broken ball joint !?!?! - The 1947 - Present Chevrolet & GMC Truck Message Board Network

murph396 · 10-25-2002, 05:05 PM

has anyone ever had this happen to them? well yesterday, leaving a parking lot, the drivers side lower ball joint broke, or should i say ripped outta the A-arm. when it happened, i thought the wheel fell off. i get out to see what the heck just happened, and the wheel and tire are tucked so nicely, it looked like it was slammed (wish i had a camera with me!). upon further investigation i see that the lower A-arm is resting on the ground, as it is no longer attached to the spindle. luckily i wasn't going fast so no one got hurt including my truck, but i had to get it towed out of the road. i have yet to fix it but i haven't found anything damaged. i have ball joints, spindles and bearings, as i was going to replace them this weekend or next. my concern is what else should i check for damage, while repairing the ball joint?

**68 Stepside** · 10-25-2002, 05:14 PM

Wow, that bites man! If you can't see anything obvious wrong with any of the other front end components, I wouldn't worry too much. Just consider yourself lucky, my cousins ball joint broke on his 80 turbo t/a, on the maiden run with the 400 that he put in....head on with another car....he was ok, the car on the other hand, well, it's a pop can now.

Best of luck,

TJ

kpf · 10-25-2002, 05:35 PM

Had a 69 c/10. turned a corner to head on to the highway and just as I finished turning WHAM!!!!!! the drivers ball joint broke. Same thing just popped out of the a-arm. Luckily we weren't on the highway but took a few hours to get a towtruck to get us home.
If you are going to fix it you might as well do everything on the front end. You never know, if that broke chances are that something else is bound to go soon.
Better safe then sorry I think

**COBALT** · 10-25-2002, 05:41 PM

Where did it break? Was it the tapered stud inside the spindle that broke, or was it the base of the ball joint that broke allowing the main part of the ball joint to stay in the spindle, but the control arm to fall to the ground with nothing in it?

The former I've heard can be caused by worn spindles. The tapered holes become reamed out with the base part of the hole larger than it needs to be, and new ball joints are then allowed to flex and move around inside the hole at the bottom, but not at the top. This causes cyclic loading (the "coat hanger" syndrome, where you can bend a piece of wire back and forth until it breaks). This will be evident if the stud is broke.

The latter may be damage from below -- control arm gets hung up on a concrete curb at one point, or a jack improperly placed, or a cheap ball joint, or just plain component failure.

10-25-2002, 05:05 PM	#1
murph396 Registered User Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Mackinaw, IL Posts: 15	broken ball joint !?!?! has anyone ever had this happen to them? well yesterday, leaving a parking lot, the drivers side lower ball joint broke, or should i say ripped outta the A-arm. when it happened, i thought the wheel fell off. i get out to see what the heck just happened, and the wheel and tire are tucked so nicely, it looked like it was slammed (wish i had a camera with me!). upon further investigation i see that the lower A-arm is resting on the ground, as it is no longer attached to the spindle. luckily i wasn't going fast so no one got hurt including my truck, but i had to get it towed out of the road. i have yet to fix it but i haven't found anything damaged. i have ball joints, spindles and bearings, as i was going to replace them this weekend or next. my concern is what else should i check for damage, while repairing the ball joint? __________________ 1969 Chevy C-10 lwb, 396 BB, T-400 & 3.73 posi Murphy's Law: Any tool dropped while repairing a car will roll underneath to the exact center.

10-25-2002, 05:14 PM	#2
68 Stepside huh? Join Date: May 2000 Location: Washington, Illinois Posts: 5,692	Wow, that bites man! If you can't see anything obvious wrong with any of the other front end components, I wouldn't worry too much. Just consider yourself lucky, my cousins ball joint broke on his 80 turbo t/a, on the maiden run with the 400 that he put in....head on with another car....he was ok, the car on the other hand, well, it's a pop can now. Best of luck, TJ __________________ Someday when I'm lonely, Wishing you weren't so far away, Then I will remember Things we said today. RIP El Jay

10-25-2002, 05:35 PM	#3
kpf Registered User Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Camas, Wa Posts: 58	Had a 69 c/10. turned a corner to head on to the highway and just as I finished turning WHAM!!!!!! the drivers ball joint broke. Same thing just popped out of the a-arm. Luckily we weren't on the highway but took a few hours to get a towtruck to get us home. If you are going to fix it you might as well do everything on the front end. You never know, if that broke chances are that something else is bound to go soon. Better safe then sorry I think __________________ 71 c-10 6cyl 68 Camaro (wifes) 65 dodge town wagon (wanna buy it?) 97 crew cab f350 psd

10-25-2002, 05:41 PM	#4
COBALT Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Seattle, WA, USA Posts: 5,817	Where did it break? Was it the tapered stud inside the spindle that broke, or was it the base of the ball joint that broke allowing the main part of the ball joint to stay in the spindle, but the control arm to fall to the ground with nothing in it? The former I've heard can be caused by worn spindles. The tapered holes become reamed out with the base part of the hole larger than it needs to be, and new ball joints are then allowed to flex and move around inside the hole at the bottom, but not at the top. This causes cyclic loading (the "coat hanger" syndrome, where you can bend a piece of wire back and forth until it breaks). This will be evident if the stud is broke. The latter may be damage from below -- control arm gets hung up on a concrete curb at one point, or a jack improperly placed, or a cheap ball joint, or just plain component failure. __________________ '69 3/4 ton C20 2wd-350ci/TH400 '69 3/4 ton Custom 20 2wd-350ci/4sp Manual '99 2wd 5.7 Chevy Tahoe Seattle, WA.



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