Hey guys, I need help in the most heinous of ways.

Yesterday I got in my car to go home from work. For a while I had been hearing some shifting of metal in what I thought was the suspension. I thought the spring was just making noise against the tophat or something and was'nt seated right. Well, I start the car, let it warm up (cause that takes forever here in Texas), and begin to reverse out of my parking spot. I don't get more than a foot before the passenger front end drops as if the wheel came off!!!!!!!!! Well, the wheel did'nt fall off, but the bolt that connects to the lower control arm broke! This bolt is affixed to the lower part of the nuckle and has a boot where it connects to the lower control arm. It is attatched to the knuckle by two bolts and I believe the sway bar connects to it is well, it is after all, just a slab of metal with holes and one threaded stud to connect to the lower control arm.

WHAT IS THIS PART CALLED!!!! AAAAAAAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!!

Luckily there is no visible damage, the control arm landed on the inside of the rim so the car did not land on the top of the wheel damaging the fender. Not to mention I was rolling at a crawl as opposed to driving down the freeway at 70mph! The car would have been totalled and I could possibly be in ECU right now. Damn I hope I did'nt use up all my CARma on this, I'm just happy I had enough of it.

Sorry I did'nt take a picture, I left the car at work. If I go back before monday I'll take a pic, later

Cain

 

Did the shifting sound like this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HPDjiVZk2I
If so, I could be in some trouble.

 

No, it was more of a clunk. I thought if it was'nt the suspension then it might have been a brake pad that did'nt get greased and was sticking. Yours sounds suspension related for sure. Mine was so periodic that I dismissed it most of the time. And I drove to houston last weekend, there was a time I went over 100mph with my wife in the car! Makes you stop and think really.

Do you know the name of the part in question?

 

The "ball joint", perhaps ?

The replacement lower A-arms replace the ball joint and the A-arm bushings...
... and you should check for excessive wear on the opposite wheel.

 

lower ball joints always go on our cars. They're pretty cheap at the dealer. Not much labor to change them either. These ALWAYS go on these cars. Let me guess....your fender came down over your tire? and the tire is tilted all the way in?

 

That could be it. Without it there is no steering, or suspension. Absolutely NO WAY to drive the car or transport it without a tow truck. If this is the lower ball joint thank you again Tammy for being the first to say so, again your knowledge is refreshing . And yes I planned on replacing the other side as well.

I can't believe this is a common occurance.

You guessed it Mikeyboy, that's exactly what happened. Anyway, I need to find the part now but I'll try to take a picture of it tomorrow.

Thanks again for all the help, has this happened to anyone else?

Cain

 

Yeah, its common! Once the mileage gets high on the car, especially if you have upgraded wheels its going to happen. Luckily for me I was in my neighborhood when it happened going about 20-25mph. I called the wrecker (rollback) he was scared to tow it. I told him to stop being scary, then I went home got my floor jack. We jacked the damaged side up with the floor jack and let the wheels on the jack help to move the car.

Check your lower control arm as well. The bushing was damaged on mine so I had to replace the entire arm. Its a good idea to replace the other ball joint as well.

 

Cool, Thanks again for all the help ladies and gents. I have both the left and right side on order from Auto Parts Warehouse, so they should be here this week. Take it easy and I'll get some pics up of this, maybe do a DIY since this is so common.

Later,
Cain

 

Parts came in. Any recommendations on getting the old stem out of the lower control arm? I tried smackin it with a ball peen but to no avail. If anyone has done this before, let me know if there are any special tools needed. Thanks again