Help! One of Three Nuts on Ball Joint Stripped.

So, I removed the control arm on my 2008 GTI in order to replace the lower and upper control arm bushings (and the end links as well), but when reinstalling the 3 ball joint to control arm studs and torquing the nuts to spec (about 43 ft lbs), one of the nuts stripped. I think it's the nut and not the stud bolt, but I'm not certain.

The balljoint is not OEM, and was replaced as part of a strut replacement suspension job I had done -- I was told it is a MOOG. Anywho, I've vascillated between replacing the balljoint with a high quality Lemforder (OE for only $28) or just trying to remove the nut without damaging the threads on the balljoint stud.

Does anyone have any recommendation or experience with this problem and do you think it's the nut that's stripped instead of the stud... and what is the best way you'd recommend removing it without damaging the threads?

As an aside -- my HF 3/8 torque wrench appears to be quite far off on its torque settings -- and is a part of the reason why I'm in this mess right now.

Thanks in advance!

I'd just replace the ball joint at that point. They are cheap enough that it wouldn't be worth while bothering with a tap and die.

MagicMK said:

As an aside -- my HF 3/8 torque wrench appears to be quite far off on its torque settings -- and is a part of the reason why I'm in this mess right now.

Thanks in advance!

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Also throw that HF junk away. HF is ok for some shop supply stuff but their hand tools are all junk. If you're going to be doing work yourself, buying a decent torque wrench will be cheaper in the long run.

jay745 said:

I'd just replace the ball joint at that point. They are cheap enough that it wouldn't be worth while bothering with a tap and die.

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Well, that's the question - if it's JUST the nut, then I won't have to go through all of the trouble or replacing the ball joint (the problem with doing any work is that you can run into problems like this where nuts are seized, they strip, or get rounded). As such, I'm not as eager to do the ball joints - and, they were replaced with MOOGs just about 3 years ago.

If the threads are not stripped on the stud and it's JUST the nut that was stripped, then I may be okay if I can remove the nut without damaging the stud threads and then just buy another nut.

As an aside, I also have a Snap-on digital torque wrench, so I do have a good torque wrench. I just didn't think I needed to worry so much about the torque specs on ball joint studs through a cast iron control arm. That 3/8 HF is just way off, so I'm guessing the torque could have easily exceeded 50 - 55 Ft lbs... although the Haynes manual stated that the torques specs on those same studs for stamped steel was something like 70 + ft lbs. Hard to believe those nuts would tolerated 70 + ft lbs.

The studs are just pressed into the ball joint frame. If the stud is stripped, remove the nut, hammer out stud, replace with bolt/nut and lock washer. Or just buy a new ball joint

3 years is about the life of a ball joint anyways no?

jay745 said:

3 years is about the life of a ball joint anyways no?

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Well, I only drive about 5K miles a year, and just a quick look online suggested about 70k miles. My car only has 80K miles total, and the ball joints have less than 15K overall, most likely. I checked the boots and the joints when I was effing with the control arms and they looked in good nick.

eurocars said:

The studs are just pressed into the ball joint frame. If the stud is stripped, remove the nut, hammer out stud, replace with bolt/nut and lock washer. Or just buy a new ball joint

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Sorry, missed your response. Hammer out stud? I don't think that's even possible. As far as I can tell, they're pressed or tack welded into the ball joint. Also, you mention to "remove the nut," but that's my question - has anyone removed the nut if it's stripped and how did they do it - successfully?

Btw, reread your post... so you're saying they're pressed, but have you ever hammered one out? Some of these metal pressing take a lot of force to remove, so not sure how easy it would be to hammer out or if the thread even failed... I'm thinking it was the cheap nuts on the MOOG balljoint that stripped and not the actual threads on stud. Again, though - what did you use to successfully remove a stripped nut?