Lower ball joints: Install Issue

[margaritocamacho]

Have a 96 hatch. replacing lower ball joints. can anyone tell me why I can't tighten up the nut? it all spins after a full turn

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[HeX]

I added a lil info into your title and threw in some punctuations for the sake of clarity. Sorry I cant provide a helpful suggestion, but the thread tweaks should lead to more help for you.

 

[nd4sped]

Have a 96 hatch. replacing lower ball joints. can anyone tell me why I can't tighten up the nut? it all spins after a full turn

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This is pretty typical, the ball joint is a free floating component. Just put your jack under the lower control arm and load the suspension pushing the ball joint into the LCA. This will put enough pressure on the part to prevent it from spinning around while you tighten up the nut. Make sure you put a fresh cotter pin in to lock the nut in place from backing off.

 

[HeX]

This is pretty typical, the ball joint is a free floating component. Just put your jack under the lower control arm and load the suspension pushing the ball joint into the LCA. This will put enough pressure on the part to prevent it from spinning around while you tighten up the nut. Make sure you put a fresh cotter pin in to lock the nut in place from backing off.

 

[daperez13]

A quick search can go a long way. There are different ways to achieve this. Pick one that best suits your application.

Here's one video that popped up when I searched: how to tighten a castle nut on a ball joint.

 

[Joe Mason]

Indeed this is common, as mentioned above, load the control arm. Also I have found using anti seize compound on the threads helpful. If you have a impact driver, that can help too, sometimes it needs high speed to get it started. Just don't over tighten!

 

[margaritocamacho]

Thanks for the help I'll try it when I get home and I figured I could ask here to get hands on advise plus it's stressing not to be able to drive around

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[nd4sped]

Also I HIGHLY recommend you tighten this nut by hand tool ONLY. Since it is a castle nut it has less surface area and it WILL strip the threads on the nut even hardened steel. Been there, done that and seen it happen too many other times.

Its fine to use a impact to take it off but don't use it to tighten.

These nuts are f**king expensive too, last time I bought them from Honda was back in 2002ish and a single nut was like $14.