Problems with ball joint/Control arm

redneckred
Mon, 13 Nov 2023 06:05:59 +0000
Maintenance/Repairs

I was checking my daughter’s 2009 Cobalt LT over and discovered a ball joint I replaced a few months back in the summer was bad again. I figured it was a cheap part that I got off the internet, so I went to the local parts store and got one of theirs. As I was taking the ball joint loose, I noticed the control arm moving and found the bushing to be shot. I took the ball joint back and got the control arm instead. After putting it together, I noticed their was slack in the ball joint. After hours on the phone with the store and a little bit in the store, It was determined that the bolt supplied with the new control arm was shorter than the one from the old ball joint (the pinch bolt), so the parts house suggested using the old bolt. I went home and did that and everything seemed fine after some real wrenching to get everything tight. A week later, I take the car to the local tire/alignment shop to have them tell me the pinch bolt was loose and as they got it tight, it the nut stripped and suggested I replace the nut before alignment. I attempted to change the bolt with a m10x1.5x70 after getting the specs from an AC delco bolt on Ebay of m10x1.5.69.65 (or close to the 70). I got the bolt tight, put the wheel on, shook it, and there was slack. I continued to attempt to tighten it and never could get the slack all of the way out. I think I tightened to much and possibly stripped the bolt thread as the dang thing has slack again when there was almost none while trying to get it tight. Is my problem her driving it for a week when it was apparently loose damaged the new ball joint or is the problem a possibility of the knuckle being wallowed/worn out where the ball joint slips in and not allowing it to tighten fully? I do not see and gap or any way for the joint to tighten any more as they are touching and there is no gap any more? I have ordered a kit with new control arms, tie rod ends, and stabilizer rods for both sides as the other side has a bad/week ball joint as well and can just change out the control arm again if I damaged the ball joint. I was just curious was it possible for the knuckle to have wallowed out where the ball joint slides up into the knuckle.

24 posts - 11 participants