Lower Ball Joint Bolts - Lesson Learned

I replaced Lower ball joints on my '98 4x4 Tacoma about 8 months ago. Didnt have a torque wrench at the time - went for "darntight".... A couple months ago, I installed Bilstein 5100's, AAL's, pinion bushings and had it aligned - so far so good.
I rotated my tires last night and noticed a LOT of play on driver's side front tire. Did some wiggling and discovered that my LBJ was lose and missing a bolt. Being that i have since purchased a torque wrench, I went about tightening down the other three bolts and found a 4th to replace the missing one. Here's where I started to run into issues (other than the spine-tingling feeling of what could have happened had I not caught it when I did).
First of all - without the factory service manual - finding that torque rating wasnt easy. Looking like 45-60 some ftlbs. Knowing that my idea of "darntight" was way in the hell higher than that, its obvious that I over tightened them.
Mess-up #2: Everything I have read says that lock tight is required.
Mess-up #3: As I learned with u-bolts on the AAL's, I should have bought new bolts rather than re-use the factory (I assume) bolts.
Now for the fun of tapping new threads as the missing bolt apparently took the threads with it.
Has anyone used a "thread chaser"? I would rather not drill it out and go for a bigger size. Thanks in advance.

 

Thread insert of your choice is what I would do .

Those are M10x1.25 are they not??

 

They are. Just purchased a tap for that size. Hoping enough threads are intact to handle the torque. I looked at thread inserts while at the tool specialty store. I did a helicoil for a blown out spark plug on my 95 3.4 and that was a nightmare. Worked tho. I think there is plenty of metal to jump up to a 12mm. Would thread insert be a better choice?

 

It is what I would use but that is me.


Will a 12mm bolt 17mm head cause clearance problems

Without being under a truck I have no idea

 

Hadn't considered the head not clearing. I'll look into that when I'm under it this evening. It is one if the two closest to the dust cover, however.
Hopefully I won't have to cross that bridge...

 

Would a 1/4'' longer bolt grab a few more threads maybe?

 

Blue loctite the LBJ bolts.

 

Re-tapped both outer holes and managed to get the bolts torqued to proper settings. Lots of blue loctite. Dodged a bullet here! Might have to take a picture of the bent and mostly stripped out bolt from the outer side... One for the wall of shame for sure!

 

Funny I never seize those bolts after having to remove the steering knuckles on both sides to drill those bolts out.

Talk about a lower ball joint project . I should have just bought new steering knuckles it would have been easier.

I learned my lesson No long Holiday weekend projects.

 

Definitely enough room.

 

I personally use red. Holds tighter than blue, but can still be removed just fine. No need for heat.

Also make sure you clean the threads of grease and dirt when you reinstall. I usually just spray brake cleaner in the holes liberally.

 

I used penetrating oil when re-tapping the threads so had to clean with break cleaner anyway. Worked well on the loads of road grime built up on them too.