Yet another problem; front end suspension, shocks, or ball joints

[MistahYebba]

So...

very dangerous situation happened today on my way to work.

I hit a pretty decent bump... really not THAT big; but big enough to feel it and maybe give the females a little boob jiggle.. (haha..)

Well..

The bump made the front right end of my car emit a loud pop sound.

I didn't think too much of it except that it was an ugly sound that made me cringe thinking about the health of my truck...

but then I looked in my rear view and I swear I saw something traveling at a high speed as if it came off of my car and bounced down the road.

So that concerned me..

I drove for like 10 minutes honestly not worried about it at all. I was thinking of all the different things it could have been that flew off of my car..

"Maybe some sort of bouncy rubber ball that acts as some component of the suspension?"

"Maybe I hit a bouncy ball a child left on the road?"

Those were the thoughts that ran through my head.

When I finally got to work; I had to turn in to the parking lot. I was going maybe 40 MPH and there was a car behind me going probably faster than that...

I felt pressured to take the turn quite fast in an effort to not get rear-ended.. and do keep in mind that it was raining all morning and the roads were wet.

Anyway; I go to turn in and got all sorts of slipped across the slight incline to pull into the parking lot. It honestly felt like my ball socket snapped and that my whole front end fell to the ground..

but the whole slippage scenario from start to end was only like 5 seconds so it went by quick..

Needless to say I was a little shook up and drove very slowly and cautiously to a parking spot so I could just get into the office.

I only glanced at my front right tire and nothing seemed out of the ordinary from the outside. It was straight and it seemed fine..

I reversed into my spot (albeit very slowly) just fine with no pops or bangs or slips or anything..

I'm just concerned about driving away for my lunch break and my front end giving out while I'm going 80 on the freeway, so please let me know what this could have happen?

Did I simply hydroplane from trying to turn so fast and mistaked it for my front-end giving out because I "saw" that black thing bouncing down the road after I heard a pop?

Or was I just tripping (I was high) and putting pieces to a puzzle together that weren't even existent?

Share some ideas so I don't walk outside with a broken truck and have no clue what to diagnose..

 

[2stroke]

Maybe your radius arm bushing cracked and rolled down the road.

 

[Gadget X]

Could have been a sway bar piece also. Check your sway bar links to see if both are still "present".

 

[natenkiki2004]

You're really the only one that can tell, get underneath and take a look. Compare right and left sides, look for anything missing.

Radius arm bushing is possible. Shock mounts like to break.

Do not drive it until you know exactly what happened and know it's safe. If it's a drag link or ball joint, your tire can go sideways and at freeway speed... no es bueno.

 

[MistahYebba]

I went for a spin and it was doing fine...

I did some donuts in the parking lot and didn't notice anything different..

however, I made that same 90 degree right turn into a super slightly inclined parking lot after my lunch break and it did the SAME thing..

It really feels like the tire is going to crunch underneath the car...

but once I get going straight again everything feels fine..

So I'm confused?

Could there really be something that detached.. and the car operates fine doing donuts, regular driving, etc... but breaks while making a sharp right turn?

Or am I probably good and it's just the wet roads combined with the slight bumpy incline that makes me slip and I'm mistaking that for something broken?

**EDIT BTW HI NATE I FREAKIN MISS YOU**

 

[MistahYebba]

is the radius arm bushing rubber?

If I slammed it off of the ground would it bounce like a super bouncy ball?

 

[larrydd999]

I believe they are polyurethane, but can look like black rubber depending on whether OEM or replacement. Both of my GEN1's have had the bushings replaced.

 

[MistahYebba]

So...

a little update for you little helpful people!

It's doing fine it appears.. I drove to work today.. no real issues.

However... there is definitely something I'm noticing that I never noticed before..

Twice when taking sharp right turns on my way to work today and going over 20MPH say; I feel such a bizarre feeling like the front right tires goes slightly sideways and it's quite scary.

It doesn't affect much, but I don't like not being sure if my tire is about to snap off or not..

So please tell me...

is there anything in the entire axle, suspension, shocks, steering, etc. SYSTEM that... can fall off/break.. and the ONLY thing its absence affects is sharp right turns when going a certain speed?

Like...

For example; if it was my radius arm bushing that fell off.. would I be able to do donuts and parking lot test drives and even drive to work 30 minutes away and be fine....

but taking a right turn makes it stumble?

I feel like the answer to that is no...

If that's the case; then what the heck is this feeling that I'm feeling? It feels like the tire goes "WOH!" for a split second.

 

[natenkiki2004]

You're really the only one that can tell, get underneath and take a look. Compare right and left sides, look for anything missing.

Radius arm bushing is possible. Shock mounts like to break.

Do not drive it until you know exactly what happened and know it's safe. If it's a drag link or ball joint, your tire can go sideways and at freeway speed... no es bueno.

^^
Get under and look. Compare the sides to each other. Jack each side up and feel the tire at 9 & 3 o'clock and 12 & 6 o'clock. Report back.

 

[2stroke]

Sounds like either the right radius arm bushing or a sway bar link. Both are easy to identify if you just look. Stop driving it until then.

 

[FR-425]

Have a friend rock the steering side to side while you are underneath so you can see if any of the steering tie rods ends are loose.

You will not be able to "wiggle" test by hand.

With the vehicle siting still this will also put enough force on the suspension to reveal excessive movement of radius arms, axle pivot, ball joints, etc.