In order to install the lower control arms, you must use the supplied conical sleeve to fit the IHC ball joint into the Ford spindle.
What!? Ok, fine. When I had them in my hand to install, I realized where I screwed up buying used parts. The previous owner BEAT them out of the other truck. This apparently is a one-time use part and, had I know this, I would’ve replaced it along time ago.
Cleaned the cones (no pics) up the best we could and soldiered on. It appeared the sketchy portion would be below the tapered ball joint and inconsequential. Boy, was I wrong. The ball joints wouldn’t seat and this led to the nut stripping which wiped the ball joint threads out too.
We decided to drill through the nut and put a cotter pin in place.
Decided that it wasn’t worth risking my truck over a “this might work” and the call was made to return it to stock.
During the R&R process, it was discovered the driver side ball joint threads mushroomed and this effectively stopped me in my tracks. Didn’t have the proper file to dress the threads and I elected to start fresh in the morning.
He told me to take his Jeep home but I took the Corolla instead. It was rainy and peak traffic time. Didn’t see risking his Uber-pricy Jeep lol