balljoints

[chh]

Trying to bolt in the right knuckle after replacing upper and lower balljoints. In the image (right_new) you can see that the camber/caster adjusting sleave does not go in as far as the other side(left_Original). It is bottoming out on the balljoint.....

Now that I am writing this I wonder if tightening the pinch bolt will force the balljoint down allowing the adjusting sleeve to bottom out.
Advice?

 

[black_demon69]

have you tried to rotate sleeve and also tap it down?

pull sleeve and lubricate with antiseize then reinstall

 

[chh]

Sleeve

It's def bottoming out on the balljoint. As I tighten the lower balljoint it will push the top one up forcing the sleeve up as well. I will continue working on it tomorrow.

 

[black_demon69]

are you sure you have the right ball joints?

 

[brokemechanic3000]

IMO I would check for a rust ridge on the knuckle where the sleeve goes in (in the hole). A ridge of rust there would prevent the bushing from seating fully.
Sometimes they just don't go all of the way down which is fine as long as the stud is seated and the pinch bolt is tight.

 

[chh]

Conclusion

Long overdue conclusion:

The Moog ball joints are correct for this application and are in fact about 1/8 inch taller then originals. The shop that performed the alignment had no problems.

As an aside, the ball joints caused the steering knuckle to be very hard to turn by hand when using the normal installation procedure (tighten bottom then top). This seems to be a common issue and according to their website Moog recommends to tighten the bottom ball joint to half torque, tighten the top to half torque then repeat at full torque.