Loose front end castle nuts when properly torqued

I recently replaced the LBJ's on my '02 Taco with new Toyota parts (not aftermarket). The ball joint included a fresh castle nut & cotter pin. Got everything installed but both the cotter slots in the new castle nut and, curiously, in the original nut for the steering link now won't align with the holes in the studs when torqued to proper specs...106 & 67 ft-lbs, IIRC. Watching Timmy's videos and reading up elsewhere on this, I am aware that sometimes you may need to back the nuts off slightly to get things to align enough to get the pin through. My concern is that the only way to get that pin in is when the fastener is slightly loosened from proper torque, resulting in a nut that is basically hand-tight.

Needless to say, this doesn't sit well with me at all.

I tried the original nut on the LBJ stud with the same results. I did clean the threads and applied blue thread lock, and I also marked the nuts with a yellow paint pen. The cotter pins are present and secure. Things haven't budged in the four days since I performed the work; there's no looseness in the steering or noise in the front suspension, but I don't know if I can truly trust things as they are. One of the mechanics at my job suggested shimming the nuts up with washers just enough to achieve the specified torque, but I don't know if that's a viable option. Funny thing is, when I removed the original fasteners they spun off quite easily by hand once the cotter pins were pulled. Should I try shimming the nuts out?

 

The general advice Ive heard is that you tighten the nut to the next slot, not loosen. If it were a wheel hub, the opposite would be true.

 

Tighten to the next slot

 

yup, go another 1/8 turn or so to line up with the next slot.

 

I’m not sure this’ll help since I don’t know if there are washers with what you’re working on. Also when I have questions I’ll sometimes refer to aircraft maintenance, specifically FAA AC 43-13 1b
“When installing a castle nut, start alignment with the cotter pin hole at the mini- mum recommended torque plus friction drag torque.
NOTE: Do not exceed the maximum torque plus the friction drag. If the hole and nut castellation do not align, change washer or nut and try again. Exceeding the maximum recom- mended torque is not recommended.”

 

While LBJs are indeed a critical part, especially on 1st gens it seems, I would imagine aircraft specs might be considered overkill.

 

In answer to some of the above replies, I can't tighten the nuts to the next slot before things bottom out.

 

Why not?

 

Maybe because I've already tried it?

 

If the nut is tight up to the surface, it is 'bottomed out'. That doesn't mean it's at the correct torque value, and can't be tightened to that value, or a bit more to line up the castle nut slot.

 

lol, yeah, I think so too but some cases it might help out. This could be one of them.

 

You should try again and keep turning it to the next slot.

 

Considering the last nuts were basically finger tight.. on these new ones I'd go farther and keep tightening until the castle nut lines up with the hole.

Don't worry about "bottoming out", the stud can stretch a little and be OK. Just use your judgement and don't overtorque the hell out of it

 

Thanks, I'll give it another shot.