Spindle onto Ball Joint issues..., Any tips? Options

[aggiezig]

We started putting together the front end tonight. Other than a few curve balls, most of the reassembly has gone off without a hitch. We got stuck with the drivers spindle and called it a night. The ball joint shaft does not want to slide into the spindle no matter how much we beat on it to persuade it.

I made sure that there was no powdercoat in the hole where the ball joint slides in. I can only get it to go about 1/8" in and that's using a sledge and wood block to beat up on the control / a-arm while holding down on the spindle / strut. The passenger side slid in with minimal effort, so not sure what's going on here. It's acting like the ball joint shaft OD is slightly too big. It's a brand new Lemfoerder BJ.

Am I missing something here? Is it possible I got a "bad" ball joint? I'll measure and post the OD with my calipers tonight. I'm not sure how to get out of this predicament other than trying another new joint.

Any feedback appreciated.

[bdstone914]

What year car? Ball joints are different. is the top of the strut mounted to the body? If so it is harder to keep the ball joint shaft from wanting to go in crooked. Smooth out the inside of the strut hole with some 320 grit sand paper. You may have buggered it with too much force.
Installing the ball joint to strut before mounting to the car it goes easier.
Grease them up. You should not have to use much force to assemble them.

[aggiezig]

What year car? Ball joints are different. is the top of the strut mounted to the body? If so it is harder to keep the ball joint shaft from wanting to go in crooked. Smooth out the inside of the strut hole with some 320 grit sand paper. You may have buggered it with too much force.
Installing the ball joint to strut before mounting to the car it goes easier.
Grease them up. You should not have to use much force to assemble them.

Thanks, Bruce

My car is a 75 and I am using 91134104901. Should be the right part from what I can tell. The top of the strut is loose, not mounted to the car yet which allows for more room to line up the two. I will try the sand paper idea and apply more grease.

FWIW, I just measured the OD of the BJ at 15.95MM and the ID of the spindle at 15.70MM - 15.85MM (out of round). That interference seems a little tight to me but I am not machinist and also just working with $20 calipers.