KRos_+

Hey guys ive been searching for my answer and cant find it anywhere! I need to know this by 2morrow or else i will just find out the hard way.

Can i use bolts with nuts and lock washers instead of studs on the upper ball joint???

My concern is that it will be hard to get a socket or wrench on the head of the bolt to keep it from spinning while i tighten the nut on. There isnt much room on the underside of the control arm.

Anyone have any experience using bolts instead of studs??

I know that the BJ spacers come with long bolts and nuts and washers but they bring the head of the bolt down however thick the spacer is. So it would be easy to get a wrench or socket on it then. But im not doin spacers just replacing upper BJs.

Any help is much appreciated as always.. thanks guys and happy easter!!!!!

KRos_+

Im gonna answer my own post again.....i hate doing this.

It seems that bolts and nuts with lock washers worked for me. I can see why the factory uses studs as it is very hard to get a wrench or socket on the head of the bolts from underneath. But I had a helper so 4 hands made things much easier. One held a boxed end wrench on the head of the bolt and the other torqued down the nut on top the control arm. We had to jack up the Upper control arm in order to get the old BJ out and the new one in. I used grade 8 bolts, nuts and lock washers so im not worried about them breaking.

The castle nut was very hard to get off and separated from the knuckle. I found using a pitman arm puller putting tension on the stud and beating on it with a hammer wrked well for loosening it up. We had to remove the brake soft line and the sway bar link to have room to wrench on the castle nut and the puller. After all that we got it off and the new one on eveything put back together and took it for a test drive. It feels great!! Job well done!! Now I have to do the passenger side next weekend but it should go smoother since we know exactly what to do.

Hope this info helps someone!

bmcghie

There's nothing wrong with using nuts and bolts for ball joints... but lock washers and loctite are an excellent idea!

Please please please just make sure they are sufficiently strong for the application!

Utah4Runner86

iTrader: (1)

What he said. Ball joint separation is no bueno.

KRos_+

Cool thanks for responding guys!! Glad to know it will work! Seems good so far, i drove around a bit today and the nuts didnt move at all. It felt real solid. Now i gotta do the passenger side. Its creaking and popping real bad!! From the looks of the BJ i took off, they are original factory 21yrs old. Just like everything else ive replaced so far..... The rubber brake flex lines must be the factory ones as well. They say "Toyoda" with a D??? Not the first thing ive seen that says that. Im not gonna drive it anymore until its fixed.

I used grade 8 bolts nuts and lock washers. Is that strong enough?? I would think so. Please correct me if im wrong!

2012MongolRally

x2 That was a great idea to use lock washers. I used threadlocker doing the job and thought that was plenty good, sounds good to go with both