Home » Public Forums » GMCnet » [GMCnet] Balljoints
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| Re: [GMCnet] Balljoints [message #68018 is a reply to message #67984] |
Mon, 21 December 2009 16:06   |
Steven Ferguson
Messages: 3447
Registered: May 2006
Karma: 0
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Senior Member |
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After being back-burnered for every race that comes up in the sand, I
went with a second engineering outfit. (Recommended by Gordy Lee.)
The progress is significant given the short amount of time they have
been working on them. Upon completion, there will still be a
considerable length of time devoted to real time testing.
Recently, a netter sent me photos of a ball joint that had one ear
broken off. I was amazed as I hadn't seen that before and I've seen a
heckuva lot of A arms in the past 10 years. To find one with both
ears broken, and obviously had been for some time, boggles my mind.
How the heck did that coach stay on the road. The one nut that held
the ball joint in place isn't much more than a locater with only 25-30
ft lbs of torque on it. I could tell from the size of the hole that
it had started wallowing around but the tip of the control arm was
still not starting to crack. Unbelievable!
Get under there and check that front end out. I'm still getting a
lot of calls asking about using urethane bushings and so far, all have
been from owners that have GMCs with the original bushings in the
control arms. Heck, they were trashed 10 years ago whether or not the
coach was being used. No wonder there's so many stories about the
poor handling of our GMCs.
Haven't heard from your kid yet Ken.
On Mon, Dec 21, 2009 at 10:53 AM, Ken Henderson <ken0henderson@gmail.com> wrote:
> Wow, that and all the surrounding photos are scarey, even outside the snow zone.
>
> What the status of your new A-arms?
>
> Ken H.
>
>
> On Mon, Dec 21, 2009 at 12:40 PM, Steven Ferguson <botiemad11@gmail.com> wrote:
>> This is the worst one I've ever seen. Note the rust where the ears
>> separated from the body. This happened a long time ago. Someone out
>> there is very lucky they didn't have a catastrophic failure. This one
>> gets added to the "hall of shame". Check 'em fellas.
>> http://www.gmcmhphotos.com/photos/showphoto.php?photo=32016
> _______________________________________________
> GMCnet mailing list
> List Information and Subscription Options:
> http://temp.gmcnet.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gmclist
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--
Steve Ferguson
'76 EII
Sierra Vista, AZ
Urethane bushing source
www.bdub.net/ferguson/
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| Re: [GMCnet] Balljoints [message #68027 is a reply to message #68018] |
Mon, 21 December 2009 16:58 |
Rick Denney
Messages: 430
Registered: January 2004
Karma: 0
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Senior Member |
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Steven Ferguson writes...
> Recently, a netter sent me photos of a ball joint that had one ear
> broken off. I was amazed as I hadn't seen that before and I've seen a
> heckuva lot of A arms in the past 10 years.
That was me. It was a classic fatigue failure that could have resulted
from a manufacturing flaw or some other issue. I wish I could be sure
why there is no corrosion in the crack given what seems a slow-growing
crack (at least at first).
http://www.gmcmhphotos.com/photos/showphoto.php?photo=26363
I installed new ball joints, but having seen this failure I'm always a
little nervous about it.
Of course, gravity keeps a ball joint in place even if the ears are
broken off, and the bolt in the top is loaded in sheer during
cornering. It is never loaded in tension so the nut doesn't have to be
strong or even particularly tight. It will work loose and then the
bolt will wobble around. If the owner drives only carefully on smooth
pavement, it might survive quite a while.
Front bushings are on my to-do list, but so are a lot of things.
Rick "whose coach drives well, but who also didn't notice a spun front
wheel bearing that was loose in the knuckle" Denney
'73 230 Ex-Glacier "Jaws"
Northern Virginia
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'73 Glacier 230 "Jaws"
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| Re: [GMCnet] Balljoints [message #68067 is a reply to message #68018] |
Tue, 22 December 2009 07:17 |
Jim Bounds
Messages: 842
Registered: January 2004
Karma: 0
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Senior Member |
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Steve,
Just goes to show ya these coaches will drive broken! I have seen stuff that curls your toes, my coach (Larry) was driving a little loose-- p"plumbers pipes leak" so I just left it alone working on other stuff while my coach just sat. One day I had Jason jack up the front suspension and found my pass. side A arm was cracked at the lower ball joint bigger than crap! One more bump across a RR track would have done it but all I felt was a little play in the wheel. Chances are there are many issues like that out there that no one knows about. Folks swing by for me to take a look at their suspension and after I list what I see they sometimes freak out-- hey, they asked me to look!
These are the realities of working with older vehicles, I don't care how well they were built, mother nature is a ______ on everything.
Jim Bounds
---------------------------
----- Original Message ----
From: Steven Ferguson <botiemad11@gmail.com>
To: gmclist@temp.gmcnet.org
Sent: Mon, December 21, 2009 5:06:34 PM
Subject: Re: [GMCnet] Balljoints
After being back-burnered for every race that comes up in the sand, I
went with a second engineering outfit. (Recommended by Gordy Lee.)
The progress is significant given the short amount of time they have
been working on them. Upon completion, there will still be a
considerable length of time devoted to real time testing.
Recently, a netter sent me photos of a ball joint that had one ear
broken off. I was amazed as I hadn't seen that before and I've seen a
heckuva lot of A arms in the past 10 years. To find one with both
ears broken, and obviously had been for some time, boggles my mind.
How the heck did that coach stay on the road. The one nut that held
the ball joint in place isn't much more than a locater with only 25-30
ft lbs of torque on it. I could tell from the size of the hole that
it had started wallowing around but the tip of the control arm was
still not starting to crack. Unbelievable!
Get under there and check that front end out. I'm still getting a
lot of calls asking about using urethane bushings and so far, all have
been from owners that have GMCs with the original bushings in the
control arms. Heck, they were trashed 10 years ago whether or not the
coach was being used. No wonder there's so many stories about the
poor handling of our GMCs.
Haven't heard from your kid yet Ken.
On Mon, Dec 21, 2009 at 10:53 AM, Ken Henderson <ken0henderson@gmail.com> wrote:
> Wow, that and all the surrounding photos are scarey, even outside the snow zone.
>
> What the status of your new A-arms?
>
> Ken H.
>
>
> On Mon, Dec 21, 2009 at 12:40 PM, Steven Ferguson <botiemad11@gmail.com> wrote:
>> This is the worst one I've ever seen. Note the rust where the ears
>> separated from the body. This happened a long time ago. Someone out
>> there is very lucky they didn't have a catastrophic failure. This one
>> gets added to the "hall of shame". Check 'em fellas.
>> http://www.gmcmhphotos.com/photos/showphoto.php?photo=32016
> _______________________________________________
> GMCnet mailing list
> List Information and Subscription Options:
> http://temp.gmcnet.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gmclist
>
--
Steve Ferguson
'76 EII
Sierra Vista, AZ
Urethane bushing source
www.bdub.net/ferguson/
_______________________________________________
GMCnet mailing list
List Information and Subscription Options:
http://temp.gmcnet.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gmclist
_______________________________________________
GMCnet mailing list
List Information and Subscription Options:
http://temp.gmcnet.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gmclist
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| Re: [GMCnet] Balljoints [message #68069 is a reply to message #68067] |
Tue, 22 December 2009 07:23 |
Steven Ferguson
Messages: 3447
Registered: May 2006
Karma: 0
|
Senior Member |
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Jim, Rick,
I think it's possible that we just don't notice these things because
most wear is gradual, and we adjust. By the time things get bad, we
have gotten so used to it that we think it's normal. You're right on
what keeps those thing in Rick but a hard turn should have torn the
tip of the control arm clean off! Some folks just live right I guess.
On Tue, Dec 22, 2009 at 5:17 AM, Jim Bounds <gmccoop@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Steve,
>
> Just goes to show ya these coaches will drive broken! I have seen stuff that curls your toes, my coach (Larry) was driving a little loose-- p"plumbers pipes leak" so I just left it alone working on other stuff while my coach just sat. One day I had Jason jack up the front suspension and found my pass. side A arm was cracked at the lower ball joint bigger than crap! One more bump across a RR track would have done it but all I felt was a little play in the wheel. Chances are there are many issues like that out there that no one knows about. Folks swing by for me to take a look at their suspension and after I list what I see they sometimes freak out-- hey, they asked me to look!
>
> These are the realities of working with older vehicles, I don't care how well they were built, mother nature is a ______ on everything.
>
> Jim Bounds
> ---------------------------
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: Steven Ferguson <botiemad11@gmail.com>
> To: gmclist@temp.gmcnet.org
> Sent: Mon, December 21, 2009 5:06:34 PM
> Subject: Re: [GMCnet] Balljoints
>
> After being back-burnered for every race that comes up in the sand, I
> went with a second engineering outfit. (Recommended by Gordy Lee.)
> The progress is significant given the short amount of time they have
> been working on them. Upon completion, there will still be a
> considerable length of time devoted to real time testing.
>
> Recently, a netter sent me photos of a ball joint that had one ear
> broken off. I was amazed as I hadn't seen that before and I've seen a
> heckuva lot of A arms in the past 10 years. To find one with both
> ears broken, and obviously had been for some time, boggles my mind.
> How the heck did that coach stay on the road. The one nut that held
> the ball joint in place isn't much more than a locater with only 25-30
> ft lbs of torque on it. I could tell from the size of the hole that
> it had started wallowing around but the tip of the control arm was
> still not starting to crack. Unbelievable!
> Get under there and check that front end out. I'm still getting a
> lot of calls asking about using urethane bushings and so far, all have
> been from owners that have GMCs with the original bushings in the
> control arms. Heck, they were trashed 10 years ago whether or not the
> coach was being used. No wonder there's so many stories about the
> poor handling of our GMCs.
> Haven't heard from your kid yet Ken.
>
>
> On Mon, Dec 21, 2009 at 10:53 AM, Ken Henderson <ken0henderson@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Wow, that and all the surrounding photos are scarey, even outside the snow zone.
>>
>> What the status of your new A-arms?
>>
>> Ken H.
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Dec 21, 2009 at 12:40 PM, Steven Ferguson <botiemad11@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> This is the worst one I've ever seen. Note the rust where the ears
>>> separated from the body. This happened a long time ago. Someone out
>>> there is very lucky they didn't have a catastrophic failure. This one
>>> gets added to the "hall of shame". Check 'em fellas.
>>> http://www.gmcmhphotos.com/photos/showphoto.php?photo=32016
>> _______________________________________________
>> GMCnet mailing list
>> List Information and Subscription Options:
>> http://temp.gmcnet.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gmclist
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Steve Ferguson
> '76 EII
> Sierra Vista, AZ
> Urethane bushing source
> www.bdub.net/ferguson/
> _______________________________________________
> GMCnet mailing list
> List Information and Subscription Options:
> http://temp.gmcnet.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gmclist
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> GMCnet mailing list
> List Information and Subscription Options:
> http://temp.gmcnet.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gmclist
>
--
Steve Ferguson
'76 EII
Sierra Vista, AZ
Urethane bushing source
www.bdub.net/ferguson/
_______________________________________________
GMCnet mailing list
List Information and Subscription Options:
http://temp.gmcnet.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gmclist
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