So this morning I heard a weird clanky noise driving to work. I thought it was my exhaust hanger (i've broken 5 so far, lol) Got to work, checked my exhaust, and all was fine, so I wasn't sure.

So I finish work and I start driving to my girlfriend's apartment, and the clanking sound is pretty obvious and starting to worry me. I pin point that it's coming from the Front Right wheel. I get to her apartment and take a look underneath to see what I can find. Well.....without a jack, squeezing under the front end, I managed to find the issue. My endlink ball joint (if that's the proper name) separated from the end link end!!!

Here's a quick example of what separated....


I can't get a pic today because I'm at my girlfriend's and can't get underneath it.

basically the center silver ball joint separated from the gold endlink. The end link is now hanging free on the arm of the sway bar. The ball joint is still attached to the bolt control arm.

I tried calling PFADT but their offices are closed. I tried looking on their site for warranty information, but couldn't find any. Of course I work tomorrow so I can't do anything until Sunday, but doubt they'll be able to overnight me a new endlink over the weekend, so looks like I'll be limping until Monday....

Just my luck....

also as a side note, the orange arms of the sway bar have play in them. I tightened down the hex nut for each, but they're tight, yet there's still a bit of play in the arms...both sides. The side with the good endlink still has a bit of play with the car on the ground. Is that normal?

 

PM forum member Datawiz. Craig is a serious autocrosser and uses Pfadt bars and links on his C6 Z06. I know he's had a couple issues and I'm sure he can help.

 

PM'd him. Thanks for the help! Just hope I can track down what exactly caused this, and I hope it's something that can be warrantied by PFADT so I can get back on the road with minimal head aches

 

PM sent.

Pfadt stands behind their products. You should not have an issue.

 

Also, use lock-tite to hold those screws in that hold the orange arms to the bar. Driving a few days with a broken end link will not hurt your car. Don't stress. I raced 2 events before I knew mine was broken. On the track, you can't hear the stuff you hear on the street.

 

Thanks for the help Craig

 

thanks for the help from both of you

This is exactly why I love this forum and its members!!!

 

I've received MORE from this Forum than I've ever given. Even though Aaron won't let it happen, if Pfadt won't replace your end link, I'll send you one of my backups. Hopefully you pass on the favor to another forum member in the future.

 

I did use loc-tite when I first installed them. They seem tight, yet the arms seem to be able to wiggle a bit on the splined ends, and if space allowed, i could probably pull them off the splined ends of the bar like I was disassembling them. I don't recall them being loose like that when I first installed them.

 

Those screws were ALWAYS backing out on mine until I put lock-tite on them. I know there are different "strengths" of Lock-tite. When you talk to Pfadt, mention this to them as well. Beyond great customer service, they are great with technical support. I used the blue lock-tite and cranked those ***** as tightly as I could. They have not moved since.

Before that, they loosened up all the time.

 

I don't think that the stock end links will work with the Pfadt bar, the mounting bolt length probably isn't long enough to get thru the thicker bar part.... If they would work you could put the stock endlink back on and a least be able to get around, but really you have bigger problems than just the end link....

The reason that I say that is, no, the arms shoudn't be loose on the bar. The splines on the later versions of these bars are cut on an angle and that tends to concentate the loading on the outside edge of the spline with a combination of bending and torsion right where the spline stress concentration occurs..... The arms are aluminum and there was at least one incidence where an arm has broken by cracking thru the arm in the area where it wraps around the bar, opposite of the clamping nut. That was a case where the car was being used on the track with sticky tires and that puts more roll loading into the bars, but the use of aluminum in a splined application that is subject to fatigue loading isn't good design practice.

The reason for that is that aluminum doesn't have the fatigue capability of steel, even if it is a relatively strong aluminum, the fatigure life simply isn't there. If the arms aren't tightening around the bar that isn't good. Once they start knocking they will likely pound themselves out in short order.

I looked for the thread where there was a picture of the arm that was cracked, it was in the autocross and roadracing page, but the photo of the cracked bar isn't there any more.

Probably should put the stock bar back on until you get this straightened out....

 

Wish I could....I've since sold both stock sways. I'll see what Pfadt says as far as what I can do.

 

That was MY car where the arm broke. Yes, my car carries more load than a street car, as is the case with the OP. I'm guessing he's not tracking, or not much at all. My co-driver has the old-style 90-degree pfadt arms and I have new ones. The broken endlink and the broken arm are the only two failures I've ever had and both times Pfadt stood behind their products.

My car is obviously an extreme. It ran 25 weekends in 2009 with 3 drivers in it. I've had more GM parts break than I have had issues with Pfadt. Just got a new catalytic converter yesterday.

 

yeah, i'm not a hardcore racer, but I do enjoy my autox's here and there (about 4-5 a year) with a hpde here or there. Im running Nitto 555 RII Extreme comp radials on stock shocks/springs/height so I doubt I'm getting as much abuse as you are.

 

Your car is a virgin. You're not hurting it. Pfadt will likely hook you up. Like I said, in the unlikely event that they do not, I'll send you one of mine.

Keep driving your car the way it was meant to be driven.

When you race your car, you have to accept the fact that things break. My car's first race was when it only had 400 miles on the clock. Damn Hoosiers took big chunks out of the rocker panel. Hence the wrap. Just have fun.

 

oh believe me, i definitely use the car for what it's supposed to do My only regret was not putting on splash guards when I got the nitto's. my rockers have seen better days too, as well as my fender edges. I expect breakage, but this was one of those things that you buy and you say to yourself "this is pretty beefy, it'll never break." so much for that idea.

 

Sorry but I wholeheartly disagree with that statement, at least as far a suspension parts go.

Imagine if you lost the front swaybar in a high speed sweeper, on the track or not, big bunches of oversteer at that point are enough that you are likely to leave the road back end first. That is just plain dangerous.

Suspenson parts have to be sufficiently robust to handle the beating that they take and not break. EVER! Bend, get out of alignment, or generally degrade is ok, that doesn't lead to surprises on the track, but sway bars and mounting hardware are handling critical and should be sufficiently robust that a sudden failure is not going to happen.

 

Antonio,

Sorry we missed your call on Friday. Please give us a call at your convenience and we'll figure out what is going on. You can talk to Josh, Rob or myself.

-Aaron

 

Thank you Aaron. I'm actually about to go outside and take pictures to better describe what happened. I'll post them up once I get back inside the house.

 

Aaron,

You have an email with pictures and a PM