So I changed both UCA on a 95 accord, I got the parts off ebay, i didn't want to drop a lot of money on it as, its just a grocery getter. Anyways my problem is, I torqued the castle nut to 29ft/lbs, after torquing had a gap between the castle nut prongs and the cotter pin. i backed the castle nut off on one side and put the the cotter pin in, so it would catch. So it was loose, I was curious if the car would settle and it would fix the gap, which it did.

Now the other one........
I put a spacer in between the gap, put the castle nut on, torqued it and put the cotter pin in. While this seemed like a good idea at the time..... turns out it wasn't. After taking it around the block and found that the loose one had settled tight, and the one with the spacer didn't. I pulled the spacer and drove it around the block again and now it wont seat.

I guess my questions are.....

Why do you have to torque these if they go way past the cotter pin point and have to loosen it 3 turns to even get the cotter pin to do anything.

Are they even supposed to "seat" or am i off base here?

I guess I really could use some guidence as I think i've boned this project.

 

This "gap", I'm guessing it is between the castle nut on the ball joint and the knuckle?

Is the OE castle nut taller. Or is the hole in the new arm drilled to far down the stud. I'm leaning more towards the parts than anything you did....IIRC, (once the tire is off) How do you mess anyhting up removing 5 nuts and one cotter pin-I'm counting the two little ones that hold the cover over the stud.

 

Yes, the gap is in between the castle nut and the knuckle. I checked the studs and cotter pin holes before i installed them and studs are same length and the cotter holes are less then 1/8" off. And as far as screwing up 5 nuts..... your guess is as good as mine.

Since I torqued this while it was still in the air... could there be a chance that when i set the car down it binded on the anchor swing bolts? Should I try taking the UCA off and reinstalling and trying again? Not torque down the anchors till I get the weight of the car on it?

 

Again, I didn't mean to imply you did anything wrong.

It's a taper seat between the joint and the knuckle, so how does torq'ing a nut to 29-35 ft lbs pull anything too far?? On mine I set the joint into the knuckle, started the castle nut, finger tight or so. Then torq the anchors, then finish the nut on the ball joint....still all in the air? So I'm sorry I can't give more help. Unless the taper is off I can't really understand this one.

The side that seated, have you re-checked the torq on the ball joint...on the ground and or in the air?

 

Mine are like that too. Torque it, and then bend the cotter pin up to fit into the castle nut slots.

 

If the slots don't line up, just tighten them until you get the slot. Too tight won't hurt anything.