bad ball joint pics

[gr79]

Can sleep better after seeing what's been going on.
Parked car 11-13. Gosh 13th was on a Monday not a Friday
Good luck nothing dramatic happened was doing 5 mph a block away made it home.
Pics are zoom-able.

Metal shavings. Fraction of an oz less unsprung weight...


Arrow points to where outer edge of control arm scrapes the brake rotor.
Bendt what is left of the rusty brake shield out of the way to see better.
A new ball joint will pull the control arm up off the rotor.

[qikgts]

Glad you caught it quick, that could have really sucked.

[ZephyrEFI]

Impressive! Hopefully it didn't stretch out the hole in the control arm. That happened to me.

[gr79]

ZephyrEFI- What happened with the stretched hole New arm? Welded or bolt in bj?
Am told there are versions that will press into an oversize hole.

From the bottom, bj looks to be firmly attached and flat on the control arm.
Ford says replace the whole arm.
Currently arm set #2 is on the car. They are FPP cataloged ones.
Parts cost is not a whole lot more. Bonus would be new bushings. Current ones look ok.

I asked the shop about that once they said nah can do just the bj. Of course that was a while back.
Labor diff between bj only or whole arm replacement will not be a whole lot more to spring for.
Will have to call them how much is labor now including going all the way including a strut swap.
Would like to do just the bjs and struts.

Source for new 79-93 stock style rear lower control arms with rubber bushings:
https://buyacp.com/parts/rear-lower-...ide-fm-es031a/

[ZephyrEFI]

Yeah, it should be clear they are stretched out. There were signs when I did it. The balljoints went in really easy. But having no experience with such things, I put it all back together only to find the joints pushed themselves right back out when I put the car on the floor. Not gonna work, haha.

If your current arms are not high miles like mine were, you are probably fine.

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

[gr79]

Est have 100k on the current flcas. PS looks fine.
Hitting a jarring chuckhole weeks ago did not help. Tire and rim are fine no damage or leaks.

Make it way easier to move the car, especially by being able to drive it into a repair bay.
Have to call the tow co and shop to find out how they deal with moving a car with wheel drag.
LCA only scrapes in one spot. Is clear and free at least 180 degrees of tire rotation.
Shop is not far away like 5 miles. May be able to have it towed slowly on rear wheels or a dolly.
Main concern is once the Mustang is at the shop. Having to drag it inside bumming the mechanics out having to do that.
They know the car and truck and are always blunt frank with details of what the deal is.

Maybe will safety chain or strap the lca to the spindle or frame just in case.
Everything to be arranged weeks in advance. Weather here now is cold and could snow anytime.

[gr79]

Warmed car up and went back and forth in driveway to gauge wheel drag.
Listened for a free spot where there is no rotor/arm scraping noise.
In a certain spot, car drags like the parking brake is on.
Could drive car more and grind down the metal enough to freewheel again.
Cast iron brake rotor vs thick gauge stamped steel control arm edge.

New pr of struts arrived from RA. Same Monroe 71828s made in USA. Last replaced in 2002, 160k.
Boxes are hd and have hand slots in the right spot. Lot easier to grip box doing the storage shuffle.
Nice little packaging touches Monroe did not have to do but did.