questionable balljoint.. need advice

[zoom zoom]

This just doesn't look right to me, I just finished getting this car road ready after it sat for 3 years, ive put about 100 miles on it, with some kind of banging around going on in this general area of the car (front driver side) I was thinking brakes chattering because they're missing "clips" on the bracket, but then I seen this.. i took a couple more turns on the nut, so it's 2 or 3 threads higher now than it was in this 2nd pic.. i don't know when the balljoints were serviced last, or who did it. Should i let this go or replace it immediately..which may involve a steering rack operation if its crossthreaded..

http://i56.tinypic.com/1r8zgp.jpg

http://i54.tinypic.com/iwpzj5.jpg

[GenevaDirt]

YOU NEED TO CHANGE IT NOW!!!! do not drive it like that. The ball is pulling out of the socket.

[GenevaDirt]

the ball joint is east to fix.....turn the nut first and it lets the ball joint turn off the threads. Put some tape on the threads before you unscrew it and when you put the new one on it should be real close to where it needs to be. I have done this for years and I think only once I ended up needing an alignment.

[zoom zoom]

Oooooo..so thats why the threads are so low on the bottom!

I was looking at how the tie rod end is cockeyed on the steering rod thinking someone used an oversized tie rod end or something?...

Ill get it off there tuesday, and no worries I wont drive it till its fixed with that thought in my head.

[GenevaDirt]

Oooooo..so thats why the threads are so low on the bottom!

I was looking at how the tie rod end is cockeyed on the steering rod thinking someone used an oversized tie rod end or something?...

Ill get it off there tuesday, and no worries I wont drive it till its fixed with that thought in my head.

good....would hate to see the Festy get hurt...:p (and you too)

[zoom zoom]

O my bad lol, its on my 99 626.. forgot to mention that >.<

[GenevaDirt]

O my bad lol, its on my 99 626.. forgot to mention that >.<

still would hate to see anything happen when you know that it can be prevented.

[zoom zoom]

Yah.. definately don't need to wreck this car, im hoping it'll do good in the snow this winter, our roads get pretty bad and I really don't think the spire's gonna be able to handle it. I see people putting 195/50's on their festys and wonder how nice it must be not having to worry about taking off from a dead stop sitting on 1/2" of ice. With my work schedule, im either getting off, or on my way to work around 3:30- 4 am, which is a full half hour before road crews wake up.

[zoom zoom]

I pulled and replaced the outter tie rod end, it was definately the culprit.

BUT, I think the old tie rod is still good, it wasn't loose like other bad ball joints I've replaced, I think it just wasn't cranked down all the way, but i'm not putting it back on to find out. I'll keep it and use it if the other side goes bad.

the reason the threads LOOK so low, is because the nut, I think whoever replaced the balljoint used the wrong nut. I went to the junk yard to pull a tie rod (hoping for something cheap and easy) but after I got it out of the steering knuckle, i found out it's gotta be the factory part, it was sorta loose.. so I just bought a new one for 20 bucks.

anyway, of the 3 different tie rods I looked at, all 3 had different size nuts! the factory was tallest by 1/4" and it has a flange on the end, the "new" balljoint had a normal sized nut, but the old one is smaller, by a little more than 1/8"..............weird


/e o and whoever replaced this balljoint last time was nice enough to put antiseize on the threads! so changing it took like 15 minutes, including time to jack it up and take the tire off!