59 replies to this topic

[Remylebleu]

ball joint snapped whilst driving and the wheel folded under the car, on first glance its obvious i need to new ball joints

the drive shaft come out the gear box, ball bearings split everywhere

does the driveshaft screw my gear box up now its been ripped out?,

will i need to replace both sides of the drive shaft or just the side that ripped out?

also will this of damaged my gear box?

can i just buy a new drive shaft and refit it? (this sounds to simple to me)

also it would be nice if someone was passing and could just have a look for me, im in birmingham (obviously i dont expect this for free)

and if i do manage to fix it myself then i will be taking it straight to a garage to get it all checked out for safety reasons

thanks

[tiger99]

Unfortunately this may be rather bad. If it is only 6 moderately large balls which have been ejected, they are from the inner CV, and a good clean, regrease with the special grease, and new clips on the gaiter may be all that is needed.

But sadly, if your gearbox/diff has ejected lots of ball bearings, it means that the drive shaft has been forced inwards into the diff housing, and at least the side cover, which retains the bearing, will be wrecked. This is machined as one with the main gearbox casing, so you definitely need a new diff side cover and bearing, plus expertise in setting it all up properly, but more likely will need a complete new casing, plus any other internal parts which are damaged. Not worth the hassle, you may as well find a second-hand gearbox complete, but do check that it is the correct type, with the appropriate final drive ratio.

It is most important to ensure that the ball joints are correctly assembled, or they will break again due to fatigue fracture at the neck of the ball pin, possibly causing a very serious accident. They only break, in the sense that the neck of the ball pin snaps, when they have been shimmed incorrectly and are too tight. When shimmed, and the ball housing (nut) is torqued up correctly, it is vital that you can wiggle the ball in all directions with a couple of fingers only. Assemble with a spot of light oil (3 in one or similar) to help get the feel right, and then inject lots of grease with the gun afterwards. A thou or so of end float, which will be taken up by the grease, is far, far safer than being too tight. But if the ball pin did not break, but pulled out of the housing nut, that was due to severe wear and neglect, including lack or regular greasing. The remedy is obvious.

I suggest that you get an expert to look at it.

[tiger99]

Correction, I messed up an edit and contradicted myself. The side cover/bearing retainer, which is sure to be wrecked, is replaceable as a seperate item, the diff housing comes with the main gearbox casing.

[Surfbluegarage]

not 100% on all the info but it just sounds like your driveshaft has come out of the inner pot joint and the balls have come out f the cage on the driveshaft... abit of clarification needed really.
do you still have a pot on the diff casing that looks abit like a huge socket? if so you need a new driveshaft possibally or just replace the end of the shaft with a new cage and balls. as for the ball joints breakings, like stated above could be fatigue or far to tight, nomally if there o tight they try to undo themselves in the hub also. pics wld help?

[Remylebleu]

what i call a drive shaft (which probably isnt actually what its called) came out and it looks like a medievil mace with about 6 ball bearings in at the gear box end? them bearings fell out.

[Remylebleu]

ye probably done up to tight to be honest because i do regulary tighten and grease down there. i can get some pics up tomorrow when i get the car back home

[Globule]

That is your driveshaft which has come out of the pot joint, so the gearbox should be fine! Dependant on the damage caused to it you may be able to re-use it but it is advisable to replace it really! As I said though, it depends on any damage etc to it, the CV may be damaged which may only become apparent when you drive it, hence replacement as a precautionary measure.

Ball joint's obviously will need replacing, as well as anything else which sustained damage? I've heard them snapping because they were too tight in the past as well.

*Also, best check the ball joints on the other side, if they did snap because of overtorquing, it is likely that the same has been done to both sides if the vehicle has been maintained by the same person for any period of time*

Edited by Globule, 15 November 2011 - 09:10 PM.

[Surfbluegarage]

yeah in that case its not game over yet then if its just the inner cup that its come out of easy to replace. i would advise checing the condition of the inner pot though and the gearbox casing/ diff side flange for signs of damage if the pot has tryed to push inwards. there fairly beefy stuff down there in that sence so no biggy.

[samsfern]

Lucky, I had a balljoint let go at high speed on an a road, resulting in rolling multiple times into a field, lol.

[Remylebleu]

basically what happened was i was approaching some lights and they changed to red ( i was going faster than i should of been) and as i broke then passenger wheel folded under the car and i skidded about 20 yards. while i was waiting for the recovery truck i had a look underneath and it was obvious the bottom ball joint had snapped. but it diditn look like the drive shaft had came out at the time. i only noticed this after my car was dragged up a flat bed truck (which could of pulled the shaft out?) i will check everything that has been mentiond and the drift shaft will be replaced (seen as its already out it will be easier)

[Remylebleu]

Lucky, I had a balljoint let go at high speed on an a road, resulting in rolling multiple times into a field, lol.

recovery driver said he was suprised i hadnt rolled the car but i dont think the drive shaft had popped out at this point

[tiger99]

From your added description, I think you are lucky and the balls are only from the inner CV (pot) joint. reasonably cheap and easy to replace, if it can't be cleaned and regreased, or if you don't have all 6 balls. (They are special, and a matched set, you can't just buy a few more.)

It is tricky cleaning, greasing and reassembling the pot joint on the car, but it can be done, just. Likely not in the Haynes manual, but it is easier doing it in situ than extracting the outer part of the pot from the diff (which will spill most of your engine oil), and separating the inner spider from the shaft. The pot joint will not pass through the hole in the subframe, however if you do get it all apart you can reassemble the joint on the bench. with new grease and boot clips at least, It then just pushes into the diff until it clicks, the shaft pushes in till it clicks (on car) and then the hub goes on.

I had a pot joint separate on a Ford Focus, due to bottom ball joint separating from the lower arm due to a worn pinch bolt. Fortunately I was only parking at the time. The cleaned and regreased joint lasted for another 40,000 miles or more. The pot joint is somewhat similar, and if there is no visible damage to yours, or the end of the shaft, there is a good chance that it will be ok.

[Surfbluegarage]

if you want to replace the shaft or the cage end of the shaft just buy the cage end with the balls in and knock a new one onto the shaft. leave the inner pot in th gearbox if its ok. remove the caliper bolts from the hub to remove th caliper ( 9/16th socket) undo the hubnut and splitpin (1 5/16th sockets) remove the disc and undo the top and bottom ball joint or whats left (11/16th) and the track rod end nut (11/16th's or 9/16ths if an early one) remove the hub and driveshaft and away you go. knock off the ballcage from the shaft with a drift or a blunt chisel and fit new one.. refit in reverse order..lol

[Remylebleu]

so i will (hopefully) only need to replace the ball with the little balls in at the gear box end and this will just slot back in? thats sounds a little to easy lol i know it probably wont be! and the ball shaped object that carries the ball bearings is called......? so i can search on mini spares?

dont worry.....just because i dont know the "real" names of things doesnt mean im an idiot, my dad does most the work and i will take it to a mini garage to get it checked other thoroughly afterwards

[Surfbluegarage]

its basically the inner ball cage and ball bearings for it. not to put in a shameless plug here but i own Surfblue Mini garage in nottingham and have loads of they knockin about if you want to pm me id get one upto you if needed.... plug over and out.. haha sorry admin!