Busted Ball Joint
- Thread starter pontiacgp
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here's the ride I had when the ball joint broke, I was travelling at 55 to 60 mph...the middle picture shws where the tire ran out of rubber and the steel cords were doing the braking and the bottom picture shows the barrier I was heading for when the ball joint blew apart and turned the car. The right wheel was jambed in the wheel wheel so the wheels would not turn too easily or very much.
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On the road balljoint failures are scary. I had the ball pull out of the cup on my lower A arm few years back. Just hit a minor bump in the bridge and the car just dropped. Was going 45 or so. Thought I blew a tire. Funny thing was it was at the alignment shop a few weeks before and the suspension was tight.
Just lucky you didn't stick it into the guardrail.
Just lucky you didn't stick it into the guardrail.
I had that ball joint off a couple of weeks ago when I cut my springs and didn't use anything other than a wrench to tighten it back up. The break is obviously from stress but it's a 7/16 shaft so anything I did should not have stretched the stud to that point. I'm glad I didn't have the wheel turned cause the fender would have come down on it and I'm happy I was able to turn it away from the guardrail and not back into traffic. There was 2 transport trucks behind me when it happened. I'll be changing the lower control arms to screw in ball joints this winter so I can use Howe ball joints. And for those who have wondered about the strength of the UB machine tubular uppers it held the wheel in place, didn't bend or break so I just replaced the ball joint and away I went...when I got my wheel alignment done the right side had not changed since my last wheel alignment a week ago.
wow! glad you didnt hit the guard rail! im now convinced, changing my ball joints in my daily driver this weekend, no more putting it off.
It's just a freak accident that this ball joint broke. If you have no play and they are not seized I wouldn't change them. There are a bunch of race cars that use the same ball joint I have and I have never seen one break like mine did. Plus they are used on thousands of pick up trucks as well.
Lady Luck was on your side that day. I just got moy Dads 79 Elky SS and am redoing the whole front just for peice of mind, well... that and polyurathane bushings, braded brake lines, drill and slotted rotors and green stuff pads as well as KYB shocks. Im looking forward to the new ride. Glad you and your ride werent hurt too bad🙂
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