:eek: Upper Ball Joint stud sheared off in knuckle!!

[2k five-oh]

So I was driving my 2k Exploder V8 AWD the other night, going to a friend's house, and I turned into a driveway and heard a *clunk* and the passenger side of the front end dropped.

Got out and had a look and the wheel was tilted in at the top about 6 inches! The upper ball joint stud (where it connects to the knuckle and anchors with a pich-bolt) had sheared completely off and the control arm was completely unhooked from the knuckle.

I was about 4 miles from home and I was able to get the broken stud into the hole and wire it together enough to limp (LIMP) it home.

Guess I have a days work ahead of me--just wondered has anyone seen this? Is it common? I will snap some pics when I do the repair to show what I am talking about.

 

[swetrid]

Sounds like the upper ball joint was bad for awhile and finally let go.

 

[OneLever]

It seems that ball joints fail when going through a turn. Which makes sense, but also means if you're going at higher speed then you're looking at plenty of damage. Don't ignore those torn boots!

 

[windsors03cobra]

Yeap you got lucky, probably best to start rebuilding your front end if you have not already. Steering and wheels are no joke.

 

[2k five-oh]

Thanks for the replies. Yeah I was thinking I got pretty lucky as well.

 

[gavin]

Thanks for the replies. Yeah I was thinking I got pretty lucky as well.

similar thing happend to my mom in her 2000 Blazer. Baking out of the driveway to go to work; thud! driver's front dropped. Except with her's, it was the lower balljoint that gaveway; which also managed to crack the LCA.

Very lucky that it happend in the driveway.