Strange, I thought the ball joint was the only part that SHOULD be torqued before setting it on the ground. I guess I will reread before I set my car down. thanks for possibly saving me a balljoint!
Well, you're right and I stand corrected. I read the FSM ('67 m.y.) and it did not actually say anything about putting a load on it when tightening.
However... often you do need to put a load on it to help prevent the stud from spinning. When I was working, I'd often put a spin jack under a lower control arm or stick a pry bar between the knuckle and arm for that very purpose. Slightly different set up on the older cars but same principal.
While getting out the cross-threaded one here, I put a floor jack under the lower arm and I stuck a pry bar between the lower control arm and the back of the spindle to load it which helped to keep it from turning. I was thinking that it would probably help to have it on the ground next time when doing the final tightening to prevent it from spinning again. I didn't really think it through when I typed that but it actually might be kind of hard to reach the nut with the wheel on and the suspension compressed.
Maybe I'll just try not to cross-thread it this time. :D
