Help, Lower Ball Joint Failure (with Pic)

[Guest Red_SLR]

http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r301/au...pg?t=1165701593

 

What happened - Left hand corner - approx 30mph - half throttle no problems BANG. No drive or steering.

 

4 hours later get home via nice AA man.

 

Now car is at home but I have no real experiace with these cars ( this is my first 205). I need to get it sorted asap really - anyone got any advice? The car is running 209 front suspension - will the part be standard 205 part or will I need to get 209 part?

 

Also someone has told me this is a common problem and the best way forward is rose jointing it up.

 

I am just happy this happened at 30mph vs the 70+ that it could have happened at!

 

TIA

 

Red

[hengti 2]

that was lucky!

 

what has actually broken then? the bottom arm pin, or the something relating to the hub or hub pinch bolt (that holds the bottom arm pin into the hub)

 

it's not a common problem by the way. otherwise most of us wouldn't be here!

[Guest Red_SLR]

I think it was the bottom ball joint off the hub. Went dark right after it happened so could not get a really good luck but will get the wheel off tomorrow for a better look.

[hengti 2]

that's a very serious failure - you might need to consider replacing the bottom arm and the hub depending upon the damage (even if it's just the bolt that has worked loose). i'd get someone who really knows their onions to give it the once over to be sure you can reuse the arm/hub before considering doing so.

 

good to hear you're alright - i once had a tie bar snap on me in a mini at a higher speed - the wheel folded up into the arch and there was nothing i could do about steering. unpleasant experience - thankfully extremely rare.

[tagy 1]

thats not common, seems strange it would just break with no warning.

 

you might need a new 309 wishbone, driveshaft? hub carrier? or some combination of those bits. Need to see what broke.

 

It hasn't bent the bit where the top of the strut bolts to I hope?

[max0 5]

Yikes that is so scary! Glad all is ok. Going to double check my car tomorrow after seeing that!

 

Looks like the shock has come out of the hub and the hub is bent, dont know if this is what caused it to fail or not.

[Guest Red_SLR]

Ahh..

 

I need to check tomorrow - I will post more pics then.

 

The fail came out of the blue, was just getting on the power out of a corner and bang it went - thought it was a drive shaft failure at first. Stopped as soon as I could and then we had a bit of a problem getting it off the track so it was manhandled a bit really. Prob not the best but its all we could do at the time - we tried to keep the weight off that corner as much as possible. Used a Hiab after that to get it off the flatbed.

 

I will jack it up tomorrow and get it onto some stands.

[Miles 331 1 Cars]

Thats the first time I;ve seen that on a 205 without having crash damage, Look's like complete failure of the balljoint, Which as said could lead to damaging the Strut, Driveshaft and maybe even the top mount at that angle, All fixable thou,

Do you know any history of the Wishbone? as the cheap pattern ones do have a habbit of failing rather quickly

[Guest Red_SLR]

Some more photos

 

http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r301/au...pg?t=1165755610

 

http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r301/au...pg?t=1165755668

 

http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r301/au...pg?t=1165755695

 

From the looks of it the stub part of the ball joint just sheared. It looks like its had no previous damage that I can see - its a clean break. Its gone inside the collar where it starts to taper down - IYSWIM.

 

Does anyone know if the ball joint is part of the wishbone or is it bolted in? I cant see where I can remove the ball joint - anyone done this before? Thanks!!!

[Matt Holley 11]

You will need to replace the whole bottom arm as you cant get the ball joint seperatly.

[Guest Red_SLR]

Thakns - do you know any suppliers who will have parts in stock.

 

Because its got 209 suspension on it I assume I will need 209 wishbones?

[hengti 2]

^as above - you'll need to get yourself a whole new arm.

the 205 ones are about £50 a go from EuroCarParts or GermanSwedishFrench (not sure about the 309 ones)

 

it's a v peculiar failure - i'd check that the hub isn't ovalised too. Once you've got the rest of the pin out of the hub (good luck with that!), check that the pin on the new arm doesn't appear slack in the hub (you'll probably not be able to tell if it is until you can get it back on the road - any play will show up as a knocking noise. alternatively, see if a local expert can give you the ok on it - ?

 

you'll need to buy a new bolt and nut too - get those from a Peugeot dealer. Take the old bolt along so that you can make sure you get one with an unthreaded shoulder - apparently, Pug have been supplying bolts which are threaded along their length, which isn't ideal as the unthreaded shoulder needs to be a snug fit into the groove in the balljoint pin.

 

how's the rest of the suspension looking? (re. other's comments about what to check)

 

 

 

ed. sorry to correct you - but you're presumably talking about 309 wishbones - not 209 ones. the Peugeot 209 is still about 10 years off!!

Edited December 10, 2006 by hengti

[pug309twin40s 1]

blimey, never seen a ball joint actually shearing of before.

 

 

you were very lucky.

[smckeown 1]

takee some pics of the pinch bolt still in the hub, i.e. from behind of the hub. Might as well replace new pinch bolts too. also takle the pinch bolt out and lets have a look at it

[jackherer 543]

the best price I've found for 205 or 309 wishbones is buypartsby.co.uk at about £34+vat.

 

I've fitted them to a couple of 205s now and done several thousand miles including a few trackdays with no problems at all.

[Guest Red_SLR]

Cheers, the car is at a friends lock up now so wont be able to get any more pics till later in the week. Will order a new pair of 309 wishbones and bolts etc and have a go at the weekend.

[Guest Red_SLR]

Pair of wishbones on the way from buypartsby.co.uk

[Tidy_Andy 0]

Totally off topic but your the only Red SLR in existance ( i build the real things)

[Guest Red_SLR]

Not McLaren Merc...

 

http://www.caterham.co.uk/images/pomainpics/1373.jpg

 

 

(ps not my car but very similar)

 

SLR stands for Superlight R

Edited December 10, 2006 by Red_SLR

[Tidy_Andy 0]

TBH Id rather have one of them than what we throw out the door over priced an over weight lumps for over rich people to drive about in while thinking "im conciderably richer than yow"

[Guest Red_SLR]

[Butler 0]

And I thought I drove the car hard. Get well soon.

[Guest Red_SLR]

It was just a fluke - should be up and running again at the weekend, then she is off to a local specialist for some TLC, oil change etc.

[jonah 1]

You're going to need a new hub carrier too (well second hand, a new one will be dealer only and v expensive). The balljoint pin snaps when the clamp on the hub carrier has bell-mouthed (opened out at the bottom), causing the bottom section of the pin to not be clamped properly. So all the suspension load gets transferred through the neck of the pin which causes it to fatigue and eventually snap. When buying a s/h hub carrier check carefully that it hasn't got the same fault - a telltale sign is a ridge around the edge of the hole for the balljoint pin.

[Guest Red_SLR]

Anyone got one ?

 

How much will it be at a dealer?