I am installing the McGaughy's spindles and cant get the upper ball joint to stop spinning. I used an allen wrench at the end of the bolt, and was only able to get the McGaughy's supplied nut about 1/2 way on. Once the nut goes into the recessed portion of the spindle, I can no longer use a wrench to tighten.

There has to be something I am doing wrong. Please help!

 

i had that happen to me when i was installing my Mcgaughy spindles too, i had to push the ball joint down into the spindle hard and use a ratchet and i got lucky and the joint stopped spinning.

 

I had to take a large prybar and more or less pry down on the upper arm to engage the balljoint stud deeper into the spindle.

 

The only other thing I can think of is that the nut supplied by McGaughy is not the correct size. The upper ball joint is original so I doubt that is the issue. Here is a pic of how far I have gotten the nut on.

 

I always use an impact LOL but really I hate the design of those McGaughy spindles... Best thing to do is like others mentioned try pushing the balljoint down into the taper of the spindle as much as possible while wrenching on the nut with a socket/ratchet.

 

if i remember right the upper ball joint had a little bit above it from where it doesnt go into the spindle as far as it does as with the factory spindle, maybe you could get a pair of channel locks on it above the spindle...

 

I think you have the wrong nut. IIRC it should have a flange on the nut. Otherwise, what's it tightening against?

 

Mine did the same, just gotta put some some tension on them.

 

It was the right nut, it jsut sucked getting the ball joint to stop spinning. I ended up lifting the lower a-arm to the point the truck was barely off the jack stands and it tightened up without any issues.
Yep, the other side went on easy. Just put a pry bar over the top of the upper a-arm and pushed down while tightening.

On a side note, the clearance is really tight between the cv axle boot and upper ball joint nut.

 

Glad you got it figured out.

that's the exact reason I chose the new Belltech 2508 over the Mcg spindles.