Bolt on control arm ball joint, nut won't go on

[zandi]

So I think I fucked up the bolt on the CA ball joint which is going to make it a pain in the ass to replace if i have to considering i don't have a car to drive to get the part, so when i was putting the control arm back to the strut, i used a jack to push it back in, the bolt didnt align with the strut hole right but I kept jacked it in anyways, I guessed I forcefully pushed it in the strut. Now when I try to put a nut on it to close it and tighten it, it just keeps spinning out and off, is there anyway to make the nut go on without getting a new control arm?!?

[redcarbon]

that's normal. You have to hold that ball joint so that it won't spin while you tighten it. Put your jack directly under the ball joint on the control arm to provide a force to keep it from spinning while you torque it up. This should do it.

[redhatpat]

If the ball joint is just spinning, then do what redcarbon said.

If the nut won't thread on the ball joint stud cleanly, then visually inspect the threads on the stud. If you've damaged them you can get a die and clean up the threads before putting it back together. Do this with the ball joint out of the strut so you don't get any metal shavings in the strut-ball joint.

[bigdrick323]

my jack won't hold the ball joint up, and when I get it all in place, I think it's still spinning, it's not moving.

[vert_this]

I don't think the balljoint is spinning based on what he is saying the nut keeps coming off the threads. So what he has done is messed up the threads. The only fix is one put in a new balljoint or get the proper die and re-cut the threads. You will have to also get another nut in the new size, unless your lucky enough to use the exact size die to clean up what is messed up? Don't force it on though as it will be unsafe to operate.

[e30mpg]

pick up a standard sized nylon nut in coarse thread and tap that bitch on.

[monty23psk]

You can also carefully lower the car with wheel back on so weight of car prevents spinning bayou just need to make sure you can access nut from underneath