NoOne

Thankfully we were stopped when it happened.

Besides the obvious of not enough torque is there anything else that would cause the LBJ nut to come loose or not torque properly?

Here is the story...put on the Pfadt bushings and Hardbar camber kit. I re-assembled everything and torqued everything to the best I could. Torquing the LBJ is tough without a crows foot or something similar. So I dropped it off at the alignment shop, and this is someone with track car experience, the owner of the shop went to Grattan with us the following day after the car was done. I talked to him and the guy going the alignment, both very competent and no reason to believe the guy blew it off. I gave them a wheet with torque specs and what I took off/put on. I told them I torqued all of them except the ones that were difficult because of space or not the right tool, you know the places where you need that certain kind of socket to fit right.

They said they'd double check all the torques and go over the car again. Got the car back and it was great, no problems.

Drove it at Grattan and have been driving it for 3 weeks now problem free. In fact I was just going to post up about how great of an improvement its been with the bushings and Gary's kit. Its the single best thing I've done to the car yet which says a lot considering the low overall cost versus benefit.

My wife had the drive the car to pick me up the other night and she beached it in a parking lot. There was a high spot, wasn't paying attention and grounded it where the jacking puck would go. We pulled the car off the high spot and it seemed no worse for wear.

Drove it 2 more days problem free but I did notice this morning the driverside was sitting lower than the passenger side. ...at first I thought wow that looks pretty good I didn't realize we lowered it that much but then saw the other side.

I was going to go home and jack it up to check it out but we had to stop at the grocery store before heading home. Leaving the parking spot of the grocery store and POP! Car fell to the ground.

A buddy and I went back with jacks, jacked it up thinking the lowering bolt had broken or failed. The control arm was resting on the wheel with the nut sitting there.

Re-assembled, tightened it down and drove it home.

Needless to say tomorrow the whole car comes apart again to double check but I'm wondering if anything else could cause this including too radical a geometry. I'm running -1.5 camber in the front and the car is lowered...best guess is about 1/2 to 3/4" tire lip to fender lip. I know thats not the most accurate way to measure but until the car settles from being lifted I can't measure from the frame rail.

My only other thought is I mixed up the balljoint nut with the concentric nut...are they close? I had spare nuts left over because of replacing he concentrics but they never gave me any reason to believe I switched them up.

Wrong nut I supposed would tighten but not properly torque.

Trying not to think what would happen at 140mph down the straight at Grattan.

Thanks and again if you have the chance, do the bushings/camber kit...totally different car now that I've spent more time in it. More precise and really make the car much more enjoyable to drive.

The noise and harshness difference to me is mimimal...your roof will creak but just re-adjust it and its back to quiet. We were commenting today how smooth the car was with the change.

ErnieN85

1. Support the lower control arm with a jackstand.
2. Install the lower ball joint stud to the steering knuckle.
Notice
Use the correct fastener in the correct location. Replacement fasteners must be the correct part number for that application. Fasteners requiring replacement or fasteners requiring the use of thread locking compound or sealant are identified in the service procedure. Do not use paints, lubricants, or corrosion inhibitors on fasteners or fastener joint surfaces unless specified. These coatings affect fastener torque and joint clamping force and may damage the fastener. Use the correct tightening sequence and specifications when installing fasteners in order to avoid damage to parts and systems.
3. Install the lower control arm ball joint stud nut. It may be necessary to use an allen wrench to keep the ball joint stud from spinning while tightening the ball joint stud nut. Tighten
a. Tighten the lower control arm ball joint stud nut to 20 N•m (15 lb ft) to seat the ball joint stud.
b. Turn the ball joint stud nut an additional 210 degrees.
c. Check the ball joint stud nut for a minimum final torque of 55 N•m (41 lb ft).

As you can see it's different on a vette the 210 degrees and check for 41lb ft is the key.

It might not have seated properly and loosened when driven. I'd put it back like the books says then check again after driving a few miles.

ghoffman

You have to check everything after re-assembly, then re-tighten after use. Maybe I am paranoid, especially with taper assemblies like ball joints. I use an impact gun for those anyway...

davidfarmer

those ball joints can be tricky, as they tend to turn when you atttemp to tighten the nuts. You need to use a torx bit to hold the ball-joint while you tighten the nut, but it can be tricky.

I find it hard to believe it worked loose if it was tightened properly, so I imagine it was never installed, or installed loosely. Glad no major damage was done

NoOne

I did not have a 21mm open end and my 21mm ratcheting wrench does not fit over it so I could not use a hex in the the top.

I put a jack under the balljoint to stop it from spinning and cranked it down, it was not spinning.

I've done this enough times on other cars without incident so thats why I was more leaning towards something different or another cause for the problem.

What I do remember is the car was straight driving after my last HPDE. On the way home it started a lead/pull and I chaulked it up uneven tire pressure. A few days ago I evened up the pressure and noticed some of the lead/pull went away but not all of it. Again thought it was the crown in the road and aggressive alignment.

After bringing it home I double checked it again and took it out, now its straight and true.

So it was most likely tight and came loose.

This could have been much worse than it was...and I am paranoid about this stuff. I check it, I have my wife keep a list and I go through the entire suspension before I put the wheels on...I even had someone over the night I did this and had them go over everything.

On top of that I had the shop go over it.

Time for castle nuts and cotter pins :P