Upper ball joint came out of spindle, pictures explain it all !!!

[MidnightRebel07]

I did go over a nice size bump and pothole on our fine city streets right before this happend and I noticed the UCA doesn't move very freely, is The a way I can grease the bushings to free them up some? Ok, I just went outside in that lovely 100+ degree weather, took some better pictures and tried to move the UCA and I had to fight it to moved it up/ down a half inch, is it poosible when they did my alignment they over tightened the UCA bolts not allowing it to move freely with the rest of the suspension causing the upper balljoint to come out???

 

[IZwack]

The upper control arm is often a little stiff when you move them by hand because it has rubber bushings at the the frame side which are squeezed and therefore binds a bit once the bolts are tightened (which is normal).

Can you remove that bolt? Cauz as I recall, it should have a "lobe" on one side.

 

[Turdle]

Iz, the upper ball joint has a dimple ridge which the bolt shaft locks to--

I don't think the upper ball joint was fully seated and assembled --I feel it was not in far enough for the bolt to catch it. Looking at the bolt, it's diameter penetrates into the spindle area far enough--but I fee it was actually riding below the ridge in the ball joint spindle shaft.

Edit, the reason I say this is because I have seen it done in my driveway whilst helping another member. He did the joint himself, while it almost looked good, the boot was not smashed enough and I noticed it. The pinch bolt was in, but it was below the ball joint shaft.

 

[IZwack]

Iz, the upper ball joint has a dimple ridge which the bolt shaft locks to--

Then I'm probably mistaken - I could've sworn that bolt has a lobe on it and can only be inserted into the knuckle one way. But I probably have this mixed up with something else.

 

[MidnightRebel07]

I think it's the picnh bolt because it doesn't look wide enough to hold the balljoint shaft in there, looks like a knotch was taken out of the bolt when the balljoint popped out. I seriously can't wait to do my SAS, SOA, I can't stand IFS. Im used to working on straight axles from my old Scout II and Waggy. Damn.

 

[MidnightRebel07]

I ordered the new UCA/ balljoint from rockauto, had to pay for it up front and when I get the new one in I have to call them back get refunded and send the old one back.

I'm out the $50 for the alignment now and they say they don't cover the work done to replcae the part, which is b.s.. I think I'm just gonna have to deal with local parts stores again so I'm not waiting around for replacement parts and most stores will cover labor cost with a claim for stuff like this.

The prices are great but the inconvenience is not worth having my truck sit on jackstands for a week waiting for replacement parts.

I'm might go to the hardware store and buy grade 8 nuts and bolts and use those instead of the shiii...y bolts that come with the UCA/ balljoints so I don't have to deal with this again.

 

[MidnightRebel07]

I just took the pinch bolt and UCA off. The pinch bolt has a knotch out of it where the shaft of the balljoint sheared right through it.

 

[gmanpaint]

What was the measurement of the ball joint end? The diameter of that will tell if it was undersized or not.

If it was undersized, and with all that grease you had packed in there, add a sever jarring from a pothole, and you have a recipe for disaster.

 

[MidnightRebel07]

I still need to measure the diameter of the balljoint shaft. I didn't have any grease on or in the spindle, all of that was crushed out of the balljoint when it came apart and got crushed between the knuckle and tire. I probabaly did put too much grease in the balljoint.

There's a nice little knotch taken out of the pinch bolt where the balljoint shaft sheared right through it.

I just checked and the new part should be here today sometime, I think I might go to the hardware store and get some Grade 8 bolts and nuts to replcae the weak ones that came with the UCA/ balljoint.

 

[IZwack]

I think I might go to the hardware store and get some Grade 8 bolts and nuts to replcae the weak ones that came with the UCA/ balljoint.

That's just the thing - plenty of us have replaced the upper arm / ball joint using the hardware that came with the truck or the kit and the ball joint didn't pull out of the knuckle. So I'm thinking that the bolt is probably not the culprit cauz there shouldnt be that much axial (vertical) force on the ball joint (most of it is radial) to the point where its able to eat through the retaining bolt.

 

[MidnightRebel07]

I installed the bolts that came with the UCA, when I tightened them down they spun the threads right off (air rachet) when it got too tight (the metel of the new bolts was too soft caused the threads to spin right off). I had to re-use the old pinch bolts, the bolts looked good and were alittle worn down where it goes in and holds the shaft in at the shank but just not thick enough to hold it in there. There's a knotch taken out of the pinch bolt where the shank sheared right through it.

Now I know not to use the old bolts on the balljoints, My new UCA came today so I'm melting outside installing them as we type (taking a cool down break) for a minute. I'll just use a regular rachet when I tighten the bolt down this time so I down spin the threads off. This is the first time for me working on this type of balljoint setup (IFS), I'm used to straight axles and other designs.

 

[MidnightRebel07]

After the air rachet stripped the threads I put the original stock pinch bolts. The bolt was alittle worn down but still thick enough to hold the balljoint in place, or so I thought.

I installed the new UCA/ balljoint today and swapped out the pinch bolt on the driverside and replaced the outer tie rod ends.

I'm gonna go and get a lifetime alignment from because for whatever reason I know I'm gonna need to get another one and don't feel like keep shelling out $50-80 everytime I need one.

I'm gonna double check the balljoints on the Mounty just to safe, I need to replace the tie rod end that I had on there for about thirty miles and the boot ripped. Rockauto replaced that for free but I'm stuck paying for another alignment for that too.

 

[Jefe the Gorilla]

Well the design is very piss poor to begin with if you ask me. This is the reason that the old school spindles attached the way they did. You could hardly remove them on purpose. I know this doesnt really help you but the bolt has to be a certain thickness and tinsel strength for it to last. other wise its just gonna wear improperly and happen again. and with that bolt not being made with the proper metals and size then its destined to happen again. I am familiar with rockauto and they have low prices but sometimes they are making up for it in their shortcuts. I truly feel that if you bring up the fact that they arent using the same grade bolt ad the dealership that they will cover your charges! Then Use a new bolt from the dealership. sounds crappy but beats goin through this again in the next 1000 miles.

 

[gmanpaint]

Wow. So all of us that do more than drive over a pothole and beat the snot out of them on the trails, have just been lucky all this time?

RockAuto is not a manufacturer, just a seller of others parts. To blame them and say there responsible for a certain manufacturer breakage, is like saying that this forum is responsible for what you just said.

He has a Heavy duty professional grade arm/ball joint. Stouter, stronger, than anything stock.

 

[Elessar65]

Wow. So all of us that do more than drive over a pothole and beat the snot out of them on the trails, have just been lucky all this time?

More likely he was just unlucky. I have beaten the snot out of my IFS and I have the same Spicer Pro-Grade arms and ball joints. The simple fact is that no matter how good quality control is, if you manufacture enough parts, the laws of probability catch up eventually and some will fail.

 

[MidnightRebel07]

Yeah, I had to buy another one, send the old one back and wait for them to decide if they'll refund my money back. I call B.S..

I have beat the hell out of the stock parts for years and 93k miles worth of driving, never had anything like this happen. If you've never driven on the infamous Pittsburgh roadways then you have no idea how you can offroad while driving on the "paved" streets.

Last year I had a Rancho 9000XL shock have the threads completely stripped off of the top post when I drove on one of the worst streets by my house one too many times.