upper ball joint popped out.

-
C

cantcatch06

Active Member
Joined
Oct 9, 2008
Messages
44
Reaction score
0
So i'm driving down the road in my 66 cuda when I hit a small bump and the wheel jerks to the left. After limping her back to the house and jacking up the car to figure out what was wrong i find a ball joint has popped out of the upper control arm on the drivers side. This concerns me because i'm not seeing tire feathering on both front tires that was not there 2 days previous when i checked tire pressure.

Is the shop I had install the ball joints responsible for them coming back out after i had them install the new ball joints 1200 miles ago. Or am i just screwed because i took them the control arms to have them install the joints for me because i didn't have the tool, and not the whole car?

Is it possible to just screw a new ball joint back into the joint like it was supposed to be done in the first place?

Will i need an alignment in order to prevent the tires from wearing more than they are. Or are both the front tires ruined and will continue to feather once they have started?
 
Call them and ask how they did your install,play dumb and let them talk alot(people love to tell you how great they are)Do you know the procedure?familiarize yourself with it,look for deviations from procedure,they could very be liable(just think if someone was hurt)Are they certified?I know they would be fixing or refunding me!
 
I would replace the control arm, the threads are gone. It could be screwed back in and tack welded but its a temporary fix.

Hard telling what happened at the shop, They could have striped it removing the old one or installing the new one. It is worth talking to them but it is likely they will not not take the blame.
 
T2R9 said:
I would replace the control arm, the threads are gone. It could be screwed back in and tack welded but its a temporary fix.

Hard telling what happened at the shop, They could have striped it removing the old one or installing the new one. It is worth talking to them but it is likely they will not not take the blame.
Click to expand...

This is exactly right in my opinion.

Probably used a "killer impact" to install it, and the old metal had no chance. Or, the threads could have been weak to start with, which is very likely.

I find it interesting that this could happen though, I didn't realize the upper control arm could get unloaded enough for it to happen. But it does make sense now that I think about it.
 
Same thing happened to me back in 1978 when the car parts were still fairly new (only about 6 years old). Hit a bump left by the sand sealing truck and ripped the ball joint out of the A-Frame.
 
put it back in place with a tac in should stay in place for the moment

most likely the a arm are strip so arent gonna be able to install new ball

joint in place with out a tac best will be to replace the upper control arm
 
The threads are not too deep to begin with. Just look how thin the whole threaded flange is. Maybe 1/8"? The installer should have seen that the threads were worn. That right there tells me that he didn't even bother to clean the threads up or apply locktite. Had he cleaned the threads, he certainly would have seen they were worn. Sounds like a shitty job to me. I agree completely. The arm should have been replaced. You can get some tubular ones for like 169 bucks that are pretty high quality. Certainly had that opportunity, but your installer pissed it away.
 
at my shop if it was 1200 miles ago we would totaly take car of it... they thread in so could have been a faulty ball joint or messed up threads in the control arm but i would definently call if there a respectable shop they will def take car of it or if its not there fault work something else out atleast
 
I put new ball joints in my Valiant and tack welded them in 3 spots to keep that from happening.
 
weld them they will be good for a long time to come. when they need to be replaced hit the tacks with a cut off wheel and repeat. who sells tube a arms for 169?
 
had the same thing happen on my 66 barracuda several years ago, threaded it back in and tightened it up TIGHT ! hasn't moved in 3 years and thousand's of miles. for some reason it unscrewed it's self threads were fine
 
Years ago,in 1973, I replaced the upper ball joints on a 64 Barracuda that I wish I had now. After going over a bump that almost had me airborne, the driver's side ball joint did the same thing. After this happened a time ot two, I pegged it and had no problem with it after that.
Getting ready to do another set on a '65 Barracuda this weekend.
 
This happened on my car also and I tacked them in the arm have been running fine for 2 years had it aligned and still tracking fine.
 
talked to the shop and he said that too small of a joint was most likely the reason they pushed themselves out. He went on to state that the Duralast parts were of inferior quality, and undersized to make easier to install. He then went on to say that in his experience you usually have to fight with them to get them to screw in because they are really tight.

I then went out and purchased ball joints from Napa, O'reileys, Carquest, Autozone, and the local dodge dealer. Compared the thread width across all of the joints. I discovered that the difference between the largest and smallest was only 0.006 inch. This does not sound like a significant amount to be noticeably under size in any of the various brands. More so, the duralast joint was in the middle of the pack as far as widths go.

Removed the ball joints and A arms and went and talked to them again, with new knowledge and alot more suspicion. First thing i asked was for him to replace the arms and pay for an alignment at a shop of my choice. He declined and then said there was no way he was going to pay for new control arms. When i asked him how if it was properly installed he said once more it could be undersized,installed on the car wrong, or an improper alignment could have caused it. I asked how a balljoint could be undersized and still be difficult to install he said " I'm not going to discuss the mechanics of it with you." When i asked how there could possibly be enough upward force due to anything in the alignment he started getting defensive and once more stated he wasn't going to replace my control arms. He then asked me if i wanted him to weld it back together for me. I told him no that i didn't need their shop to do anything to this destroyed part. I asked him what my next move should be in order to get my problem taken care of. He advised me to get an attorney, and needless to say started getting defensive. I then asked him how he knows the parts were installed properly since he didn't work in the shop? He replied that how his shop ran was none of my business and I didn;t know the first thing about cars or how his shop ran. I then commented that anyone that worked in a shop wouldn't have turned around wiped off his hands because he touched a dirty control arm. He then told me it was time for me to leave. It is interesting to note that he told me to leave after I asked him how he was sure the part was installed correctly.

My questions is what would your next move be. I've talked to an attorney and he said that i have a good case at the very least because if the parts were of inferior enough of quality that they were undersized they should have either a) informed me before performing the work or b) simply not install the parts.

Will post pictures of the arm and the ball joint soon. However there are no tool marks on the ball joint from the socket or any scratches in the threads from being screwed in place.
 
It's a 44 year old upper A arm I think your better off just fixing yourself and move on. That's just my opinion from a money and aggravation stand point.
 
zhandfull said:
It's a 44 year old upper A arm I think your better off just fixing yourself and move on. That's just my opinion from a money and aggravation stand point.
Click to expand...

some shops suck
now you know to avoid that one
fix it and find a new mechanic, there are still good shops out there
 
zhandfull said:
It's a 44 year old upper A arm I think your better off just fixing yourself and move on. That's just my opinion from a money and aggravation stand point.
Click to expand...

I would tend to agree. You can argue all day long about whether or not the ball joint was properly installed or not, or whether it was undersized or not, but that's all going to be what you say vs what the shop says.When it all comes down to it, you've got a 44 year old part. You don't know how many times that the ball joints have been changed, or by who.

Yes, if the threads were shot they probably should have noticed. But in that case, you're still buying a new control arm. You've already said the part wasn't undersized, so, more than likely threads in the control arm are to blame. And as others have pointed out, these things failed when they were fairly new too.

Compared to the cost and time involved to deal with this in a legal fashion, the price of a new control arm is pretty small. It sucks, but I really don't think its going to be worth the effort to go after these guys with a lawyer. Lesson learned, don't take your business back to that shop. Buy a new control arm and the correct ball joint socket for your car. And check the other side while you're at it.
 
move on. either get a new quality ball joint and have some one put a couple of tacks on when installed or buy new a arms. you already put more time and effort into it than it would have take to fix it.
 
the proper way to repair stripped out threads in an upper control arm is to weld the ball joint in place, and replace the control arm if and when the new ball joint needs to be replaced
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top