Ball joint

[Blueberryyum02]

2002 LS V8

Is their a reason why the ball joints do not use a castle nut and cotter key.
Thought my tires was going bad , just to find out my lower ball joint, on driver side nut had backed off wit only three full turns holding it on.

 

[joegr]

Yes, pretty much no car does anymore. The Nyloc is safe and reliable. The catch is that you can't reuse it. Probably someone before you, did. Because of the aluminum suspension and the Nylocs, you have to replace the nuts anytime you take them off.

 

[milehighmikey]

I had purchased some $75 Mevotech steering knuckles from Rock Auto a few years ago, and they were put on with proper torque with new nuts. The ball joints failed so badly in just 6 months that they were actually able to unscrew the nuts due to the severity of the seizure internally! Thinking that the Ford shop had just put them on and forgot to torque them, I again bought replacements and installed them myself, again finding that they had unlocked and rotated the nylock nuts on their own! It got so bad that it was just like the base poster stated, they were down to the last couple of threads! They were so loose that driving over an overpass seam at highway speeds with the resultant rise and fall of the suspension, the car would jump across a half lane every time, due to the lack of steering geometry. It was a pretty scary ride. I had just tightened the nuts back to 110 lb/ft before that last ride and they came loose within 40 miles of highway driving. Of course the nylock was worn out by that time, but they were brand new when installed.

 

[pragmatic]

I also had bad experiences with Mevotech knuckles. Mine failed and required a tow. Being 200 miles from home I had a local shop replace the joint (after renting a car). I had them use Motorcraft parts.

 

[02LincLS]

My Moog ball joints came with new nylock nuts and a loctite packet. My guess is you need both, and the wet torque is a lot tighter than dry torque of the same force.

 

[cammerfe]

You might try two nuts---with one jammed against the other.

KS