Crotchy, you mentioned that the taper did not seem to be the same.
The taper has to be exact, as that is what locks the 2 parts together.
If the shaft taper, and the hole taper, are even slightly out, they will come loose in days.
This is because instead of having a nice long matching surface when you do the nuts up, the incorrect taper only seats on the very narrow surface where the 2 tapers first touch. After a couple of days driving, the small areas work against each other and wear, causing the nuts to appear loose even if the split pin is still in the castle nut (if that is what we have - I have not looked).
You are going to have to measure the taper to check if they are the same.
There is 2 ways of doing this -
1. Simply by eye side by side.
2. The real way is to measure the small dia, the large dia, and the length between.
All 3 dimensions would need to be within 0.01mm or 0.004" to be correct.
To measure them, you would need a vernier to read the measurements, or a set of callipers to compare one to the other.
You will need to do this quickly because if it is wrong it will be creating wear to both surfaces, not just the ball joint.
No mudding until you are happy that this has been eliminated.
Hope above helps.
PK
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