Ball joint issue

[Southern Elegance]

Swapped the whole knuckle assembly so it was easier on me when doing the five lug swap. Everything goes together fine except i can't get the ball joint to fully seat in the knuckle and every time i try to tighten it with a ratchet the entire joint rotates. This is on the front lower control arms, i tried using a big ass c-clamp but it didn't work.

[r33nota240]

use an impact and hit the top with a hammer while tightning

[r33nota240]

Also u can put a wrench on the nut then put a short socket over the wrench then put a c clamp on it tightning the ball joint down and holding the wrench up on the spindle

[Southern Elegance]

I'll try it out thanks

[r33nota240]

Yep no problem

[rcdad123]

put a jack under the arm and lift that side of the car with it. that will compress the suspension and put pressure on the ball joint.

[edmorl]

if you swapped the entire knuckle, make sure you have either

s13 front spindles (knuckles) -> s13 FLCA (or s14 FLCA with s13 ball joint)

The s14 ball joint will only fit an s14 spindle. The s13 and s14 ball joints have a different taper.

[OLDSCHOOLRICE]

if you swapped the entire knuckle, make sure you have either

s13 front spindles (knuckles) -> s13 FLCA (or s14 FLCA with s13 ball joint)

The s14 ball joint will only fit an s14 spindle. The s13 and s14 ball joints have a different taper.

This /\

Sounds like you might have different size ball joints, if you already tried clamping it together and it still spins. Usually a little bit of tension on the tapered face will keep the ball joint from spinning. S13 ball joint shanks are smaller in diameter than the S14, so the smaller S13 ball joint tapered face isn’t contacting the taper of the S14 knuckle.

If that is the case, the next best thing to do would be to get S14 ball joints and have them pressed into your current control arms.