[DML] balljoint failure [long]

["darryl@xxxx" <darryl@xxxx>]

I'd like to relate a problem I had with my car that could have had serious
consequences. Last Saturday my wife and I left for a car show in our
supercharged Chevy powered DeLorean. The first 10 miles or so of the trip
was on a winding, narrow country road, and I let the car out a little,
easily exceeding twice the speed limit of 40 MPH at times. I backed off
once we hit the state highway, and cruised another 20 miles or so to the
show. Upon entering the parking lot I stopped to chat with an old friend,
and then turned hard right when suddenly BANG the left front wheel was at a
terrible angle. Thankfully I could drive straight ahead to a parking spot,
where I got out the never-used jack to see what had happened. The lower
ball joint had broken at the nut, and the lower control arm had popped off
of the spindle! I don't want to think of what would have happened if that
had failed a few minutes earlier. I bummed a ride home where I got some
tools and several spare ball joints, and was able to replace it in the
parking lot in a short time.

I know there was a lower ball joint recall from the factory, and as a parts
vendor I thought I knew which was the correct one to use; plus I had rebuilt
every piece of this car's suspension myself. And yet somehow I had managed
to use the wrong parts, an error which could have had deadly results.

The point of this is: check your lower ball joints. The bottom (where the
zerk fitting is) should have a crowned shape. If it is a flat circle about
1 1/4" diameter which appears crimped into the larger housing, REPLACE IT! 
(It also appears the nut on the correct one is 19mm, compared to 18mm on the
faulty one, but check the bottom to be sure.) The stud on these ball joints
is undercut and weak at the point where the taper ends and the threads
begin, and could fail - mine did. (And if anyone is curious, the elapsed
time today to remove both lower control arms and replace both ball joints,
alone and without a spring compressor, just a floor jack, was 4 hours.)

I welcome input from Joe, Stephen, etc. on this subject.

Darryl Tinnerstet
McCleary