Seriously what are the odds of this failing?
it happened in the fall already, driving down the road then hit the brakes and wheel screeching back and forth and loss of control.
called garage that put it in, they said didn't know if it was them or just a random failure but will tow and fix it.
Then now, just happened again. car driving fine then apply brakes and swerving all over the road as the wheel is disconnected from the steering.
It was my understanding that steering components don't just fail like this. For it to fail again on the same side so recently it can't be a coincidence.
either they didn't put the nut or pin in properly, or theres something on that side of the car causing the nut to come loose and take pin off.
Car runs and drives fine it's a 89 crown vic.

The worse part is there was never anything wrong with this car, I took it in for an alignment just for peace of mind, and they replaced 600$ worth of parts and it drove the same but oh well i figured cant go wrong putting new parts in if they thought it was needed.
so anyone have any idea why this happened the 1st and 2nd time the car was in that shop?
And it looks like the rust on the threads means the bolt was gone or loose for a while? I'm not sure what to think of this.

 

For one, that isn't a new, or newer, tie rod end. And two, who have you made mad? The nuts do not back off when tightened, especially with a cotter pin in there. As long as that tie rod end has been on there, if the pin had been removed the nut would probably never back off.

I believe someone used a large adjustable wrench or large channel lock and took the nut off, with the cotter pin still in, so it would look accidental. I can see no way possible for the nut to come off, breaking the pin as it came.

Upon further review, the threads do look like the nut was over tightened and stripped. Now whether this happened at installation, or was done by someone trying to make the failure look like it was from age, wear, or bad installation is a good question.You can tell by the lack of rust on the tapered part the tie rod end was properly seated before coming loose.

I would keep my eyes open for anything unusual...

 

it doesn't look like a nut has been on the tie rod end for a long time ... the shiny surface is probably where it rattled around in the tapered hole before it fell out completely.

BTW it also looks like the cotter pin was sheared going down thru the hole too as it is not twisted to the Right



SO just a guess here...... the nut was over torqued ... it eventually split and fell off .... it's been running long time without the nut to get that amount of rust on the threads.

 

Back story,

i put new springs in my truck, and one day thought better get an alignment done.
when it was ready, I couldn't find a ride to go pick it up, so I told them I'd leave my car there and get my truck. The car was fine, just figured "might as well" get an alignment.
a few weeks after, this happened on the side of the highway, I called them and they came with a trailer and took it and fixed it.
then, months later, same thing.

So, I don't kdon'what they did, but obviously something wrong.
the bill for the car was 600 or 700$ and nothing looks new under there. And parts don't seem pricey considering I went to napa and bought the new tie rod end for 20$.

And in the meantime friends are laughing saying "that's what you get for running old junk" ummm I don't think it matters if it's a 1989 or 2018, when you're getting a mechanic put in parts wrong 🤔

 

This is why I learned to do my own work. It appears that there was never a nut on there.