the bolt goes from the ttop down, yes they are tight, usually extremely tight
when you get the stud in the spindle top down, then the sleeve goes on the bottom half, then the spacers and the joint , then the nut, tightening the nutt will aslo pull the stud thru, not getting it snug and tight will cause it to oval out the spindle and or break, so make sure its fully seated, and tight, you will know when its tight, and fully seated,
all knuckles seemed to be different so he made them tight, some with a lot of miles had more wear, newer, less wear, so we had to meet in the middle on size, you can take and file out the lower section some, but usually it will pull thru nicely when tightening,
drive a few miles, recheck, recheck again after 100 miles , then 500 miles , then every oil change