Steering Knuckle issues on dana 44 - 72 blazer

[72K5CSTDarkOlive]

I posted this in my build thread but I thought maybe the 4x4 section I might be able to help me out here.

I'm having a bad case of Murphy's Law consistently with this truck..

I installed the passenger side steering knuckle in less than 10 minutes.. No problem, torqued the lower ball joint nut 70 lbs of torque, spanner nut @ 50 lbs, and the top ball joint king nut @ 100 lbs..

I'm thinking this is great, I'll have this axle fully assembled with wheels on and back on the truck tonight..

NOPE!!!

The drivers side knuckle is giving me hell. I spent 4-5 hours last night trying every possible reason why the upper ball joint stud wont side all the through the spanner nut.. I tried adjusted how much I had the ball joints seated and various other tactics.

I'm stumped... When I torque the lower at 70 lbs and then i try to torque the spanner nut, it continues to spin through past the edge of last thread causing it to push the upper ball joint stud down...

Here's a pic.. you can see the upper ball joint is not all the way through the spanner.. this is as far as it would go, even with the lower torqued down.

[GuyO]

Just read your post and wondered if it is the wrong part? I am sure you thought of that too, but does it match the original? Sounds like you will need to add a thick washer.