upper ball joint?

I am in the process of rebuilding the front suspension and have a concern about the upper ball joint. I got all Moog problem solver parts.
Moog K5208 upper ball joint

Seems the upper ball joint stud isn't going into the knuckle as far as I think it should. But maybe it's the difference in new parts vs old very worn parts? And aftermarket vs OEM. I haven't torqued the nuts yet, but they are about as tight as I could get them with the open end wrench.

Here are some pics.

passenger side all new parts:


drivers side all old parts:


Looks like the gap between the upper control arm and knuckle is too big?

Also, the new upper ball joints came with four large washers, but I have no idea where they might go? The hole in the middle is bigger than the nuts and bolts but smaller than the ball joint stud...

Maybe the washers are spacers for the stud nut. Maybe the nut is bottomed out on the threads? I'll look into it more tomorrow morning...

Some of the new BJs have different lengths between the end of the taper and the threads, or a shorter threaded part on the stud. I have encountered that a couple of times with lower BJs. The washers are to put under the nut to pull the taper into the spindle further, so the taper fits tight in the spindle. I am not sure why they do that, but it is becoming more the norm than not.

I got the passenger side mostly complete and the drive side about halfway completed.







still seems the upper control arm sits higher off the knuckle then before. Everything is fully seated and tight. I did use one washer under the nut to get the cotter pin hole closer to the solid part of the nut.

I still need to install the shock, finish the driver side and replace the steering linkage parts and grease everything.

Looks good. You can see a photo of mine in the "what did you do this week" thread and my gap is about the same.

The gap should not be an issue, as long as both sides are the same.

I'm going to try to get the driver side reassembled today, hopefully it looks the same as the passenger side!

I got both control arms in place and then the spring was giving me a hard time, so that was as far as I got yesterday... Still have to get the spring in place.
Also, no fun in the 90+ degree heat and humidity.

Those front springs can be a pain in the back side.

I wrestled with it some more this afternoon and got the spring in place and the knuckle bolted in! I was fighting to get the end of the spring on top of the control arm, it was hanging up on the shock opening. I ended up using a second jack and a sleeve from an old bushing to push up on the bottom of the spring slightly and then I was able to pry it fairly easily into place.

Also the upper ball joint and control arm look to be the same as the other side.

makes my back hurt reading this - with Fred's guidance, i had rebuilt my entire front end - good learning experience, but i think for the trouble (and lack of a lift) I would pay someone to do it next time.

rcktpwrd wrote:

I wrestled with it some more this afternoon and got the spring in place and the knuckle bolted in! I was fighting to get the end of the spring on top of the control arm, it was hanging up on the shock opening. I ended up using a second jack and a sleeve from an old bushing to push up on the bottom of the spring slightly and then I was able to pry it fairly easily into place.

Also the upper ball joint and control arm look to be the same as the other side.

The BJs are the same on both sides, but the arms are mirror images.