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New ball joints. How far up on the stud is the steering knuckle supposed to be driven? I have tightened the castle nut on the stud to the point where it clears the hole for the cotter pin, and there is still 3/16" of taper left between the top of the knuckle and the bottom of the ball joint boot. To tighten it more I will have to use a breaker bar. Am I flirting with thread damage here, or just being too timid.
Try moving the boot around, sometimes there is air trapped in it. If you can move the boot down enough to meet the top of the spindle it will probably be fine once you fill it with grease.
The steering knuckle does not need to be driven" onto the ball joint (or, vice-versa). The ball stud is tapered as is the hole in the steering knuckle with which it articulates. After the ball stud taper "seats" in the taper in the steering knuckle, that's it, regardless of whether, or not, there is "left-over" taper seen at space between the ball joint and the knuckle.
You should tighten the nut to the specified torque, plus additional torque necessary to align the cotter pin hole with the castle nut. That's it.
I thought your concern was the boot not covering all of the stud on the ball joint. As Joe said, the spindle will stop itself on the tapered shaft, and don't worry about the boot, it will cover completely when greased and any trapped air is forced out.
Yes, usually the boot will extend to the top of the steering knuckle after it's filled with grease. However, whether it actually does, or not, makes no difference as far as functionality goes.
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