New ball joint wont fit into knuckle! HELP!

[Scuba75]

I just removed the old ball joint from my '93 wagon L because it was getting a little sloppy. I picked up new ones at Autozone (I know, its crap) and the damn thing will not go back into the steering knuckle. I stuck a big screwdriver between the pinch bolt flange to try and pry it open, and I still cant get it to slide in. Has anybody ever heard of this problem? Do you have to remove the lower control arm to make this happen? Any help will be appreciated. I'm stuck!

[rallyak]

If the bolt is out it should slide in with little effort. You don't need to remove the control arm.

[jamal]

did you clean out all the gunk and rust from inside the upright? And if you compare the old one to the new are they the same size?

[James614]

I've had a little trouble getting my old ones back in in the past. Like Jamal mentioned, old gunk and rust can play a big part. Other than that, lots of wriggling to make sure its in exactly the right spot and angle to slide back in.

I always figured that difficulty would go away with new ones though. When I got new ones, also from auto zone back in 2008, they went right in with no issue. And from my experience the chances both are the wrong size are very slim. I've seen them sell rebuilt parts that aren't the correct side or application, but that's a different case as they have to sort through all the wrong crap people turn in to them.

[Scuba75]

I did wipe out the inside of the knuckle, it looks pretty clean. The the new one appears to be the same diameter as the old. I would need a micrometer to measure any difference, however I do see a very slight difference in the two when comparing from the side,but I have seen slight differences in aftermarket parts before and it has made no difference. I guess I'll make the 15 mile drive to get the Moog's and see if they fit. BTW, how do attach a picture? I clicked Img but it doesn't let me upload? Thanks for the replies, I'll post when back when I win.

[mike-tracy]

You have to upload pictures to photobucket or similar, then copy the direct link (using the IMG tags you saw earlier)

[Scuba75]

So the ball joints from Auto Zone were to big. I bought another brand from O'reilly and they slid in no problem. Thanks for the feedback.

[James614]

Did they give you FWD ball joints instead of AWD or something?

[Scuba75]

The guy at the counter checked the part number again, said it was correct. He also said it could be a defect, so I assume it's not the first time he came across it.