70 Blazer Frame Off

[IronCanine]

Had every intention of finishing buttoning up the front axle today, but it fought me at every turn. I have been a little disappointed in the ball joints. Everything is new Moog. None of the grease fittings threaded easily and the upper ball joint on the passenger's side has botched threads...I think I'm going to have to locate a die to clean it up.

I'll also get your guys opinion on the spindle nuts. I've seen so many different attitudes toward how to torque them in...anywhere from 50-75 ft lbs to set the preload on the bearing, 1/4 back then re-torque, all while spinning the hub. Then the outer nut to anywhere from 90-200 ft lbs.

When I initially torqued the inner nut, the hub got super tight at 50 and was pretty much locked down after that. I backed it off a 1/4 turn and then basically torqued it by feel based on the force required to rotate the hub. Then hammered down on the outer nut...am I goofing up?

I like the later model dust shield too. It's powder coated, and it matched the pieces we painted cast gray pretty well...that's another thing...it gets harder not to scratch paint the more aggravated you get.

Hopefully I'll have a complete axle by mid morning tomorrow.