Sheared off lower ball joint

Kenm4187 · #1 (**permalink**) 06-08-2008, 09:14 PM

A bad thing happened today. I was Autocrossing and the lower ball joint
sheared off and then the upper ball joint pulled out (left front). The
wheel (wheel, rotor, hub) came off and did a lot of damage to the body.

Has anyone had this happen? Not looking forward to get a price to repair the body work.

Thanks,

KenM 2560

csx wnab · #2 (**permalink**) 06-08-2008, 09:17 PM

sorry to hear that. were you in atwater?

PANAVIA · #3 (**permalink**) 06-09-2008, 01:28 AM

Keep us posted. -- weld failure >?

Kenm4187 · #4 (**permalink**) 06-09-2008, 09:40 AM

I was running in Marina.

The lower ball joint stud sheared off. The remainder of the stud and the nut are still in the spindle. I talked to Dennis today and he has never seen that happen before. He is checking on it.

Not as worried about the parts as the body. The parts can be replaced, don't know what it's going to take for the body.

Thanks,

Ken M 2560

spfgm · #5 (**permalink**) 06-09-2008, 04:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kenm4187

I was running in Marina.

The lower ball joint stud sheared off. The remainder of the stud and the nut are still in the spindle. I talked to Dennis today and he has never seen that happen before. He is checking on it.

Not as worried about the parts as the body. The parts can be replaced, don't know what it's going to take for the body.

Thanks,

Ken M 2560

Ken, I am sorry to here about your accident, and hope you were not injured. please forward pictures to myself so we can help you with a answer for the failure. Body parts and suspension parts are available through your selling dealer or you can contact Superformance. I can also refer you to qualified body shops to assist you.

Barry Bloch
General manager Superformance LLC.

PANAVIA · #6 (**permalink**) 06-10-2008, 12:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spfgm

Ken, I am sorry to here about your accident, and hope you were not injured. please forward pictures to myself so we can help you with a answer for the failure. Body parts and suspension parts are available through your selling dealer or you can contact Superformance. I can also refer you to qualified body shops to assist you.

Barry Bloch
General manager Superformance LLC.

--Very cool Barry!!! NOW THAT IS SERVICE!!

Silverback51 · #7 (**permalink**) 06-10-2008, 02:49 AM

If you look at the 009.jpg picture you can tell that this condition has existed for some time. The final failure happened when the dark gray area failed. The lighter gray area had been cracked for some time. It appears to me that it failed right at the transition to the threads. Is that correct?

And don't feel bad. The chances are that a casual inspection would not have indicated the condition so you did not do anything wrong

I would recommend that all ball joints be replaced. Could have been a bad batch. or an isolated condition.

Rick Parker · #8 (**permalink**) 06-09-2008, 12:57 PM

It is entirely possible that the loading of the front suspension while in a turn caused it (the lower control arm) to exceed the design angle of movement causing it it fracture? Otherwise you would have had to impact something with the tire/wheel to create a shearing force (unlikely). Did it fracture right next to the "ball"?

ZOERA-SC7XX · #9 (**permalink**) 06-09-2008, 04:54 PM

Ball joints just don't break! It's possible that there was a whole bunch of defective ball joints in their production run. I hope the company (SPF) investigates this problem and identifies who else may be in jeopardy. It's better to be safe than sorry.

Kenm4187 · #10 (**permalink**) 06-09-2008, 05:36 PM

This should be a link to the pictures I posted. First time so I hope it works.
http://photobucket.com/kenm2560
I was almost going straight and I did not run into anything. Honest, this was not driver error. It was not binding when checked the day before.

Thanks everyone for the concern, I am ok, just upset about what happened. Working to get the car running for the next event.

Thanks,

Kenm2560

RedBarchetta · #11 (**permalink**) 06-09-2008, 06:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZOERA-SC7XX

Ball joints just don't break! It's possible that there was a whole bunch of defective ball joints in their production run.

That's a pretty bold statement to make for one incident being reported, especially when the driver admitted to driving the car hard.

Ken, sorry to hear about your misfortune and I hope things get patched up quick so you can be back on the road!

-Dean

thudmaster · #12 (**permalink**) 06-09-2008, 07:49 PM

Ken, get it patched before the 21st of June. I'd like to hear about it first hand at breakfast.........Where ever it's going to be..........

vegasmike · #13 (**permalink**) 06-09-2008, 08:07 PM

Yea, pretty bold statement. Like you Dan, I have some pretty extensive experience in the airline/aircraft industry. I know of at least one instance where the nose gear on an MD-80 failed. Boeing/MD just said that it looked like metal fatigue and appeared to be an isolated incident. It has not happened since, to my knowledge, and no service bulletins were posted either. Sometimes things just happen based on the series on events that precluded it.

Neither the airline or the manufacturer were found to be at fault and it was determined by the FAA to be an "unexplainable isolated incident of metal fatigue".

Just glad you are safe (as were all of the pax).

ZOERA-SC7XX · #14 (**permalink**) 06-10-2008, 03:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vegasmike

Yea, pretty bold statement. Like you Dan, I have some pretty extensive experience in the airline/aircraft industry. I know of at least one instance where the nose gear on an MD-80 failed. Boeing/MD just said that it looked like metal fatigue and appeared to be an isolated incident. It has not happened since, to my knowledge, and no service bulletins were posted either. Sometimes things just happen based on the series on events that precluded it.

Neither the airline or the manufacturer were found to be at fault and it was determined by the FAA to be an "unexplainable isolated incident of metal fatigue".

Just glad you are safe (as were all of the pax).

You bet it's bold. I'm an FAA rated mechanic and an NDT (X-ray, mag particle, FPI,) inspector for a major jet engine manufacturer in CT., and when there's a metal failure, it's investigated.
Maybe it's just a car, but I would not want it to be mine. I agree with the statements regarding heat treat and general manufacturing quality. These parts are made to survive a vehicle lifetime and usually wear out before failing in the field. Maybe if the car hit a concrete abutment or a sinkhole would it shear, but not under normal driving conditions. I wonder who the manufacturer was? If I had an SPF Cobra, I'd change all four ball joints and replace with Moog parts.

Danr55 · #15 (**permalink**) 06-09-2008, 06:40 PM

I'm no metalurgist, but I've seen failures like that in aircraft parts. The just flat assed failed. It looks like the sheer load exceeded the capacity of the material. That means that either the heat treat was missed or insufficient or that the forging alloy was wrong. I'd be more inclined to look at the heat treat.

At least I'm glad you weren't hurt..

Chaplain · #16 (**permalink**) 06-10-2008, 10:17 AM

In my opinion there's no way that part should have failed even with the most severe duty. I believe that if you were to check the hardness of the part you will find that it was either heat treated improperly or that during use lubrication wasn't able to get to the part and it work hardened and failed. If this was a part that was supposed to be "lifetime lubricated" I think a lack of or insufficient lubrication from the very beginning is your culprit. If you have access or live close to a metallurgical (SP) lab I would have them perform an analysis to find out for certain what the cause was.

ZOERA-SC7XX · #17 (**permalink**) 06-10-2008, 06:49 PM

Those parts are made in very large batches. If that ball joint was over stressed ('stress relief', a heat treat term) than many more were treated the same...where are these parts. They may never fail, but they still may be defective.

madmaxx · #18 (**permalink**) 06-19-2008, 08:19 AM

Did the mechanic find the ball joint was never lubricated? Was it about to fail?

Bartruff1 · #19 (**permalink**) 06-19-2008, 01:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by madmaxx

Did the mechanic find the ball joint was never lubricated? Was it about to fail?

Don't have a clue Patrick, I just put gas in and out of them. I suspect SP will take a close look at it when we send it back. It couldn't be good.

madmaxx · #20 (**permalink**) 06-20-2008, 06:49 AM

My plan is as follows:
Try not to drink until after 7:00pm tonight.
Between 5:00 pm and 7:00 pm I am going to put the car on jack stands. Take off front wheels, place board on floor jack, place floor jack under brake rotor, apply pressure to brake rotor, monitor ball joint movement, if any movement ball joint is defective, drink immediately and call SPF, if no movement then ensure ball joint is greased. If case two occurs which I suspect it will I begin drinking immediately.

So either way my plans are fixed for tonight, LOL!!!