Crikey! LCA came loose and pulled CV axle out!

[FeistyFesti]

Today I was making a left turn to get back to work and then clunk, pow, my car started darting left, heading towards a Cadillac STS, but I slammed on the brakes and it stopped. However, the passenger side wheel was turned out all the way to the right because the lca came loose from the hub/knuckle which in turn pulled the inner cv joint apart. I was blocking the road for about 20 minutes while a wrecker came to tow me home. Luckily I was only 3 miles from my house.

Now I'm wondering if the lca was put in but not totally locked down by the pinch bolt. If the pinch bolt was installed properly, could it be possible for the ball joint to come loose from the knuckle? The lower ball joint is still intact and not torn. I wish I took a picture but I'll do that tomorrow. I hope the axle comes out easily not like all those horror stories I've been reading about in this forum. Other than that, it should be an easy fix and USAA will pay the $40 tow fee so its not too bad a deal. I'm off tomorrow too so thats another great thing.

[zoe60]

If it was me I'd have the extra expense of driver seat stain removal. Bet it was an exciting ride! Good luck gettin' er fixed.

[FestYboy]

sounds like the pinch bolt wasn't the corrrect diameter and allowed the lower ball joint pin to slip out.

[Movin]

^^^ plus one, can't happen any other way without broken parts..

[denguy]

Lucky it didn't happen at speed, scary thought.

[FeistyFesti]

Of course on my day off, nobody in town has a new cv axle, so I had to order a new one from Bill O' Reilly's and it'll be in tomorrow at 730am. It costs $69 brand new with lifetime warranty and no core charge. Here are pics of the carnage and my still not complete roll on paint job. Would it be safe to push the joint back together and secure the clamps and lock down the lca, it doesn't look damaged, just popped loose?

[WmWatt]

Same thing happened to me while turning right out of a parking lot at low speed. The worn ball joint dislocated and pulled the driver's side axle out of the transmission. The tow truck driver shoved it back in and I didn't have to touch it. Well, I had to top up the transmission oil. Otherwise just replaced the control arm. My pinch bolt was okay. I can buy a pinch bolt replacement off the shelf at the harware store and file the end into a blunt point. You have to put the nut on first and take it off after filing to recut the thread or you'll never get a nut onto it. The hardenss is marked on the bolts. You want the same hardness. Good luck.

[Movin]

Both my CV joints were popped out at the auction where I bought the car.
I put them back together 150 K ago with no problems. You have shiny metal
in the ball joint hole in the knuckle. That pinch bolt was not tight
and allowed the ball joint stud to wear a groove through the bolt.
Turn the bolt 180 deg so it has a new surface to wear on..






not!

[anomoly40]

Mine had a divot worn on the side of the bolt. Got some higher grade bolts and fixed both.

[rbrown]

Both my CV joints were popped out at the auction where I bought the car.

Movin I just have to comment on your sig pics. Pulling a loaded Harbor Freight trailer with a Festy. Too much.

[FeistyFesti]

Well, I got under the car and put the joint back in and tightened up the clamp and removed the pinch bolt and put the lower ball joint back into the knuckle. The pinch bolt was sheared somehow and some threads were stripped, perhaps not tightening it enough to keep it secured to the knuckle. Will go get a new bolt and make sure the bolt goes through the groove, I don't think it was done properly before. The PO did mention he replaced an lca last year, so I'm thinking this was the one he did.

[Flyin4stroke]

Yep that is a improperly installed bolt. Looks like they just hammered it in and went.

[MasterTec]

At least something like this didn't happen to you. My dad was driving when he isn't supposed to (due to cancer meds) and got distracted and went right into a tree. Back neighborhood roads, no traffic, and only doing about 20mph.

While the damage doesn't look THAT bad unfortunately the unibody got tweaked. The car's back has been broken. Also the air bags popped and broke the windshield and the dash. It won't be getting fixed.

At least the festy is still running strong!

[FeistyFesti]

Well, all is well and car is driving fine as always. I got a replacement M10-1.50 bolt that was a tad longer but the nonthreaded part was exactly the same length and also a new nut. Put the tulip part of the cv axle back into the transaxle side and resecured the boot with new clamp. The joint was well greased and no damage was visible. Put the lower ball joint into knuckle and made sure I could see the indentation part through the hole and put the bolt in and tightened it down uber tight. Tried prying on it to make sure it was tight, but you can't really put too much force without damaging ball joint boots but it was toight like a tiger. Drove around in circles about ten times in my cul de sac making left and right turn circles and everything stayed intact.

Been driving the car to work and back without problems for the last two days. I'm wondering if the loose ball joint was the cause of the scary sudden jerk when I accelerated hard and then braked hard. It dissipated after I toed it out a few threads.