help
 

justdid new ball joints upper and lower. now i have a clunking noise. it sounds like a tennis ball in a cardboard box. so......hunting for this noise i replaced almost everything including wheel bearings cause they had a tiny whine to them and the noise is still there. today i noticed that when i turn the steering wheel the upper balljoint stud and castle nut turns too. is this normal? i torqued them several times the way shown in the manuel. is it possible i got the wrong ball joints? the way i torqued them was 35lbs on the bottoms....then 75lbs on the uppers...then 160lbs on the lowers. thanks for any help guys.

if you jack the truck up does anything move? in out up down kinda stuff? ive never torqued a ball joint in my life other than tight. i would jack the truck up put her in neutral and manually turn the front end.

i can manuely turn the front end. by hand nothing feels loose. but when i drive it the noise is definetly there.

pinion? odd that it just happened with some new front end parts???

i know. i replaced both wheel bearings, both rotors tie rod, front shocks. all trying to find this sound and no luck. all i can think is the ball joints are not correct. because i dont think the stud and the castle nut are supposed to turn when i turn the steering wheel.

that doesnt sound right, but if they were to small you would get noticable movement when the truck is jacked up. i wouldnt think they would be different but there are 2 different ratings for the 2500 trucks. a ? and an 8800lbs. call autozone and see if the parts are different for the front.

they are different. the only thing i can think of is when the truck is jacked up they dont move cause the castle nut is holding tight enough the i cant move it...but the weight of the truck can. i am going to take it all apart again and see. one good thing to this is that i have done it so many time i can do 1 side in about 10min. and everything has antiseze on it now! when i turn the steering wheel of ur truck does the balljoint stud and castle nut turn too? thanks for the help bro:c:

i will look in the morning.

thank you!:c:

the more an more i think about it you have to have the wrong ball joints. if they turn they are wearing on the steering knuckles. thats isnt right. COULD the castle nut be bottoming out on the treads and making it where things seem tight but arnt? did you forget a washer before the nut goes on?