Aftermarket spindle?
Sounds like the stud bore in spindle & ball joint stud don't match.
Try putting the nut on the stud & see if it will pull it in further. Be sure evething is clean.
My son had some bell tech spindles that he had same problem with. Long story short those spindles took a proprietary ball joint from bell tech w/ a longer stud that was no longer available. To the scrap pile with them...
