Quote:
Originally Posted by 72K5CSTDarkOlive
I'm having a bad case of Murphy's Law consistently with this truck..
I installed the passenger side steering knuckle in less than 10 minutes.. No problem, torqued the lower ball joint nut 70 lbs of torque, spanner nut @ 50 lbs, and the top ball joint king nut @ 100 lbs..
I'm thinking this is great, I'll have this axle fully assembled with wheels on and back on the truck tonight..
NOPE!!!
The drivers side knuckle is giving me hell. I spent 4-5 hours last night trying every possible reason why the upper ball joint stud wont side all the through the spanner nut.. I tried adjusted how much I had the ball joints seated and various other tactics.
I'm stumped... When I torque the lower at 70 lbs and then i try to torque the spanner nut, it continues to spin through past the edge of last thread causing it to push the upper ball joint stud down...
Here's a pic.. you can see the upper ball joint is not all the way through the spanner.. this is as far as it would go, even with the lower torqued down.
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Mike I'm not sure I fully understand your problem, and I know you've had these things apart a couple of times, so I know you know what your doing... but I completely know how you feel. I fought my front axle at several spots. And it's only more frustrating when you've got your final finish on there. You're better than me, in that you powdered coated. All my axle bits are painted. Anyway, I fought the top ball joint adjusting sleeve. I couldn't get it torqued to spec without blowing it out the bottom (this may be what your saying). Then when I did get to the castle nut, it ended up well below the hole for the cotter pin. I put it together and took it apart a hand full of times. The two things that were really helpful to me were:
#1) This thread:
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...=430367&page=6 (you may already be aware of this one, but his final sequence of torquing things was very helpful to me, and what I used)
#2) I rolled the axle upside down. For some reason (probably gravity
), it seemed easier to get the ball joint to bite in the taper, and the angles seemed easier to work with on the jack stands. I don't really see why it would make a difference but it did for us.
...none of this may help you at all...but at the very least, just know I feel your frustration...and your post allowed me to instantly re-live it. And you'll get it. Your will is stronger than the truck's. It has to be.
Edit: Corrected the link...the first showed the sequence, but his build thread has more info.