Front wishbone - Nylon nut tightening

[EJ-Fresno]

Hello all,
I have replaced yesterday the front wishbones on my 2003.
I have a question regarding the nylon nut that tightens the wishbone to the wheel hub: does it have to be tightened all the way down or I have to (can) let some play in it?
I stripped the passenger side star-shape bolt and thus still have 1/8 to go all the way down. I tried to reverse operation but the nut won't move neither way.
Can I drive like this? Or should I fix this ASAP?

Thanks!

[jakeru]

If that's a brand new balljoint you stripped, I feel for ya! (I hope it's the old one having a tough time coming out)

Anyhow, driving with 1/8" slop in this fastener (or anything less than good and tight, really) does not seem safe. This joint goes through a lot of vibrations and transfers a lot of load when cornering.

To add some friction to the conical surfaces so you can unscrew the nut without needing to counter hold via the internal spline, try jacking on the underside of the balljoint to load the joint some. No need to add crazy loads - enough to just start compressing the strut a bit I seem to recall was adequate for when I did some boxster suspension rebuilding work here recently. (This is especially useful in the rear where the cv joint gives even less clearance than the front for accessing the balljoint splines.) To keep the jack from mangling your brake heat shields, you can use a 2x4.

[EJ-Fresno]

Fortunately it wasn't a brand new one, but a used one. The old one didn't have any issue coming out though
I'll follow your advice on using the jack to put pressure on. Maybe I can even get it tight enough like this?
Thanks for your help!

[EJ-Fresno]

Thanks Jakeru, I followed your advice and it worked perfectly!
The nut is now fully tight

Originally Posted by jakeru

If that's a brand new balljoint you stripped, I feel for ya! (I hope it's the old one having a tough time coming out)

Anyhow, driving with 1/8" slop in this fastener (or anything less than good and tight, really) does not seem safe. This joint goes through a lot of vibrations and transfers a lot of load when cornering.

To add some friction to the conical surfaces so you can unscrew the nut without needing to counter hold via the internal spline, try jacking on the underside of the balljoint to load the joint some. No need to add crazy loads - enough to just start compressing the strut a bit I seem to recall was adequate for when I did some boxster suspension rebuilding work here recently. (This is especially useful in the rear where the cv joint gives even less clearance than the front for accessing the balljoint splines.) To keep the jack from mangling your brake heat shields, you can use a 2x4.

[jakeru]

Glad to hear - nice work repairing your own Boxster!