Subject: [TR] Coulda-Been Catastrophic Failure?

From: Jeffrey Gayton <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 03 Oct 2014 10:31:00 -0700

Greetings. I got a bit of a shock last night. After an hour-long drive in the
twisty hill roads near home, I started pulling into the driveway only to hear
a loud crunch. Started backing up only to discover I had no brakes. It was
dark, so it was hard to see what was going on. Some fluid had leaked from the
area of the right front wheel, so I figured that there was a leak in the break
line, though that didn't explain the crunch. Pushing the car up the driveway
proved extremely difficult, so I took a chance on driving up, hoping the weak
hand break would keep me from plowing through the far wall of the garage.
HORRIBLE sounds came from the front right wheel, but I was able to stop the
car once in the garage.

With the good lighting in the garage, it was easy to see there was something
very wrong. The top of the right front wheel was sticking out by about 10
degrees. When I jacked the car up, the angle got worse and worse and in the
end, the brake line was all that was keeping the wheel from being parallel to
the ground. The vertical link was completely separated from the ball joint.
I'm guessing the nut must have worked loose and come off during my drive, and
the deep gutter in front of my driveway was enough to finally separate them.
Yikes!

How lucky was I that this didn't happen at speed? And how difficult will this
be able to fix well enough to drive the car to a proper mechanic to have the
car completely gone through? And what might have been the fundamental cause?
One thing I can report is that there was some damage to this area of the car
during shipping. Part of the frame was pulled away and there's a bit of damage
to the body under the passenger door. The wheel in question also appeared a
bit out of whack when I had the car up on axle stands a few weeks ago. I
suspect the right front wheel dropped off the ramp during loading or
offloading.

Thanks.

b Jeff

1962 Triumph TR4
Surrey Top
Overdrive
Grey with Blue Stripes

** [email-masked] **

Archive: http://www.team.net/archive

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From: "[email-masked]" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 3 Oct 2014 13:47:12 -0400

Can't help with the problem, but have had similar luck.
I had a bolt that holds the rear lower A-arm to the frame, the ONLY one,
break in the street just as I was backing out of the driveway!  This is on
a rotoflex converted suspension) Wheel all cambered inward since only the
axle and upper spring was holding the wheel assy to the car.  Could have
been far worse if it happened at speed!

Sometimes things just fatigue, especially over time and continued stress -

Original email:
-----------------

Greetings. I got a bit of a shock last night. After an hour-long drive in
the
twisty hill roads near home, I started pulling into the driveway only to
hear
a loud crunch. Started backing up only to discover I had no brakes. It was
dark, so it was hard to see what was going on. Some fluid had leaked from
the
area of the right front wheel, so I figured that there was a leak in the
break
line, though that didn't explain the crunch. Pushing the car up the driveway
proved extremely difficult, so I took a chance on driving up, hoping the
weak
hand break would keep me from plowing through the far wall of the garage.
HORRIBLE sounds came from the front right wheel, but I was able to stop the
car once in the garage.

With the good lighting in the garage, it was easy to see there was something
very wrong. The top of the right front wheel was sticking out by about 10
degrees. When I jacked the car up, the angle got worse and worse and in the
end, the brake line was all that was keeping the wheel from being parallel
to
the ground. The vertical link was completely separated from the ball joint.
I'm guessing the nut must have worked loose and come off during my drive,
and
the deep gutter in front of my driveway was enough to finally separate them.
Yikes!

How lucky was I that this didn't happen at speed? -----

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From: Randall <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 3 Oct 2014 20:56:16 +0000

> And how difficult will this
> car completely gone through?

Depends on the damage done.  Just replacing the upper ball joint isn't too difficult.  If the vertical link and/or A-arms are damaged, then you'll need a proper spring compressor (about $50 at the usual suspects or build your own), and of course suitable replacement parts; but the work still isn't particularly hard.

If that sounds like too much, though, hire a flat bed.  This is not an area to be making compromises.

> And what might have been the fundamental cause?

>From your description, I'd say most likely hidden accident damage.  It's possible the nut "just came off", but that would indicate defective or incorrectly assembled parts.  That joint is supposed to have a thin Nyloc nut, which is supposed to be replaced every time it's taken off.  Someone either used the wrong nut (I've gotten ball joints with tall nuts, so the locking element doesn't contact the threads) or reused the same nut until it lost it's locking power.

And even if the nut did come off, the "locking" taper should have held for a long time.

> The wheel in question also appeared a
> bit out of whack when I had the car up on axle stands a few weeks ago. 

Uhh ... yeah, you were lucky.  I'm guessing that next time it looks "out of whack", you'll investigate _before_ taking a drive.

Randall