The bolt spins so I cant secure the nut. It seems to have a small indentation in the bolt that you would think would be an allen wrench slot, but it is just a smooth round indentation.

fist, is the ball joint supposed to spin? i am assuming it should, or maybe the ball joint is broken.

if it is supposed to spin, how do you secure the bolt?

 

My guess would be you need an impact tool to get enough speed/torque that will pull it all together and get some friction on the top mating surface of the joint to prevent further rotation. From there it should be able to be torqued to spec. Odd those don't have the allen key slot.

 

You can PRY DOWN (or up) on the control arm to engage the taper for extra friction.

 

G'day Scott,

One suggestion is to get a nut without the nylock insert and screw the balljoint into place then finish the job with the nylock nut.

Cheers,
Jeff.

 

All interesting ideas, i will give them a go. i may use of combination of a non locking nut and prying down on the arm.

 

If the ball is facing down put a jack under it if its upwards you will have to press it down with crowbar etc or a clamp

 

If you have one, a g-clamp can also help put enough pressure on the ball joint for the friction surface to catch and allow you to tighten. I used this on my wishbones recently, allows you to set the pressure and manoeuvre yourself where you need to be.