Ball joint spanner nuts

[muskrat]

I ordered a set of ball joints. Unfortunetly, they came in with two bottoms! Bummer, I waited a week for these parts.

Anyway, they said they had no stock on the spanner nuts and that I could reuse my old ones.

My wrenching buddy frowned on this statement.

What's the deal? Can these be reused?

Thanks.

Muskrat

 

[suthernboy]

Maybe you can, maybe you can't. But I wouldn't. They are split nuts and your originals have already been "sprung" once.

It's quite a bit of labor to redo that job later and I wouldn't take the risk of damaging the threads on my axle. You can order new nuts on Rockauto.

I put Moog joints in mine and they came as a set, its strange that somebody would sell an upper joint and spanner nut separately.

 

[ransil]

I got moog joints from advance auto last year,use a coupon.
don't use the house brand or the cheaper one i wore them out in a year.

 

[galen1970b]

Ever heard of a term call, prevailing torque?, It comes up in Aircraft Maintenance alot when having to determine if hardware is good enough to be reused... It's basically a method to check the self locking properties of a nut to make sure its still good. You might be able to find some literature on it.

 

[muskrat]

Maybe you can, maybe you can't. But I wouldn't. They are split nuts and your originals have already been "sprung" once.

It's quite a bit of labor to redo that job later and I wouldn't take the risk of damaging the threads on my axle. You can order new nuts on Rockauto.

I put Moog joints in mine and they came as a set, its strange that somebody would sell an upper joint and spanner nut separately.

Thanks for info guys. I checked rock auto. They have a bunch but they are degreed. Should I just order the lowest degreed ones they offer?

 

[suthernboy]

Thanks for info guys. I checked rock auto. They have a bunch but they are degreed. Should I just order the lowest degreed ones they offer?

I'm not real sure, the only ones I saw were ACDelco and were zero degree. I assumed that is stock.....

 

[JohnJohn]

Dave,
In my opinion..... the best way to do this is to bolt everything together then get a free alignment read out from a local shop. Good shops will put it on the rack and give you a print out for free.

I prefer .5 degrees positive camber vs. the stock 1.5. The angle adjustable spanner nuts work ok but are not as strong as using spindle shims. I have used both.

Here is on option on camber shims.
http://www.ingallseng.com/26125-dana-44-5-bolt-camber-shim.html

you would install this behind the spindle to try and get down to .5 positive from what ever the read out was. This shim is ticket on one end that the other so you would need to install it a specific direction to get to the final number you want.
If you text me later I can provide more information.

 

[Timmy390]

NAPA sells the degreed

Tim

 

[chuzie]

Ever heard of a term call, prevailing torque?, It comes up in Aircraft Maintenance alot when having to determine if hardware is good enough to be reused... It's basically a method to check the self locking properties of a nut to make sure its still good. You might be able to find some literature on it.

Is that the same as run-on torque?

 

[DJs74]

Thanks for info guys. I checked rock auto. They have a bunch but they are degreed. Should I just order the lowest degreed ones they offer?

I vote yes on the degreed insert bushings. I purchased mine from Rock Auto because I needed adjustability but you can still achieve zero with the offset / degreed bushing inserts. You may appreciate it later if you ever need camber / caster. I think they are great, installed easily and are fully adjustable while on the alignment machine and can be dialed in precisely. These are just my experiences with them - pretty sure mine were made by Moog

DJs74

 

[galen1970b]

Is that the same as run-on torque?

yes, thats another name, I've also heard it as run through, run-out, etc.

our book lists the requirements in T.O 1-1A-8, Structural Hardware. basically depending on a nut size theres a maximum amount of torque the nut has to grip the threads....so....for example...if you have a 1/2 bolt of a certain type to reuse that nut for it it would require X amount or more of torque(in in/ibs) to thread down to the shank of the bolt. If it takes less than the required amount of torque the hardeware needs to be replaced.