Snapped ball joint bolts.

[Brett_jjj]

About a month or two ago I fitted new lower front control arm ball joints.The original ball joints are riveted to the arm,the replacement ones come with nuts and bolts.I originally bought these ball joints about 3 years ago when I fitted new struts and front springs etc,I didnt need to use them at the time as the others were still good.Anyway,I decided to change them as one had slight movement,I fitted them no worries,got a wheel alignment done,and it has been excellent to drive again,up until now..The other night I was coming around a corner in town here at about 50-60 k's,I went to slow down and as soon as I touched the brakes,it went bang,the left front collapsed and it skidded into the gutter where it stopped.I didnt know what had happened,and when I saw the ball joint and how the bolts were missing, Ive walked to where the thing first let go, and heres the snapped nuts and bolts scattered about on the road.Amazingly all I did to get it mobile again was I jacked it up,fitted 3 new bolts to the ball joint,fitted the spare tyre and I was able to drive it home.Even the wheel alignment was hardly effected.It slightly bent the swaybar link,it bent the rim,but what blows me out is the wheel rim and the sill/firewall took the brunt of the force where it hit the gutter,theres absolutely no damage or even hit marks anywhere else under the front of the car except around the left front.Im gonna see if insurance will cover it,and get some quotes on what it will cost to fix it etc..Heres some pics...I cant get over how these bolts snapped though,the ball joints were bought through a holden dealer but werent genuine holden brand,Ive got the boxes that they came in at my oldies place,I will name them when I find out the name.I even used a tension wrench to tighten these bolts to the specified specs of 25-35 Nm.Ive done this sort of job heaps of times over the years,Ive never seen this happen,I have seen new ball joints fail and collapse but never the bolts..

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[glenn l]

i have seen it before but only when the bolts have been over tightened and over stretched, with the specs you used i cant see that being the problem.

 

[Paul13pp]

Bugga !

Cheers for the heads up.
I dare say i'll be replacing these ball joints somewhere down the track.
Over the years I have seen quite a few cars broken down in a similar situation with a collapsed ball joint problem.
They do carry a lot of weight those ball joints.
Lucky it broke under light load rather than at 110 klm/h on a freeway.

Certainly bring it to their attention though.

 

[Brett_jjj]

I picked the snapped bolts up off the road and sat them on my car the night it happened, and then I forgot about them and drove off after I got going again.Luckily I was able to go back yesterday and find most of them.By the look of it,these bolts are not all the same,and it looks like the drivers side bolts are different again from these ,so I dont know whats gone on..I certainly didnt notice this when I first installed them...I wish I had now,but I dont usually check out the bolts that come with new parts...Heres a pic of the bolts

 

[dirt drifter]

moral of the story, dont trust the bolts that are supplied with your new ball joints!

as said already, cheers for the heads up brett. i know if i replace any from now on i will be buying the most hi tensile bolts i can find to bolt them in!

 

[IBLOWN]

From the picture the black bolts are high tensile. They should all be high tensile. The silver bolts arent, they actually look to be stainless! The silver bolts would have snapped first.

See if the silver bolts have a number on the top of them. High tensile should have a number like 8.8

 

[Brett_jjj]

I wish I had found the other bolt head,these two are completely different ,one has KSFC and M on it,the other has ISO SENLEY,theres no numbers on either of them anywhere...

 

[Brett_jjj]

These look like they are the locking type nuts with the plastic/nylon around the thread,Ive noticed that one of the snapped bolts doesnt have this and is just a standard nut,the drivers side ball joint has spring washers and no locking type nuts at all..

 

[IBLOWN]

Yeah i doubt the silver bolts are high tensile. I would go and buy a set of 8.8 grade bolts with spring washers yourself from a fastener supplier.

 

[Brett_jjj]

Yeah i doubt the silver bolts are high tensile. I would go and buy a set of 8.8 grade bolts with spring washers yourself from a fastener supplier.

Im gonna replace both the complete ball joints and bolts again this week.I dont trust them at all now.I drive my car heaps hard,braking, cornering etc,so it cops a hard time but thats why I keep it serviced regularly and keep new parts up to it,especially when it comes to brakes and the suspension and bushes etc,I only use genuine holden parts for the suspension,(except bushes which are nolothane).I found out why they werent genuine ball joints that I got before,its because holden dont make these ball joints any more,and havent for a long time apparently.I just called the local dealer here to get the price of new ones, they can supply aftermarket ones which is what theyve done to me before.Ive told them about what happened anyway,but I didnt know what brand they were so it wasnt much help to them really..anyway,looks like I will get aftermarket ones again,Im gonna get the brand name of these later on when I get time to go get the boxes they came in,I will definitely stay away from that brand again,thats for sure...Im gonna post it up here when I get it so others know to avoid them...