Penglii Posted June 18, 2012 Report Share Posted June 18, 2012 (edited) Well... that sucks... 94 Sedan just got towed to the shop. Driver's side ball joint failed while I was going down the road earlier today. Going down a straight section of road with a slight curve to the right. About 20mph... ball joint lets loose and I am just barely able to get all the way over towards the curb before I'm dead in the water. I got SUPER lucky though. Tire is fine, wheel is fine, fender is fine, everything appears fine. Except for the popped ball joint and the separated axle of course. Tow truck driver and the police chief both say that's the smallest amount of damage they ever seen from a ball joint failing while going down the road. I managed not to hit anyone or anything, nobody rear ended me as a result of my fail. Somehow I managed to position myself so that I was not even blocking traffic. I had a tow truck called and on the way before a cop even showed up to the scene. Just my luck the first officer on the scene was the police chief who happed to be passing by. LOL He was really cool about everything, best interaction I've ever had with a police officer... like I said, he actually complimented me on how well I managed the situation and how undamaged I managed to keep my car under the circumstances. Had to have it towed to the shop because there's no viable tow truck accessible place to just drop my car off so I could fix it at my apartment. Shop will call me back with an estimate, hopefully soon, hopefully it's a decent price because I basically have no other choice right now. Between this and the broken oil filter adapter on the TGP I currently don't have anything to drive. Thankfully I already had the day off today... hopefully the shop is quick and cheap. Sorry, no pictures... I forgot to take some. Edited June 18, 2012 by Penglii left/right mixup Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Fury Posted June 18, 2012 Report Share Posted June 18, 2012 Snap!! Glad everything went... 'smoothly'. So far anyways. My old Z34 monte just had this happen to it too. At like less than 5 mph, and did more damage than what happened to you lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penglii Posted June 18, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 18, 2012 I think it really helped that my tires were pointing basically straight ahead, maybe slightly to the right, when the joint failed completely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justmike Posted June 18, 2012 Report Share Posted June 18, 2012 i feel your pain i popped the pass side ball joint, last thursday, i just pulled off a hwy near me that's 55 mph to turn around in a parking lot and tire folded . i got it back the next day from the shop we had it towed to. 2 ball joints, axle shaft with labor was $360 with tax. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schurkey Posted June 18, 2012 Report Share Posted June 18, 2012 Have you folks ever considered having the vehicle INSPECTED now and then? There is NO EXCUSE for driving a vehicle that isn't road worth due to excessive wear. Popping a ball joint is absolute proof that you've neglected your vehicle, and would be morally, ethically, and legally AT FAULT if you caused a collision. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tornado_735 Posted June 18, 2012 Report Share Posted June 18, 2012 Have you folks ever considered having the vehicle INSPECTED now and then? There is NO EXCUSE for driving a vehicle that isn't road worth due to excessive wear. Popping a ball joint is absolute proof that you've neglected your vehicle, and would be morally, ethically, and legally AT FAULT if you caused a collision. Thank you for this completely worthless post. GTFO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urbex Posted June 18, 2012 Report Share Posted June 18, 2012 Have you folks ever considered having the vehicle INSPECTED now and then? There is NO EXCUSE for driving a vehicle that isn't road worth due to excessive wear. Popping a ball joint is absolute proof that you've neglected your vehicle, and would be morally, ethically, and legally AT FAULT if you caused a collision. Um, not true.... My Lumina had a bad ball joint, but ask anyone here who has seen it if they think it's neglected looking? Also, not every state requires inspections, and not everyone (particularly people who can afford w-bodies) have the spare money for an inspection.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZoomZoomFan Posted June 18, 2012 Report Share Posted June 18, 2012 @ Schurkey, It's called having an old car. Unless you replace everything ever on the car or else dump it altogether, things like this are going to happen. Can't prevent things that go bad on old cars. They're like old people. Stuff breaks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Fury Posted June 19, 2012 Report Share Posted June 19, 2012 How can you visually say a ball joint is bad save for a broken boot anyways? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Addicted To Boost Posted June 19, 2012 Report Share Posted June 19, 2012 With the wheel off the ground, you can check for vertical play in the wheel. Usually if there is any slop, you can look at the BJ while you're doing it and see the slop. That would be a bad one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZoomZoomFan Posted June 19, 2012 Report Share Posted June 19, 2012 Heh heh. You said BJ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schurkey Posted June 19, 2012 Report Share Posted June 19, 2012 (edited) I'm sorry if the truth hurts, children. The fact of the matter is that it is the vehicle owner/operator's responsibility to assure that the vehicle is in safe driving condition. Steering, suspension, brakes are all more important than whether the engine runs. Ball joints will show detectable play/looseness long before they're actually dangerous. Depending on the vehicle, you may need to measure vertical (axial) looseness, side-to-side (radial) looseness, or--if you have the suspension apart anyway--sometimes the manufacturer has a torque in inch-pounds for rotating the ball joint stud when it's removed from the hole it goes through. Less than a given amount of torque, and the ball joint is too worn. There are official specifications for looseness/play, but ANY play will degrade handling. The spec is the safety factor--more play than the spec means the joint is in danger of failure, and that's well beyond where the handling suffers. If you can't afford to assure the vehicle is safe, get another job, take out a loan, or stop driving that vehicle. First Guess: You'll find that the laws in most if not all states will agree with this position. You can whine all day long and twice on weekends, but that doesn't eliminate your duty to maintain your vehicle. Edited June 19, 2012 by Schurkey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garrett Powered Posted June 19, 2012 Report Share Posted June 19, 2012 I usually don't even have to inspect it. I just can feel it as I turn the wheel almost. just look for the rivets and if its not one of those MOOG greasable ones just schedule it in for replacement. might as well just do it anyway if you are going to be driving around in that car... unless the car is being purposefully driven into the ground like most people do. either way, you can just have it inspected for that each time you get your tires rotated. usually it is free anyway so that is why you will get flamed for that on a car forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhatTheFehl Posted June 19, 2012 Report Share Posted June 19, 2012 So glad to see how in touch you are with everything, especially in this economy. Getting another job isn't always that easy. When I was applying for just another simple retail type job I applied at over 30 places and I was fortunate enough to have just 1 call me back. A lot of places just aren't hiring. Also, not everyone can just take out loans willy-nilly. And don't drive the car? You have to be fucking kidding.... How are you supposed to get to work to fix the car then? Do you know how much it costs to have a vehicle safety inspected in this state? A whopping $25 a year. And quite simply, it DOES catch things that you don't know are broken. I've had it happen to me, and I like to think I'm pretty good at preventative maintenance. I didn't know my rear bumper support was rotted out, didn't know a rear caliper had frozen, and I didn't know my ball joints had excessive play. But fortunately I had a mechanic inform me, and not just that, SHOW me what happened. So I fixed it on my time with my parts. Or when I can afford it, I'll let the shop do it. But here's the thing: At least in this state, you have a three month window for inspection. Go get your car initially inspected at the beginning of the three months. Find out what's wrong. Now you have three months to get it repaired, and reinspected (reinspections are free of charge when you already paid for the initial inspection, by the way...). Anyway, I'm not arguing about that. It sucks what happened man, it could happen to anyone. I know it isn't a fun experience. I remember being a kid when the balljoint snapped in my mom's car. Fortunately, we were in a parking lot and barely moving when it happened... no real damage done. Was still scary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Addicted To Boost Posted June 19, 2012 Report Share Posted June 19, 2012 I had a few studs snap off on my drivers' front wheel about a year and a half ago on the highway... cruising at 70 MPH and your front wheel flies off... yep, that was scary! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penglii Posted June 19, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 19, 2012 Whoa... this thread blew up! Let me chime in here a little bit. I knew the ball joints were on the way out. I did not know that their failure was imminent. I would not have driven the car if I though it was that bad. Shit happens though. I was going to change the ball joints and the outer tie rod ends myself next weekend. Guess I'll be paying more to have it done sooner. You can be the most prepared person in the world and still have shit fail before you expect it to... it's bad luck not bad morals or ethics. Most importantly though... and despite any theorized potential for harm... nobody got hurt here, only my pride. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuminaPower92 Posted June 19, 2012 Report Share Posted June 19, 2012 I had a few studs snap off on my drivers' front wheel about a year and a half ago on the highway... cruising at 70 MPH and your front wheel flies off... yep, that was scary! Because Race Car? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garrett Powered Posted June 19, 2012 Report Share Posted June 19, 2012 Whoa... this thread blew up! Let me chime in here a little bit. I knew the ball joints were on the way out. I did not know that their failure was imminent. I would not have driven the car if I though it was that bad. Shit happens though. I was going to change the ball joints and the outer tie rod ends myself next weekend. Guess I'll be paying more to have it done sooner. You can be the most prepared person in the world and still have shit fail before you expect it to... it's bad luck not bad morals or ethics. Most importantly though... and despite any theorized potential for harm... nobody got hurt here, only my pride. so is that your official excuse then? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justmike Posted June 19, 2012 Report Share Posted June 19, 2012 when my dad and i put the wheels that are on my car about 2 months ago, he was shaking my front tires side to side and up and down, i asked what he was doing and he said he was checking my ball joints, and he said that every thing was tight , but yet 2 months later my ball joint poped. when my dad talked the one of the shops around here , mechanic said because the struts are or act as the top ball joint it's realy hard to tell if one is starting to go bad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penglii Posted June 19, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 19, 2012 so is that your official excuse then? The official one, yes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White93z34 Posted June 19, 2012 Report Share Posted June 19, 2012 I guess let this thread be a lesson to everyone that our cars are not young anymore and they DO need the suspensions gone over, parts don't last forever. And all excuses aside and state/provincial inspections aside you ARE expected to keep your car safely going down the road. If its unsafe and you know it and you continue to drive on you do so at your own peril if you were to cause an accident because of a worn part then things might get a whole lot worse then taking the hit and getting the components replaced and back up to par. There really are no valid excuses on the matter, you are on public roads with other people. A quick Google search turns up tons of sites detailing on how to check for front end component wear, when you change your oil and grease your front end (you do do that right?) you can check. takes 5 minutes. If thats not your bag, I see tons of shops that advertise "free alignment checks", and they will be able to tell you what if anything needs replaced. Example: I recently noticed my Camaro's brake hoses were SEVERELY deteriorated. Somehow its gotten missed past 2 years on state inspection, I don't blame the shop, its my fault for not checking the condition of 25 year old brake hoses. Once I found that they were no good the car has stayed docked till I got them replaced. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xtremerevolution Posted June 19, 2012 Report Share Posted June 19, 2012 I've read all the responses to this thread. I agree with Nunzi here. I also have to admit that this should have been fixed a long time ago. It's not that hard. A bad balljoint will give signs that it's broken long before this happens. The OP got very, very lucky that the damage was minimal. Let's all chalk this up as a learning experience and a fortunate example of what can happen to anyone who may think that the popping noises up front are no big deal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penglii Posted June 19, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 19, 2012 Yup. I got very very lucky and all kidding aside there really is no excuse. Lesson learned. I am thankful that this wakeup call did not have dire consequences. If someone else can learn this lesson today too, then all the better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy K Posted June 19, 2012 Report Share Posted June 19, 2012 there should be some good instructions on how to inspect our ball joints. here's what i do: With your car on level ground, Get a breaker bar, crow bar or any sort of bar or pole that can be carefully be stuck between the lower control arm and the knuckle/spindle assembly(with care not to puncture the boots on the c/v or balljoints). use a prying force to see if you can move the control arm down from the spindle. Ease of access is best accomplished with the steering wheel turned to it's far end of travel, you do not need to raise the car off the ground. movement = failure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockfangd Posted June 19, 2012 Report Share Posted June 19, 2012 Have you folks ever considered having the vehicle INSPECTED now and then? There is NO EXCUSE for driving a vehicle that isn't road worth due to excessive wear. Popping a ball joint is absolute proof that you've neglected your vehicle, and would be morally, ethically, and legally AT FAULT if you caused a collision. You know nobody is perfect and things happen. I have been a diesel mechanic and regular mechanic for 10 years now and Even know a balljoint can definately be missed. I have had them tight till they pop. Chrysler was notorious for random failing balljoints. was that te owners faults? I say no. Certain vehicles are allowed a certain amount of play in the balljoints, especially fords, some even have play with brand new balljoints. Unfortunately I cannot agree with your statements. I say the situation was handled well. No other damage, no accident, nobody got hurt. Vehicle got repaired. everything is good. Alot of aftermarket parts are known to be junk right out of the box. I cant even tell you how many cross axis balljoints I have done that had fallen apart due to completely plastic internals. (Thats right plastic) makes you feel really good doesnt it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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