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Ball joint to control arm Torque


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Hey all. I was finally getting around to putting my front suspension onto my car today after the paint job. Anyway, I was going over everything with my torque wrench, making sure everything was to spec.

 

I got to the 2 bolts that hold on each ball joint to the control arm, and read my haynes. 45 lb-ft. Hmm, seemed like a lot to me for those little bolts. (somewhere between 1/4" and 5/16" in metric) Sure enough, before I got to 45 ft-lbs I snapped the head off the bolt. Argh!

 

The torque wrench is brand new, this was actually the first time I have used it. I am 99.9% sure it was set correctly. I think that either I was reading the wrong torque spec in my manual, or that it was incorrect. So can someone check their manual for me and see what the torque on those 2 bolts should be? (I only have haynes, so if someone has a chiltons or factory...?)

 

Thanks in advance...

 

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Richard Lewis

drax2.gif

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The FSM for my 78 shows 40 to 54 lb-ft for the castle nut, and 14 to 18 lb-ft for the nuts that hold the ball joint to the transverse link, which is what I think you are looking for.

 

Looks like Haynes might have had their nuts mixed up.

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Drax..... being "anal" smile.gif has its bad points..

i torque only heads, internal engine parts and flywheel (clutch) all other parts are done by hand ..

ESPecially all bolts that are 10mm or 12mm nut size.

 

Mike

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Yeah 14-18 sounds a whole lot more reasonable to me. I checked my other book (the wick humble one) and it gave the 40-54ft-lb listing for the castle nut. I'm not 100% sure, but I think haynes is messed up there.

 

As far as the FSM goes... I have the engine from an 82, the chassis from a 72, which is insured as a 72, but has the same date of production as my last 73, a rear from a 79, a tranny from a 77, swaybars from an 81, alternator from a 81... well you get the idea. smile.gif I may yet break down and get the 72 or 73 one. (not sure which)

 

This bolt was a 13mm head size. Anyway, I am more than happy with the 14-18ft-lbs that tim quoted there, seems like a reasonable figure. I'm not anal about everything as far as torque goes, but I wanted to try my torque wrench out too! smile.gif

 

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Richard Lewis

drax2.gif

 

[This message has been edited by Drax240z (edited March 12, 2001).]

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