Most lower ball joints that attach to the housing which is screwed onto the strut have a nylock nut on the ball joint shaft and also the shaft has no flats to stop the shaft rotating when tightening the shaft into its housing.

So what is the secret to tighten the joint into its housing?

I tried using two clamps placed between the bottom of the ball joint and the edge of the housing to provide some friction but this was too awkward to work.

In desperation I removed the lower spring wrap clip retaining the ball joint boot to its housing, folded back the boot and grabbed the shaft with multigrips which allowed me to tighten initially to get grabbing between the shaft and housing. It was then very difficult to get the spring wrap clip back over the boot. I then held the edge of the housing with a huge pipe wrench and finished tightening with a torque wrench.

Do mechanics get the initial grab between the shaft and housing by using some friction materiel - a smear of gritty valve grind paste for example?