45 replies to this topic

[mini danny]

Was driving my girlfriend hope when this happened




She's home now but the hub is cracked the drive shaft is knocked luckily i.have a spare hub in the shed and also have a new set of bearing and ball joints to go on it and a spare drive shaft important just so thankful important still here and it also ripped the brake line and was on a hill just to everyone keep an eye on your ball joints

Danny

[cliche]

[Spud_133]

It looks like it may have hit the other side curb, is that side all fine?

[mini danny]

Nah i didn't hit the curb it actually snapped in the middle of the road works and blocked the road.off so me and 2 police.officers picked the front end up and walked with it and plonked it down there

[mab01uk]

Getting more common due to poor quality machining/materials in 'unbranded' ball joints on sale these days sourced from India and China, used to only happen in cases of extreme wear in the 60's/70's but stricter MOT's largely stopped that. Beware of 'bargain' buys especially off the 'back street' traders with no reputation in quality at shows........

Edited by mab01uk, 24 March 2012 - 10:38 AM.

[abe46]

So were they minisport ball joint or minispares or from somewhere else? I am soon buying a full ball joint set for the project, and don't want this to happen lol!

Its very unfortunate, hope you get yours back up and running soon

Abe

[Carlzilla]

I always use minispares balljoints. John at minispares midlands is a completely honest bloke and there's been no comebacks on any balljoints they have sold to his knowledge. I questioned them once when my mate Ian had one snap on him at low speed.

[Mini_Magic]

Always check your balls!

[Boycie]

The problem with the Mini's balljoints is that they are only as good as the person who fitted them... and there's a big chance of error, shimming too tightly/ loosely, not greasing properly or left sufficiently untightened
Even the best quality parts can fail due to the above.

Had they been apart recently Danny? Hope you get it sorted soon and glad no-one was hurt :)

[Claibo]

Ouch, my mini was close to doing this but I'd taken her to Surf Blue Garage for a bit of a tune up and check over before I took her to Blackpool, the chap there told me it would have gone in the next 100 miles... Glad I'd taken her in or it would have been a very eventful and costly trip to Blackpool!

[Carlzilla]

Is he psychic? Unless they were cracked/snapping there's no way you could pinpoint when they were going to snap. There's no sign of when it will happen, they just snap, like when a bolt shears, there's no warning, they just go.

[samsfern]

Lucky, i had one go at well over 60mph, resulting in the mini rolling multiple times into a field

[jameswildcooper]

i was lucky when mine went on a country lane in skeggy but was stuck in traffic.... so only doing no more than 30mph.
ended up swerving onto the wrong side of the road till i managed to get it back onto my own side. luckily the cars were far away on the other side and i only got swore and beeped at because they thought i were driving like a idiot lol.
i managed to sort mine at the side of the road and drove it home which is 100 miles away lol.
quiet lucky really as it was running 150bhp at the time and i could easily take it up to 110-115 every now and again just to show the bmws/audis how its done in the fast lane ;)

[charie t]

Yet people still moan when a ball joint fails an MOT...........
Good job you're ok danny

[Ethel]

There's a fair chance this wouldn't be picked up in a MoT test. It will be caused by the ball pin itself being twisted and stressed, from being too tight in the socket or running out of travel because the car's been lowered beyond the usual limits of the suspension travel. There can also be an issue with some balls having inadequate passages to grease the joint properly.

Dare I suggest over enthusiastic use of lapping paste could also ruin the surface treatment.