Not tryin' to hijack but here's a related story:
'bout a month ago i decide to finally go ahead and do the clevis lift as i needed to fit my new tires (which still don't fit, but that's another story). So the passenger side gets done without a hitch and i move to the driver's side which fought me EVERY STEP OF THE WAY.
First i stripped the nut trying to disconnect the sway bar so had to BFH a smaller socket on it in order to get that nut off (i just got the socket back off last week). Then i couldn't get that friggin' LBJ to release to save my life! After trying to be nice w/it i resorted to . . . you guessed it . . . poundin' the life out of it w/my BFH. Granted, not a smart idea but at the end of the day and you're PO'd and just want to hit something anyway, well, you know. No success.
So next morning i awaken w/fresh resolve, lots of time and a case of cold ones and decide "i can do this"! So after about 10 more minutes of pounding, already sweatin' so hard i can't hold the hammer, i'm like "what i really need is a pitman arm puller". One beer later i'm like "hey, didn't i buy a pitman arm puller last fall"? Yep, sure did.
Put the thing to work and the LBJ popped right outa' there. One more beer to celebrate . . . albeit prematurely. i get the clevis done, go to put the LBJ back together and realize that the work i'd done w/said BFH has mushroomed the bottom of the Moog so i can't just screw the nut back on. 'Nother beer as i'm lookin' at the grinder and deciding "i'll just grind the mushroomed portion off so i can get the blessed nut back on the ball joint". So after a bit of careful grinding i thread the nut back on (which took a good 10 minutes just to get started) and begin tightening only to have it bite and stop threading about an inch onto it.
Best guess is that when the joint popped out it scraped the threads (at any rate i'm just sure they weren't damaged by all my surgical work w/the BFH).
So now what? There's no way to grasp the bolt portion of the ball joint to keep it from turning whilst i tighten the nut so i start shopping tap & dye's.
In case anyone was wondering, there's no tap & dye large enough to fit the bolt of a Moog LBJ stocked in any store ANYWHERE! i checked NAPA, Auto Zone, Advanced Auto, Sears, Ace Hardware, etc. So with the tap & dye option gone bye bye i was left scratchin' my head.
In great desperation, i had a stroke of genius (or at least a last desperate idea). Went to Ace and bought a "Grab bit", you know those bits used to remove stripped screws, etc. i bored into the bottom of the ball joint just enough to tap the Grab bit in. i threaded the nut on then, using vice-grips to hold the grab bit and therefore the ball joint in place, i was able to s-l-o-w-l-y tighten all the way back on and get the ball joint seated.
So let this be a lesson and don't get to pounding things just cause you feel like it.
And remember "It may be that the purpose of your life is simply to serve as a warning to others"!