Lucky to be here..

[ericsmith32]

I just spent the last 4 hours putting the suspension back together on the Festiva. All due to one stripped bolt the one that holds the knuckle to the ball joint. Luckily it came apart when I was backing up to pull into the street not when I was going 70mph last night on the highway with my son in the back seat. I'm so po'd right now I'm tempted to drive out the guys house I bought it from and have a serious disscussion... there's no way whoever was tightening that couldn't of known. The guy said him and his son replaced the LCA's before I bought it. To think I've owned it since Nov. Lately the steering had been getting loose even though I tightened the sway bar on the passenger side, it was loose also. Never thought to check that joint in depth.. the bolt was tight enough not to be loose but not holding anything. Luckily all I have to do now is replace the fender which was going to be replaced anyways.

The cv shaft pulled out of the boot on the transmission side. I'm I right in thinking all it needed was pushed back in? I put a giant hose clamp to replace the other clamp. Barely enough room to keep it from hitting the engine brace.

[91_festy_Gl]

Close call man, glad nothing happened.

[ericsmith32]

Come to think of it wonder if I replaced it with the right bolt? The bolt I used had a "10" on the head. Wonder what grade is original bolt was?

[Damkid]

I've had ball joints separate on me and the ball joint itself was fine and the original pinch bolt to the car was tight, so sometimes it's not anyone's fault why the ball joint separates

[DrMaxwellEdison]

good to hear you're alright and that it wasn't something serious like a ball joint seperating @ 70MPH.... as small as our cars are there wouldn't be much left you your son or the car to speak of I would imagine.... Hope ya get it fixed soon and get the Festiva back on the road.... while you have it down for the ball joint repairs do a once over and make sure everything else is up to par as well.... would do better to prevent a "what if" then to end up in an ER somewhere along side your son....

[ericsmith32]

Oh yeah I went through everything else. The other side everything was tight. I guess this isn't the first dangerous thing I've found. On the rear passenger instead of using the correct washer they used a regular washer. Probably wouldn't of taken much to turn the nut off.

[freshtiva]

I've had ball joints separate on me and the ball joint itself was fine and the original pinch bolt to the car was tight, so sometimes it's not anyone's fault why the ball joint separates

I bought some LCA/Ball joints off ebay and put them on the wifes car, trying to save a few bucks. They got real bad fast and had to be replaced within a year. There is some real junk out there.

[ericsmith32]

The balljoints and even boots still looked good. Wish I could say the same about the LCA's I put on another 91 a few years ago. Don't know what the brand name of those were. I'd be surprised if there was more than one manufacturer with the small demand. Rockauto has Dorman's for $24ish and the Moog which I usually stick to is 48ish. Make you wonder what exactly the difference is.