Welcome to CL.. your not alone.. most of us that did the DIY have never done anything like this before.. We have great step by step instructions to get the job done..

 

Yea I just might do that because I just came from the shop and they told me it'll cost 200$ to fix the lower left ball joint..

 

I read this entire thread and checked all the pics and noticed that most of the cars this happened to are lowered, or has had some suspension work done etc. As Well as bigger wheels and a lower profiles

Can these mods be putting more stress on the lower balljoint or not?

 

I bought my car from World Discount Auto in Chicago Illinois. A 2003 GGP Sport Design with saddle interior. Bone stock with 138k miles. Had it shipped for $600 to Arizona. I moved to San Diego, im stationed there, in the Navy. I did a search on what i needed to look out for with this high mileage. Came across this thread, and replaced the lower ball joints with some from O'Reilly's, Import Direct Chassis - Suspension Ball Joint Part # BJ08001, and Part # BJ13002. Had them replaced at a local auto repair shop.

I thought I was in the clear.




I was pulling into my spot in the parking garage, turning in hard left and heard and felt a pop. I stopped immediately, put it in park, and stepped out and saw it. Thankfully it happened while i was in a safe parking garage and while i was moving slowly. No fender damage, but I think a suspension component gauge and scratched the rim. My insurance company sent out an awesome tow truck driver from Quality Towing out of San Diego. He took his time and found a way to get the front off the ground so we were able to roll it back so his tow truck could get in front of it. No additional damage.

Any ideas on what might have happened? I don't know what I should do. Was it a part defect or was it a bad install. Gunna find out tomorrow.

 

[QUOTE=trbolagger;8489942]I bought my car from World Discount Auto in Chicago Illinois. A 2003 GGP Sport Design with saddle interior. Bone stock with 138k miles. Had it shipped for $600 to Arizona. I moved to San Diego, im stationed there, in the Navy. I did a search on what i needed to look out for with this high mileage. Came across this thread, and replaced the lower ball joints with some from O'Reilly's, Import Direct Chassis - Suspension Ball Joint Part # BJ08001, and Part # BJ13002. Had them replaced at a local auto repair shop.

I thought I was in the clear.




I was pulling into my spot in the parking garage, turning in hard left and heard and felt a pop. I stopped immediately, put it in park, and stepped out and saw it. Thankfully it happened while i was in a safe parking garage and while i was moving slowly. No fender damage, but I think a suspension component gauge and scratched the rim. My insurance company sent out an awesome tow truck driver from Quality Towing out of San Diego. He took his time and found a way to get the front off the ground so we were able to roll it back so his tow truck could get in front of it. No additional damage.

Any ideas on what might have happened? I don't know what I should do. Was it a part defect or was it a bad install. Gunna find out tomorrow.[/QUOTE
That's a bummer man good thing it happened in your garage area. How long did you have them on the car before this happened? And what did you find out? Was it a defective part or installer issue? Do those ball joints have zerk fittings? If so maybe they never greased the joints I don't know never bought any from that parts house. Hope all is well know let me know the results I'm very interested in the outcome

 

Was the cotter pin anywhere to be found? It looks like the castle nut may have backed out some. When I first picked up my GS, I had to do the ball joints immediately since the shop the previous owner used forgot to install cotter pins and the castle nuts were backing out causing damage to the ball joint threads.
Do you have any pictures of the ball joint? I'm local to SD, and I can take a look sometime too. I would suggest finding a replacement wheel since it looks like that inner rim is gouged pretty bad.

 

Oreillys provided a free replacement of the part. I really didnt see anything wrong with the other one. The threads were fine. The mechanic said that his guy might have forgot to put the cotter pin in. WTF?? Was sooo pissed. He installed the replacement for free. I picked the car up and now the abs, vsc, vsc off lights are on. Took it back again, and the mechanics boss did an evaluation. turns out the drivers side abs sensor is now bad.

I usually work on my own car, but i was feeling a little lazy. I live in the barracks, so working on my car is a little hard. Found out there is an auto repair garage on base where you can work on your own car.

Learned my lesson, Better to work on my own ****

 

Damn something so simple as the cotter pin..smh

 

gotta check mine. or even just replace them soon!

 

Just had a lbj fail after only 2 days...my rim is also scratched, tow truck guys came and in the end i took the decision to put it back on my parking lot, it happened only 2 meters away from it. but if been driving around with it for 2 days and nothing happened...i think the provided nuts are sometimes bad quality. also the torque for the ball joint needs to be proper, i had it at like 140-150 NM, but then it started to turn...i should have known...
now i need another ball joint, stabilizer link and a new set of 19" rims...

 

was this a OEM ball joint or after market? if so what brand? at least you had no injury's...

 

That's what the cotter pin is there for. It amazes me how a mechanic can forget this simple step.

 

good to know

 

Aftermarket, Herth + Buss Part...i should have had a look at it again, but i failed to check it again after driving. propably there was a small bit of play and that killed it.
That Cotter Pin will only stop the nut from turning loose, but if there is play and the joint turns during the torque procedure, there is nothing for the cotter pin to do. Problem is that you don't have a point where you can put it an allen key or a torx bit to fix the joint. I think it was not proper seated and i also forget to have a look again..did not drive far with it, less than 25 km...the joint was actually not failing, it was the nut of the joint.

 

This is the oldest and highest mileage car I have every owned. But love it... Anyways I just ordered lower ball joints. Should I do the tie rods also?