Was it though? Atomic says his older axle puts the BJ's in the inner C's. I have a '99-02 which is the same. So, in these examples (albeit only two), BOTH older and newer are the same.

 

Did all of the 4x4 front axles in 98.5+ use Dana 60s or are there other front axle options? Perhaps, that may be where there's confusion?

 

Half tons, and the Light Duty 3/4 tons got the D44, heavy duty trucks got the D60. (in front.) Why his ball joints are different than pretty much any other we have seen? That's a very good question. I don't think it was a 'one model year only' change..... I'd have to look at mine, to see which way they go. Haven't had to deal with them. Yet. (thank god.)

 

My Haynes manual shows it had either the 44 or 60. I assume mine was the 60 because I bought a gasket for both the 60 and the 44 and the 60 fit. I have been trying to look up what the axle id tag number on the differential cover means but have not had much luck decoding it yet.

52070152
4 10 610719-2

 

All 3/4 and 1 ton trucks had the D60 in front.

On your tag, the top number is the Dodge part number, it has 4.10 gears, (at least, it did from the factory) and the last set are probably a BOM from Dana/Spicer.

 

The main reason i'm trying to sort all this out is because I installed those Dynatrac balljoints DA60-2X3050-A for the dana 60. I followed the torque specs in my Haynes manual

1 tighten lower joint to 35 lb
2 tighten upper joint to 70 lb
3 tighten lower joint to 150 lb

and those knuckles are WAY too tight! it took all my strength to get them to move even a little (jacked up off the ground with tie rod disconnected). I loosened the balljoint studs and tried to torque them down several more times and kept getting the same result. Eventually I gave up and thought maybe they are supposed to be like that. So i put everything back together and got an alignment done. The redhead steering gear is able to turn them easily but the truck has memory steer issues with the wheel not returning to center like it should. The technician that did the alignment even commented that he noticed the memory steer while doing his test drive. So i guess i'm just trying to figure out do these joints not work in this truck because of the differences in how they press into the knuckle? or are the balljoints somehow defective? or did I not install them correctly?

 

I checked our '02 CTD today and same story: BJ's install into inner C, not the knuckle.

How much you tighten the nut doesn't affect how the BALL swivels in the joint body.

I'm gonna say either the spacing is wrong on the joints and/or the taper(s) are incorrect (which will also affect spacing if, say, one joint gets drawn in further than it should -- or not enough)

I suppose it's also possible one was significantly overtightened and opened up a tapered bore (like if you've ever driven bike cranks too deep onto a bottom bracket spindle), but that feels VERY unlikely. One would have to REALLY overtighten a stud to open up a bore in any meaningful way.

And TBH I never torque ball joints. I just get 'em gutentight with a reasonably long ratchet and call it good. Point being, it's kinda hard to screw it up provided the taper seats and the nuts are tight.