Bad ball joint??
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 805
Likes: 5
From: Naperville Illinois
Bad ball joint??
I rebuilt my front suspension last winter, using a rebuild kit from a Corvette vendor who shall remain nameless. I've had a couple odd symptoms in my last couple of rides, and I'm wondering if I've got a bad part. First, I was turning left into a parking space and my steering locked for a moment; I was able to muscle it back to center. A week or so later I noticed a knocking sound from the area of the driver's side front wheel when going over small bumps at about 35-40 mph. To me that means a bad ball joint, but there are no more than a few hundred miles on these parts; I don't want to replace the ball joints if these symptoms indicate a different problem. All parts are tight and (appear) in good condition. Rag joint is good, steering box was just rebuilt and wheel clearance is good. I had it professionally aligned and it drives great except for the symptoms I described.
Anything else I should check before I conclude I got a bad joint in the kit and just get to work replacing them? Thanks, Chris
Anything else I should check before I conclude I got a bad joint in the kit and just get to work replacing them? Thanks, Chris
Safety Car
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 4,270
Likes: 20
From: Central Michigan
I rebuilt my front suspension last winter, using a rebuild kit from a Corvette vendor who shall remain nameless. I've had a couple odd symptoms in my last couple of rides, and I'm wondering if I've got a bad part. First, I was turning left into a parking space and my steering locked for a moment; I was able to muscle it back to center. A week or so later I noticed a knocking sound from the area of the driver's side front wheel when going over small bumps at about 35-40 mph. To me that means a bad ball joint, but there are no more than a few hundred miles on these parts; I don't want to replace the ball joints if these symptoms indicate a different problem. All parts are tight and (appear) in good condition. Rag joint is good, steering box was just rebuilt and wheel clearance is good. I had it professionally aligned and it drives great except for the symptoms I described.
Anything else I should check before I conclude I got a bad joint in the kit and just get to work replacing them? Thanks, Chris
Anything else I should check before I conclude I got a bad joint in the kit and just get to work replacing them? Thanks, Chris
I just posted in my Moog thread about a ball joint issue I was having
You might start by jacking up the car and removing the front wheels, then have someone slowly steer lock to lock while you check the ball joints for noise. Use a stethoscope or piece of tubing held to your ear if you have to (just keep your fingers out of the way!)
Drifting
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 1,635
Likes: 8
From: Enid Oklahoma
I rebuilt my front suspension last winter, using a rebuild kit from a Corvette vendor who shall remain nameless. I've had a couple odd symptoms in my last couple of rides, and I'm wondering if I've got a bad part. First, I was turning left into a parking space and my steering locked for a moment; I was able to muscle it back to center. A week or so later I noticed a knocking sound from the area of the driver's side front wheel when going over small bumps at about 35-40 mph. To me that means a bad ball joint, but there are no more than a few hundred miles on these parts; I don't want to replace the ball joints if these symptoms indicate a different problem. All parts are tight and (appear) in good condition. Rag joint is good, steering box was just rebuilt and wheel clearance is good. I had it professionally aligned and it drives great except for the symptoms I described.
Anything else I should check before I conclude I got a bad joint in the kit and just get to work replacing them? Thanks, Chris
Anything else I should check before I conclude I got a bad joint in the kit and just get to work replacing them? Thanks, Chris
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 805
Likes: 5
From: Naperville Illinois
Make sure that a bushing is not the cause. Is the alignment feeling different? If so the alignment shims may have fallen out. Not sure if that would cause the steering issue, but i recommend a complete look over of all of the components before buying anything. And look hard at the steering compnents and tie rods.
Team Owner
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 37,637
Likes: 3,118
From: Crossville TN
You can test the 'slop' in ball joints by prying the tire up and down (with front wheels off the ground) and looking for 'free' motion in the joint. If you find such a condition, I would highly recommend that you take digital photos of the extremes of that free motion and send a written letter and those photos to the vendor requesting what correction he/she would offer in your behalf. Selling unhardened (or underhardened) ball joints is a threat to your personal safety and the various Safety Commissions would frown upon any vendor selling such items and not making correction for any bad product sold.
If that vendor isn't willing to at least replace those parts with quality pieces at no cost, I would be forwarding your letter and photos to every Highway Safety Commission group (for your area) that could be found. A proper correction for selling that kind of cr@p for safety related components would be that the vendor also pay for a reputable repair shop to do the work in lieu of your lost efforts of installing that junk in the first place! But, that's probably too much to expect.
If that vendor isn't willing to at least replace those parts with quality pieces at no cost, I would be forwarding your letter and photos to every Highway Safety Commission group (for your area) that could be found. A proper correction for selling that kind of cr@p for safety related components would be that the vendor also pay for a reputable repair shop to do the work in lieu of your lost efforts of installing that junk in the first place! But, that's probably too much to expect.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 2,520
Likes: 11
From: Hinckley OH
You can test the 'slop' in ball joints by prying the tire up and down (with front wheels off the ground) and looking for 'free' motion in the joint. If you find such a condition, I would highly recommend that you take digital photos of the extremes of that free motion and send a written letter and those photos to the vendor requesting what correction he/she would offer in your behalf. Selling unhardened (or underhardened) ball joints is a threat to your personal safety and the various Safety Commissions would frown upon any vendor selling such items and not making correction for any bad product sold.
If that vendor isn't willing to at least replace those parts with quality pieces at no cost, I would be forwarding your letter and photos to every Highway Safety Commission group (for your area) that could be found. A proper correction for selling that kind of cr@p for safety related components would be that the vendor also pay for a reputable repair shop to do the work in lieu of your lost efforts of installing that junk in the first place! But, that's probably too much to expect.
If that vendor isn't willing to at least replace those parts with quality pieces at no cost, I would be forwarding your letter and photos to every Highway Safety Commission group (for your area) that could be found. A proper correction for selling that kind of cr@p for safety related components would be that the vendor also pay for a reputable repair shop to do the work in lieu of your lost efforts of installing that junk in the first place! But, that's probably too much to expect.
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Verdad Gallardo
Race Director
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 14,112
Likes: 28
From: Florida
Moog joints are old news, their time has come and gone.
At best they are made in Mexico now and receive a lot of complaints on their quality. Workers have posted info on them shutting down and moving tooling there.
I switched to http://www.xrfchassis.com/ for my own stuff.
Great quality and good price.
At best they are made in Mexico now and receive a lot of complaints on their quality. Workers have posted info on them shutting down and moving tooling there.
I switched to http://www.xrfchassis.com/ for my own stuff.
Great quality and good price.
