QUOTE(914Sixer @ May 21 2021, 08:35 PM)
Good point about how to torque it down. The flip side is how are you going to get the nut back off.
By design, the torque it takes to rotate a taper in a properly fitting tapered hole is far larger than the torque to loosen a prevailing torque fastener.
Analogy. Many machine tools are held in place by a taper and resist rotational torque of the cutting operation with no keyway. Jacobs taper on drill chucks. Morse tapers for lathes. R8 taper for mills.
Ball joints should be installed into the strut, clean, dry, and with no lubrication. Once installed properly, the nut is little more than a belt and suspenders. Thus, the move away from more expensive castle nuts and cotters toward prevailing torque fasteners. Would you agree that once installed, you'll notice it usually takes serious persuation to remove the tie rod ball from the strut? That is due to the "locking" action of the taper and the high friction to move the surfaces relative to one another.