Mad1
11-13-2007, 05:21 PM
Well not exactly, but the lower ball joint on the Driver's front wheel snapped Friday. (I've delayed posting until I had some more information.)
First off: The basics
It's a daily driver with nearly 95,000 on the odometer. I'm the original owner and have done all the required maintenance.
On Friday, I was leaving work when I heard an unfamiliar noise (clunk!) from the driver's side front wheel area. It happened twice while I was backing up in the parking lot.
Spinning the steering wheel from stop to stop, I didn't hear any further noise and it traversed normally. As I pulled forward expecting to hear another clunk, however I was able to go about 150 feet down our parking area without any more clunks.
I pulled over and laid down on the ground to inspect the inside of the wheel well. I turned the wheel left and right and didn't see anything loose, hanging or otherwise capable of making a clunk.
At this point, I got in and began to backup when the driver's side wheel collapsed outward and dropped the chassis to the ground. I immediately stopped and called for the tow truck. Fortunately, this didn't happen about 5 minutes later when I would have been on the 4-lane highway doing 70 mph with hundreds of other commuters.
:censor:
While I waited for the truck. I decided to jack up the car and take off the wheel. Under the car, I found the lower portion of the bolt.
It appeared to have been broken nearly in half for some time, because it was rusted inside on 3/4 of the diameter. The remaining area was bright and shiny where it had snapped.
:mad2:
I promise to post some pictures when I get the chance. (I took some cell phone pictures. However, I'll have the car back later this week and take some decent shots of the bolt, which I saved.)
The Ford dealer where I take my car says estimates the repair will be about $1,200 all told.
The front struts are toast and they may have to replace the lower control arm, in addition to the ball joint. They are also going to inspect the other wheel's ball joint for similar wear issues. There appeared to be no damage to the fender, wheel, brakes or tire.
The real kicker ... I just finished paying it off last month. (As I already said on here.) I was expecting something bad to happen (doesn't it always?), but I thought it would be someone crashing into it.
Again, I'm just glad I wasn't doing my normal 75 mph in rush hour traffic.
Anyone else experienced something similar?
I'm wondering if I should slow down when I take the speed bumps around our office from now on instead of treating them like rumble strips.
Mad1
Jeremy
First off: The basics
It's a daily driver with nearly 95,000 on the odometer. I'm the original owner and have done all the required maintenance.
On Friday, I was leaving work when I heard an unfamiliar noise (clunk!) from the driver's side front wheel area. It happened twice while I was backing up in the parking lot.
Spinning the steering wheel from stop to stop, I didn't hear any further noise and it traversed normally. As I pulled forward expecting to hear another clunk, however I was able to go about 150 feet down our parking area without any more clunks.
I pulled over and laid down on the ground to inspect the inside of the wheel well. I turned the wheel left and right and didn't see anything loose, hanging or otherwise capable of making a clunk.
At this point, I got in and began to backup when the driver's side wheel collapsed outward and dropped the chassis to the ground. I immediately stopped and called for the tow truck. Fortunately, this didn't happen about 5 minutes later when I would have been on the 4-lane highway doing 70 mph with hundreds of other commuters.
:censor:
While I waited for the truck. I decided to jack up the car and take off the wheel. Under the car, I found the lower portion of the bolt.
It appeared to have been broken nearly in half for some time, because it was rusted inside on 3/4 of the diameter. The remaining area was bright and shiny where it had snapped.
:mad2:
I promise to post some pictures when I get the chance. (I took some cell phone pictures. However, I'll have the car back later this week and take some decent shots of the bolt, which I saved.)
The Ford dealer where I take my car says estimates the repair will be about $1,200 all told.
The front struts are toast and they may have to replace the lower control arm, in addition to the ball joint. They are also going to inspect the other wheel's ball joint for similar wear issues. There appeared to be no damage to the fender, wheel, brakes or tire.
The real kicker ... I just finished paying it off last month. (As I already said on here.) I was expecting something bad to happen (doesn't it always?), but I thought it would be someone crashing into it.
Again, I'm just glad I wasn't doing my normal 75 mph in rush hour traffic.
Anyone else experienced something similar?
I'm wondering if I should slow down when I take the speed bumps around our office from now on instead of treating them like rumble strips.
Mad1
Jeremy