lower control arm ball joint NUT

[regulator213]

I recently replace my driver side lower control arm and tightened the nut on the ball joint down all the way. And its a lock nut. Somehow the nut managed to back itself off in a couple of days to the last thread or two and while i was driving down the road those last two threads stripped out and shot the nut off leaving my wheel stuck up in my wheel well.

What did i do wrong? is there a trick to keep it from backing off?

 

[black_gst]

loctite! the locking nut may have just been old and not working completly did you torque it to spec?

 

[regulator213]

yeah i thought about loctite but what if i ever wanted to get it off again? then i would be stuck. cause its hard enough to keep the ball joint from moving to tighten it down.

 

[blackGSX2g]

Ny-lock nuts really aren't meant to be reused. Was it new? How much did you torque it down?

 

[RoasT BeeF]

You need to place a jack underneath the balljoint while you are tightening the nut, otherwise the entire stud will spin with the nut before it even gets tight. Did you do that?

 

[Detective Coating]

This happened to me before. I wish they had damned cotter pins for them! As said above place a jack under it to put pressure on it and use loctite. The factory nuts do get worn and tend to back out. Get some new ones from the factory if possible.

 

[regulator213]

Ny-lock nuts really aren't meant to be reused. Was it new? How much did you torque it down?

it was a brand new part. It was only on for like 4 days when this happened. but i will try the jack thing. The new one seems to be holding fairly well though. i check it almost every time i get into my car now.