i got my new ball joints on, upper and lower both sides. I tightened up the nuts on the lower, and i didnt think i really got it too tight, but before i hooked the tie rod back up, it seems like they were kinda hard to move side to side....is that normal? Didnt know if because they were new that they would be tight or what. I tightened the bottom nuts down pretty snug, but didnt bear down on them. Any ideas?

 

Did you tighten them to the specs? Both the Haynes and the Chilton's have that information for you. If you did, you should be fine.

 

well, no....i didnt have the specs. I started tightening the bottom bj nut till it started getting sort of tight, but not overly tight. They i moved it a tiny bit more to lign up the cotter pin hole, and it was just tight.

 

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/8...que-specs.html You'll find the torque specs in the 4th post.

 

This is something that many people over look. there is a set of steps you need to follow in order to tork ball joints properly, Little on the lower, little on the upper, little more on the lower, little more on the upper until both are set.

Normally they are a little on the snug side, once you pump some grease inside of them and push back and forth a couple times they should be pretty free... Not just fall to the side free but easy to push side to side with min. effort.

 

1990 F150 4x4
I am fighting this same thing myself. I replaced the joints maybe 2 years back with some that I had on the shelf for about 10 years, store brand. I noticed they were tight, but assumed they would loosen up overtime. They did not, so I thought maybe the grease was old in those joints and it was causing the tightness. So I ordered new MOOG upper and lower and installed. Same problem with the tightness. I torqued bottom then top and no matter what I do, when the bottom is tight enough so the stud can't turn in the knuckle, it is so tight it takes two hands to move the knuckle back and forth. I did grease them up after installation and have worked them back and forth, but it isn't getting easier. I also took a brass hammer and hammered on the bottom joint up and the top joint down, but doesn't seem to help much. When I loosened the stud on the old lower joint, it loosened up immediately. Somehow, having the lower joint stud where it cannot turn in the knuckle makes it ridiculously tight. It acts like the lower ball joint is too tight to turn, but how could 2 different brands have that same problem? I replaced the passenger side maybe a year after the driver side and didn't have any tight issues with it.

Anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks,

broncobasher

 

Figured it out. Top joint was probably 1mm short being seated all the way. It kept the bottom joint taper from seating, therefore tightening it was binding lower stud/ball in socket. I took off and put ball joint press on top and let impact hammer on it although I couldn't really tell it moved, it fixed it. Lower is tight and knuckle moves freely now. PTL!

 

if you have 4x4 knuckles on a dana 60
upper BJ collar bushing needs to be free moving in the knuckle and tapped down with a hammer before you tighten the upper BJ