2001 pathfinder passenger side ball joint install.

[Taboofluffy69]

Finished replacing my passenger side lower control arm that came with a new ball joint installed. After tightening the ball joint nut by hand, I found the cotterpin is about 1/8 of an inch outside the castellation of The nut. The old one had a cotterpin, but the nut wasn't castellated. Can I simply add a washer or 2 to get it into The castellatiom or just throw the pin in and bend it?

[Desert Rat]

either or. Seems if it's coming through that far, the taper on the balljoint might not be a good match for the spindle....is this an OEM Nissan arm that you used, or an aftermarket one? If aftermarket, washer it, and you'll get the benefit of the castle nut.

[Taboofluffy69]

thanks for the response. I ended up putting the old nut back on and comparing it to the ballpoint on the drivers side. It was just the castellations throwing me off. From what I've read once the ballpoint is torqued on there it really isn't going to come back out without some pretty major effort with a hammer on my part. Which is what it took for me to getbthe old one out. wd-40, a mini sledge and about an hour and a half of steady beating.