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I'm actually in the middle of changing them out currently. I'd like to add to the 'how to' description above that the hub assembly has to be 'slid' out. This is likely to be corroded in and need pressing out also.
The new ball joints are slightly loose in the arms on mine, so it looks as if I'll need to sleeve the bores. The bores and ball joints appear to have a very fine thread, but mine just slide in.
Glenn
i live in Atlanta.
Welcome aboard.
I've done two of the regulators myself (one front, one rear) and had three (one front, two rear) fixed under warranty. Car's still running okay at 128K miles, but the cooling fan runs too fast.
Keep those moonroof drain hole clean!
And make sure you have enough steering fluid in the fan pump.
I don't wanna even talk about the COPs
Thanks,
Ron
I wasn't quite sure of exactly what the hell was going on. This all was just insane and hard for me to process. Why did this happen? How could this happen? Wheels aren't supposed to break off cars!!! It was really scary for me to think of what could have possibly happened if i would have been on the interstate going 70 mph...especially with my son in the car with me!
I no longer have the car but have hired a lawyer and am seeking any information anyone may have regarding this matter. I am not happy and i want answers!
Thanks for your time!
Brandy
On january 23, 2007 i was the owner of what i thought was a very safe and reliable 2000 Lincoln LS V8. I was driving only about 30 mph (thank God!)and all of a sudden with no warning my driver side wheel broke off! It wedged under my car as i struggled to maintain control and steer it to the side of the road. People passing were absolutely in awe and were pulling over to take pictures! It freaked me out...i wondered how something like that could even happen. After researching i found out there was a recall on that make and model (ones assembled at the Wixom Assembly Plant). SAFETY RECALL # 00S39 FRONT SUSPENSION LOWER BALL JOINTS. I bought the car from Import One and didn't own the vehicle at the time the recall was issued but a man at a Lincoln dealership told me something to the effect of the owner of the car at the time brought the car in to a Lincoln dealership in Lake Charles and was told the recall didn't apply to that car...i'm not sure if the vin wasn't included in the recall or if the defect wasn't occuring.
I wasn't quite sure of exactly what the hell was going on. This all was just insane and hard for me to process. Why did this happen? How could this happen? Wheels aren't supposed to break off cars!!! It was really scary for me to think of what could have possibly happened if i would have been on the interstate going 70+ mph...especially with my son (who was 1 yr old at the time) in the car with me!
I no longer have the car but have hired a lawyer and am seeking any information anyone may have regarding this matter. I am not happy and i want answers! I also want to make others aware so this doesn't happen to anyone else with possibly much worse consequences!
Brandy
No...i sought immediate legal advice. It has been filed but it has jus taken the lawyer this long to research everything and rule out the possibility of a class action suit. All the automotive experts that examined it told me that yes that surely did seem to be the cause. The actual print out of the recall from Ford Motor Company states this: Some of the affected vehicles may have an under-torque condition of the front suspension lower ball joint attaching nut. An under-torque condition may result in loosening of the attaching nut. In some cases this can result in a fracture of the ball stud, which may lead to a separation of the lower control arm from the steering knuckle.
i assure you that even to see pictures of it would bother you and give you quite disturbing thoughts!
My lawyer is deciding who is fully responsible...or whether it is two parties responsible... 1 being the Lincoln dealership who declined to fix the problem at the time of the recall, 2 being the other reputable dealership i bought the car from in the summer of 2006 (not a Lincoln dealership but possibly should examined the car better for problems before selling it!)
We definitely are doing what we can to get to the bottom of exactly happened!
would it be smart buying it from a junk jard?
check it out
www.bobutterfordparts.com
Incidentally, I also fixed the airbag wiring under the driver seat. It took 20 minutes and $24 in parts. I did not have to remove the driver seat at all.
They replaced them with OEM parts (at the Toyota dealer's expense) and have been trouble free since.
Just because the ball joint failed doesn't mean it was because the ball joint nut was loose! Ball joints fail everyday. A ball joint failure at 50-60,000 miles or more is not uncommon. If the telltale signs are ignored long enough, the failure can be catastrophic, as was your experience. If you were to provide the VIN, I could tell you when/where/mileage the recall was completed, provided your vehicle was included in the original recall.
That's all I know for now...
That's all I know for now...
Thanks for any help you can give. Like I said, I do have the Ford-issued SM disk, and have done a lot of work on the car myself, so I will try to be helpful and contribute here when I can.
Guess I should've mentioned that mine is an '01 LS8 Sport with 87K...
-----------------------2001 LS V8. If you want to fix the rattle noise at the front end, that happens when you go over any kind of bumps on the road, then get the sway bar bushings from Energy Suspension. Go to Energy Suspension and search part number 9.5171. I got the red once for $17.99 plus Shipping $18.40 (Canada), hence $36.39 in total. The labor that i paid a local tire store(The Tire Warehouse same as Kal-Tire) was $240.00 including tax, again Canadian. And the stupid [non-permissible content removed] noise is no longer present. The mechanic told me that the driver side took him under 30 minutes to do however the passenger side took him close to 2 hours, so in total a 2 and half hours of labor. I hope this helps who ever is suffering from the rattle noise in the front end. Now all i got to get fix is the long cranking, lol.
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thanks for the tip it was exactly what I needed to reduce my wobble
Stumbled upon your thread. i will be taking on the bushing job soon. I also do have the airbag light on. Do you mind letting me know how you fixed it in your case? thank you