hello guys i am replacing my upper and lower ball joints along with the wheel hub assembly and now i am putting it all back together and was looking in my manual and the torque for the ball joints kinda confused me a little i think the lower ball joint gets torqued to 80ftlbs and upper is 75ftlbs is that correct? This is for the castle nuts not the actual joint itself. Thanks for the help its a 2001 dodge ram 1500 4x4 5.9L

 

If thats what the manual says then I guess it's right. Back the nut(s) off a little to line up the cotter pins.

 

NO! A fastener should never be backed off when it is torqued. If any of the slots do not match with the cotter hole then tighten the fastener until they line up.

 

A castle nut yes. Read the manual!

 

Over-torquing can cause stripping of the threads in certain situations...be careful.

 

I didn't torque. I just tightened them and then adjusted the torque on the castle nut to line up the cotter hole and slot to the closest one.

 

exactly what he said above, i used to build fighter planes for the military and on castle nuts, u torque it and then either or a hair forward or backwards to line up the hole, which ever is closer, but more so 90% of the time, torque it just a hair more instead of backin it off.

 

10-4 thanks guys

 

My Naval Aviation training taught me that in instances that require back off to line up, it should be backed off a little further than needed, then tightened again to the line up point.

Castellated nuts should have a torque range spec'd... usually about a 5-10% window to allow for alignment.

 

I always tighten to align the cotter pin and have NEVER pulled a thread or encountered an issue with this procedure. Works for me..