ball joints

[milehighbear]

Wow, was i lucky. I broke a bolt on one of my ball joints and had just traveled 8 miles at 65 mph and and was in my Dr's parking lot when the ball joint dropped down and the whole wheel turned under the car and the cv shaft came out of the tranny. Im gonna be checking my bolts a little more often now

[Pu241]

Been there!
How about doing 35 mph starting the acceleration run up to merge on to a 4 lane highway!
Now that will get you a new pair of underroos.

DO NOT CHECK THEM!
REPLACE BOTH CONTROL ARMS NOW!

Seriously, if one has already let loose the other is not far behind!
Us the Moog ones they are more expensive but higher quality.
Also make sure when the axle was pulled out of the transmission that it did not harm the seal between the transmission and inboard CV.
Or after you get it all buttoned up you will have a tranny leak.

[Safety Guy]

I was wondering about ball joint/control arm quality. On Lux, one of mine went bad after under three years of use. It's not like I go off roading either.

I'm going with Moog for my next set.

Checking this area is a MUST DO.

Karl

[miami man]

years ago i had a torsion bar adjusting bolt break on my chrysler in my driveway so i was luck it happened there. i also had a driveshaft break in my driveway also.

[bhazard]

I had a balljoint give on my tbird, luckily I was driving about 15 mph thru town and it didnt completely fall about. It 'sat on itself' long enough for me to get 10 blocks home. Though it wasnt the smoothest drive home. I have never been so on edge.

[FoxProGT]

that happend to my car... luckly it feel apart in a parking lot with no traffic..... i would hate to be on any road with traffic when that happens..

i believe hitting a pot hole over 50 was the cause of it breaking X(

[milehighbear]

yea, but what was hard to believe was i had just put new ball joints plus bolts, sway bar bushings, control arms, rotors and calipers and new struts on it about 6 months ago. This time i put nylon locking nuts with a lock washer and a grade eight bolt on both of them and said a prayer.

[deathegg]

This makes me want to go out RIGHT NOW and get them done, but I have to wait to save a bit more money.... mine are really old now, and can't go too much longer on them.

Glad you were off the highway when it happened!

[litesong]

What kind of mileage did your Festivas have when balljoints disassembled? For a 20 year old car, my Festiva has only 77,000 miles.

[bravekozak]

LUBE, oil and filter

I don't know who had the bright idea to eliminate the zerks and seal the ball joints, but they sure fooled everyone. When they fail, you're screwed. I miss the good old days when I used to crawl under my car and grease the joints. The guys at Mr. Lube should be checking for a dry condition, but they can't even read the tire pressure gauge properly or remember to put the oil filler cap back in.

[MONSOON]

I had one go out on me while I was doing about 35 across the backside of a strip mall. It was giving me warning sounds too. But like an idiot I ignored them. Pu241 is right. Its definately an Underroos moment.

[Pu241]

FWIW, my '93 Turquoise only had 81k miles on it but required both new control arms and hub bearings as well as rear bearings. Could also use new boots for the rack and pinion!