Hub and axle reassembly

[Flib]

Guys, something strange I need help with.

I replaced both upper and lower ball joints on the passenger side today. After I reinstalled the axle and the hub I spun the axle nut on with my dewalt impact gun (18 volt and not that powerful) thinking I would put it on semi tight, get everything buttoned up and put the wheel back on to torque the axle nut (using the weight of the jeep to keep the hub from spinning.
When I put the rotor on I could not spin the hub, just a tad each way before it locks up, the front drive shaft spins so I know the axle is in the diff (it was also positioned in the knuckle correctly). Best way to describe it is it feels like it is in gear but the jeep is not in 4wd

The wheel spun freely before I reassembled everything, fairly certain the axle even spun when I put that in.

It was late in the day and I have not removed the hub yet to see if the axle spins without it installed.

??????

 

[Jerry Bransford]

Did you install new unit bearing hubs or new rotors? What model year is your TJ?

 

[Flib]

2004 TJ

Same hub being reused, the only thing new was the ball joints which obviously would not cause this problem.

 

[Flib]

lmao, all figured out. The ball joint had a plug but came with a grease fitting, so of course I installed the grease fitting (90 degree). With the grease fitting installed it was hitting the axle, greased it up and put the plug back in and now the hub rotates.