Horsepwr

All was going fine changing out the LBJ ,stuck the new one over the tie rod end ,was screwing the caster nut down ,and it just keeps going .It goes way past the hole where the pin is supposed to go .It is a genuine Toyota part that I bought ,compared it with the old one ,and they are identicle !!Why would it just keep pressing down on the ball joint .Is the nut not supposed to bottom out ?
Thanks

amcdonal86

The nut is definitely supposed to bottom out. Make sure you have the right part.

Are you sure it's going way past the hole where the pin is supposed to go, or not far enough? The fact that you say it is still spinning says to me that you are not far enough down, since otherwise it would already be flush.

I ran into a problem where the tie rod end threads were corroded enough the cause the tie rod end "stud" to spin in place while I was trying to turn the nut. What I did was use vice grips to hold the tie rod end (with the ball joint disconnected) and use a socket wrench to tighten it all the way down to "clean" the threads. Then when I did it with the ball joint actually on it, it went down perfectly, and I was about to get it nice and tight and put the pin in.

Horsepwr

Thanks for the reply . No the stud is not turning ,I screw the nut down ,and it's pushing the whole new assembly down the ball joint stud (keep in mind it's a tight fit as Im turning the nut down ,but it passes the pin hole up pretty quickly .I took measurements on both old and new parts ,and they are exactly the same .I work about 3 blocks from a large Lexus dealership ,as much as I hate going there ,Ill go there on break and see if I can talk w/ one of their techs .

Thanks again

amcdonal86

The only thing I can think of is you're installing the wrong ball joint on the wrong side?