Suspension Failure

[BigJon]

Holy Shit Mang!!!! So what happened? Were you leaving the driveway and the thing just broke? Bet that shook you up a lot.

yes it did!

no shop checked it out. mo, i never unloaded it to check for play either(my fault there). after i injected it with grease last summer, it never made noise again.

the only thing i did notice in retrospect, over the past 3 days when i would get out of the car was a small metallic pop sound. i would bounce the corners and hear nothing though. i was going to look at it yesterday since it was my only day off from work.

[seneeb]

Did it get regularly checked for play? what kind of inspections do you have?? most shops would not have bothered to unload the lower ball joint to check for play

they should check, but recall that little story about the box, aero, whale in a previous reply of mine...

i got the rest of the story yesterday. The old lady had just left the ford dealer (across from my dealership) after getting an oil change. They've got some kid doing the low mileage oil changes and he didnt check out the vehicle. My guess is that the car probably had about 30k miles on it but the kid didnt look at the year. it was definately an aero.


Now, I really should do mine eep. I'm at 103k miles on originals eep. I should bit the bullet and grap a pair and do it this weekend before my next tuscaloosa run

[BigJon]

well all, i got my car back today. i must say that i am very impressed with the kit that i bought. my car feels brand spanking new. i was VERY nervous that my car was going to feel sluggish or like it was binding up. nope, absolutely smooth and fluid.

if these parts last as long as they look like they should, i will be very happy.

it is amazing how used to a car you get over time. over the past four years, my car went from great to crap without me even noticing(suspension wise ).

and thankfully, the only damage was a scuff on the front bumper. easy fix.


one thing i would like to add... the balljoint completely pulled out of the socket. the rubber boot and plenty o' grease were present. it looked like it was a sudden balljoint failure. pretty scary.

[gadget73]

yeah thats what happens. The ball wears and gets small, then pops out of the socket when it hits a bump or gets jarred just the wrong way. If it was knocking around and making noise a year ago, that was indication there was too much play between the ball and socket. Once it gets there, grease won't help it. It will pad it a bit to shut up the knocking, but its loose and will continue to wear till it goes kabam.

[Kleetus]

Don't know what to tell ya on that one... I had over 200k on my 86, and never had a trouble. Heck the LS is the only thing that eats front end parts... Was it ever wrecked?

[BigJon]

nope

[Archangel]

I should probably go ahead and replace the lowers of my truck, don't know how old they are but with the tires I run better be on the safe side. The Lincoln got a full rebuild last summer, $60-70 per balljoint at NAPA, but those things are monstrous!

[seneeb]

Kleetus, some vehicles are abominations.

my truck has 126k miles and i've had no issues with the front end. my buddy has a near identical truck (only difference is his is tan, mine's black) with 146k miles on it and is on his third set of tie rod ends

[Kleetus]

True the only other variable really is driving style and roads... not that I'm putting your buddy down. My dad used to hit every hole in the road... I swear he aimed for them. Drove me nuts as a kid!

[BigJon]

true to that. i won't say i drive my car easy.

[Hamsterdan]

Happened to me last year

Well guys, without being able to get under the car i am going to guess that my lower ball joint failed on me today. my passenger side was not making any noise.

Getting home from Loblaw's, bump, pothole then BAM!

Right in traffic, I think I can still hear some honking