snapped ball joint at 75mph!!!

[harofreak00]

On our way back from WeFest, Shannon's Bonneville didn't make it. I wasn't riding in the car, but the driver said it felt like a tire popped, they were all over the road, and then when they stopped it felt like they were dragging a cement wall. They tried to describe the problem to me, but these are NOT car guys, and I was like 2 hours away. First they said a bad wheel bearing, and then a broken spring, and finally a broken ball joint. They had to have the car towed 2 miles ($75) from the side of I94 to a Cub Foods parking lot. I went up the next day to repair it. I brought with me a used control arm and all my tools. Here are some pics to show what happened.

The junk yard guy said he had never heard of this happening...

Here is how we found the car when I pulled up.



The ball joint bolt snapped right in half






Tire damaged from being dragged onto the flatbed


damage to the inside of the rim from rubbing on the control arm






All fixed



and a pic of my car on the way home for good measure...

[Gumball]

bet that was a little scary.

[SSsuperchargedEi]

dude, you're a beast.

[TenGHz]

I would have had to purchase new shorts if that happened to me.

Very flattering shot, BTW.

[WhiteArrow3800]

Rear Steer FTW

I don't ever want to know what that is like, that would be crazy.

[Peterg22000]

Looks familular... (looking for pic)

[wjcollier07]

Nice one! Wasn't even rusted through either, just sheared right off..oh yeah, that's gorgeous.

Andrew to the rescue! killer job getting it back on the road!

[GonneVille]

Metal fatigue. This is why the idea of castellated nut and drilled bolts doesn't sit well with me, even though I know they're a reality I have to live with...

[00Beast]

On the farm, we call that crystallized, when the metal fatigues like that, it is done, no weld or anything else will fix it.

[laxmangl]

Whoa, that would suck. Good thing they had you haro

[BonneMe]

Oh Snap!

(hrm, that works well for a comment eh?)

Glad everyone came out ok. That could've been bad had it really gone out of whack, and the driver overcorrected.

[GoldenBullet]

thats crazy!

[GonneVille]

Oh Snap!

(hrm, that works well for a comment eh?)

[bandit]

yup, i know what thats like, i broke my control arm right at the ball joint on my 94 se at 60 mph. that was not fun

[Roadtech195]

Seeing this makes me want to do an inspection right now. I have never seen that happen before, is it common on our cars?

[harofreak00]

An inspection isn't going to tell you anything. Replacement will.

[Roadtech195]

Looks like I have a Sunday project then and I might as well do the sway bar bushings and end links while I am at it.

[l67poweredlss]

Man, thats rusty under there.