that's amazing, thanks for sharing...I'm going out and buying a lift jack post haste

Good job. I hope you tipped the tow truck drivers

 

here's what you do. Get it into your garage and jack it up. Take the wheel off of the driver's side front and get all the snow brushed/melted out of both sides. This will let you see the difference and get a good comparison between what's broken on one side and what's not on the other.

 

If you can't get a ride to the parts store, someone here can certainly mail you the parts. I'd suggest that you read up on axle boot repair and decide if you want to replace the axle outright or repair it. Regardless, you'll need the proper punch. Look at this link for Sears'.

The first one will work and they make a longer version that I'd prefer over the shorter version. Notice that the second one in that list is TAPERED and will NOT work because it'll get stuck.

These are the tools you'll need to change and reinstall the boot. DON'T PAY THIS MUCH FOR THEM. They're available separately and less expensively but this lets you know what they all look like at once. The "boot clamp cutter" isn't really necessary as diagonal pliers will work fine. There are two different types of clamps and thus two different types of pliers. Different boot kits come with either type of clamp. Zip ties also work in a pinch but are hard to tighten enough and might fail under such tension.

You'll also need the 36mm socket for the axle nut and get some spare cotter pins, too. Get a can of PB BLASTER to help with corrosion on the axle nut and in the spindle's ball joint recess.

 

Good luck!

 

edit: This is what a ball joint looks like when it's in one piece

theres your problem!

 

im fairly sure that the arm is straight, it just looks like where the nut is supposed to be on the bottom is a little chewed up

 

mmm grease

 

ill have it going again in a few days

we gave each tow truck driver a 6pack of home made root beer!

Awesome! Good luck.

Easy Fix! You will have it back on the road in no time!

...where i have access to tools, the internet and beer

 

So crack open that beer, get on the internet and order yerself a balljoint:banana:

 

Congrates on getting it out, I like that color blue!

 

ok, so the circlip failed, not the snapring. did you get the 6 balls? if not, you're SOL and will be buying a new axle. if you did, I'm sure it's re-usable.

C'Mon! I can send you a couple bearings if you are missing some. They work great on the fridge with harddrive magnets! Make sure you don't have a cracked cup like I did. Clean it "before" you go to the store for parts like booties. I had to turn around again and go to the jy to get a whole new axle....then go to return the part??? Well, I didn't, Just tossed it up for spares I'll use later. Just trying to save you a trip.

i think my friend John has a used axle i can stuff in there or take parts off of that will be saturdays project

Edited December 25, 200817 yr by bicycle_ben

Hey Ben,

 

I finally checked the gmail thread and replied there last night also. Glad you got it figured out

 

-Dave

a little clip of us taking it off the flat bed into the garage

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fgdCdogaBs

i totally could have died driving this thing! it turns out that i didnt break the ball joint

wheeling it, i simply caused the ALREADY broken ball joint to fall out of the lower control arm!

 

normally i put up little images with a link to the full sized one but this one is important

 

 

the ball joint has rust on it which means it didnt happen a couple of days ago and

appears to have been ground off and not broken off. the lower control arm also shows

some signs of having been scraped on something at about the same angle as the ball

joint. when i bought the car a couple weeks ago i found newspaper carrier routes in it and

that totally explains how it got damaged like this. the car would likely come off the

pavement in places to deliver papers and if the wheel fell far enough off the pavement

the suspension may hit the pavement, grinding off the nut for the ball joint.

Its a good thing your ok and it happened on a back road and not the highway. I had some balljoint problems of my own when i bought my car and i drove it with kid gloves until i could afford to fix it. Let this be a lesson to you. Either inspect the car yourself or have midas, or tuffys, or car x or any other mechanic check over your car to make sure its safe for you to drive.

same thing as my '85. wheel fell off (lug nuts....never make that mistake twice), sheered the end of the ball joint off. didn't notice until a week or so later when the ball joint popped out of the control arm while bombing through a field. pretty amazing how strong that press-fit is. I honestly don't think it would have fallen out on the street.

Yeah I bought a 2WD Loyale sedan one time. The PO was called Cracky (I wonder why?) But anyways he had a flat and in a drug induced coma he only tightened the lug nuts by hand. of course a little ways down the road, the tire came off and of course ground off the ball joint nut. Well he waited till the next day and went back and put the tire on again. He wasn't Bright enough to look at the ball joint. So he drove a couple miles down the road and the ball joint popped out of the control arm and there he was again on the side of the road! I bought it for 100 and all it needed was a new ball joint and new radias rod.

Too bad I haven't been online - could have fixed that in place and drove it out.

 

You should replace the other ball joint as well - it's probably worn out anyway and gives you a good excuse to check everything on the other side.

 

For parts around here it's tough to beat Discount Import Parts in Milwaukie or Beaverton. Their prices are usually the lowest and they carry high quality parts - often OEM for our cars.

 

GD

yeah once i got it home i realized how easy a fix it was, took me 15 min or something. i would have needed to removed the axle if i was going to drive it out because i am missing the balls to the CV joint

Too bad I haven't been online - could have fixed that in place and drove it out.

 

You should replace the other ball joint as well - it's probably worn out anyway and gives you a good excuse to check everything on the other side.

 

For parts around here it's tough to beat Discount Import Parts in Milwaukie or Beaverton. Their prices are usually the lowest and they carry high quality parts - often OEM for our cars.

 

GD

 

Yeah we actually tried to get him to fix it in place but he wasn't comfortable doing it.

ahh all is good. AAA towed it for free, so he got to fix it in a nice warm garage.

ahh all is good. AAA towed it for free, so he got to fix it in a nice warm garage.

 

That's exactly right!

is this the little guy i have to knock out and then replace to put in the other axle?

 

yep, don't lose it after you use a punch to drive it out.

is this the little guy i have to knock out and then replace to put in the other axle?

 

 

Also, the axle will only go on one way and still let the roll pin through. Often it can be 180* off, and it will start to go in, and get stuck.

 

-Dave

Also, the axle will only go on one way and still let the roll pin through. Often it can be 180* off, and it will start to go in, and get stuck.

 

-Dave

 

Yes make sure the axle goes on the right way. It's very easy to get it 180* off. When you put it on take your punch and make sure that slides through with ease, if it doesn't take it off and rotate it 180* and try again! Good luck!