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I am working on replacing the ball joints on a 1997 Chevy Blazer 4wd LT model.
I purchased Moog ball joints. I have replaced upper and lower on pass. side.
My question is I installed lower ball joint stem in steering knuckle, but it only extends out far enough for threads, I have put the castle nut on and tightened it. But it seems that a portion of the stem is not in steering knuckle.
Does the lower ball joint need to be pressed in knuckle with a press?
I have put the castle nut on with an air tool too about 130lbs of air pressure.
Mine went in easy when I did the lower ball joints last year. I did not need to press them in. I don't recall any issues like you described.
Was there any slop where the stud engages the steering knuckle?
Have you compared the one you installed on the passenger side to the one on the driver side?
Were you able to installed the cotter pin?
Is it possible something was in the hole for the stud causing it to not go in as far as you expect?
Do you know what the torque on the nut is with 130 lbs of air pressure? By using an air tool, you might not have been able to feel if something was not quite right when you installed it.
I did compare to drivers side, need to clean up better to get a better view, I am only doing one side at a time.
As far as the cotter pin, there is room to install pin in the correct part of castle nut.
I am going to torque to spec. Still working on.
I will post a pic. I may not be explaining correctly.
Also, thanks for your reply.
I should have added I installed Moog lower ball joints too.
If you can get the cotter pin in I would think it would be in the correct amount.
Since it is going to be a dry day today, I could take a look myself and perhaps take a picture for you of my installation. No promises on my ability to get a good pic though! :-) PM me if you like.
A last thought is if it turns out the part is not fitting correctly it might be that the box was mislabeled.
I too installed Moog. I got under car and took a pic. It may be ok. I did not install cotter pin yet, want to torque down to specs with torque wrench. I am attaching pic.
There is always going to be a gap there it will only tighten as far as the tapered stud allows it to. As long as it's torqued to spec and the cotter pin has room to go through you will be all set
Here's a link to the webpage that Moog has that describes there newer integral dust boot that exposes more of the ball-joint shaft. It dispenses with the dome-shaped dust cap with which many of us are so familiar for one that seals the ball of the ball-joint lower down on the shaft.
Lower Ball joints, need help
