Previous owner had tack welded in the ball joint. I could not see that through the dirt and after much force with a 6ft long cheeter bar it snapped the welds. I did not want to use it cause surely the threads were trash hence the welds.
Yea....those upper ball joint threads aren't the greatest and you'll finds lots of them have been tacked at some point to insure a non slip joint. Not sure if it's a big deal if done right....but there are way smarter guys here than me to elaborate.