makes it sound like you might have the wrong ball joints.
That and you say you already have to much positive camber, adjusting some of that out will put the u joint even closer yet to the lower ball joint stud.

Take a few minutes an carefully measure everything and also compare the old and new ball joints with each other.
Be nice if you had a dial caliper handy for exact comparison of ball joints, measure height of stud but also length and diameter of tapered section top and bottom.

 

Yes, that did briefly enter my mind several hours ago when I was still outside struggling with it, but I then forgot to double check the measurements.

Good idea. I do have a dial caliper, and I can at least measure the old bj and compare it to the new one that I haven't installed yet (on the passenger's side).

Why I didn't carefully look those bj's over before installing them...was just too distracted with the project.

As for camber, the tops of the tires are leaning outwards and the bottoms are leaning inwards. That's too much + camber, right?

Also forgot to mention in the first post that I could take everything off again, including the steering nuckle, and use the cut-off wheel to shorten that lower bj stud by .125" or so. However, the stud isn't THAT long, and things still don't seem right.

 

So, here's the problem. After looking things over in the daylight (last night in the dark really sucked), I realized that the lower BJ I put in is the wrong one. It's too long. Now, my memory tells me that I most likely did in fact check one box of each (upper and lower) before putting them in, but apparently I didn't check all four boxes. And the lower BJ that I grabbed was not the right one.

Lesson learned. Always verify everything! Orielley's (spelling) has given me the wrong parts twice now in two weeks. The boxes showed the right part #'s, but the parts inside were wrong. They said they'd give me my money back due to it being an "improperly boxed part".

 

Once I bought a pair of calipers from Napa. Both boxes were labeled correctly, but they each contained a left hand side caliper. I couldn't get the bleed screw on top no matter how hard I tried!