After removing the old ball joint I went to install the fresh ball joint. I ended up finding that with the knuckle hole being wallowed out, when the shaft is fully seated, the edge of the thread sticks up above the surface of the knuckle. Because of this I was unable to tighten the nut all the way down, which would allow the tapered shaft to fully seat itself properly. I ended up having to use a washer and a lock washer to serve as spacers so I could put the nut on and be able to draw the ball joint shaft farther into the knuckle hole. This had the added benefit of putting the nut at just the right level where the groves on the nut lined up with the retaining pin hole on the ball joint shaft. I was able to install the retaining/cotter pin where the retaining nut should not walk off enough to allow the ball joint shaft to pull free from the knuckle. With the bad ball joint replaced and fully settled, I moved on to the other side. This should be a piece of cake since the other side did not have any issues with loosening up. It's just getting replaced because I want to keep things even. I was able to get things separated in no time and get the old unit popped free with a few small taps of the baby sledgehammer. The new unit went in fast and was finished in a fraction of the time that the bad one took. With the cotter pin in place, I was officially finished with the ball joints on this car and it was ready for the road again. Even though things were fine with the new ball joints, the idea that the spindle knuckle was compromised is something that can't go unchecked. I ended up sourcing a replacement spindle, used obviously, online for a fair price. I ordered this part but will not put it in yet as I would want to replace the wheel bearing in the spindle before putting the unit in. The wheel bearings are pressed in and can be a royal PITA to remove. With that I would rather get the bearing replaced before putting the new spindle in since it would do me absolutely no good to put this replacement part in only to have the wheel bearing go bad a month later. So yep, whether I get the bearing pressing tool set or pay a shop to replace the bearing in the spindle, either way it goes the bearing will be replaced before putting the spindle in.
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May 2023
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