Suspension wishbone castle nut.

[bigegg]

I've been doing some pre-mot work on the lexus.
One of the jobs was to replace the upper wishbones[1]

When I came to tighten up the castle nut on the ball joint there is about 5mm of gap between the nut and the hole for the split pin.
Do I:
1. Tighten the nut fully, and just put the split pin loose?
2. Put some washers on to bring the nut to the correct position?
3. Drill a new hole?


[1]before anyone says anything:
On a 20 year old car, suspension bushes are a service item, not a repair!

 

[piman]

Hello Bigegg,

washer(s) would seem to be the answer or else use a nyloc nut instead?

Alec

 

[Wallace]

Was the split pin in the castellations when you started dismantling? I would be checking old and new bush length as the geometry may not be correct if you have gaps that weren’t in there before.

 

[grim_d]

Washers is the answer, standard practice to adjust castellated nuts.

Nyloc also a solution though often threads are uncommon on ball joints and may not have one lying around.

As above though did you compare to old, is it just the hole in a different place?

No castellated nut with the new ball joint? Often parts will come will a taller or shorter nut if they are aware the hole is not in the same place as OE.

 

[frank horton]

Wallace,
prob not an original part.......this same part might also fit a Nissan truck.....the taper side o things will be the same but the stud/thread length can alter .......so as the 1 part fit as many vehicles as poss.....
most of these Japanese cars use a very fine thread and chances are with the size 14-16'ish mm not normally available, esp in Nylock..it be a dealer part.....
Build it up with a washer would be my route......
as it happens I do a lot of stuff from that part of the world and now have a large range of taps and dies just for these vehicles..
had quite a job with some of the threads.......
just sayin........

 

[gordon stephenson]

If the nut is tightened to the correct torque or experienced "feel" use a washer as said above,

 

[bigegg]

Washers fitted - thread is something like a M12 X 1 fine pitch.
Definitely don't have a nyloc to fit.
It *is* an aftermarket part: and the stud is longer.


Thanks everyone.

 

[gordon stephenson]

I would not use a nyloc in place of the castle nut. Who knows how good the nylon is etc. Also may not be sized correctly. Good old split pin every time if it’s the original spec. And no winding the legs right round the nut. Chop them off reasonably short and spring them apart enough to prevent them coming out. Much easier to remove when required too.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

On a 20 year old car, suspension bushes are a service item,

Was there a huge difference in cost between a Lexus Dealer part and the pattern part? I think if the original part had done me 20 [or however many] years I'd have sprung for the OEM bit.

But that's just me.

 

[anto44]

Nuts and bolts on a lexus are normally m12x1.25 for suspension parts