2002 F250 SD 4X4 CC

My son and his friend were changing the driver's side ball joints on my truck today. The castle nut on the upper joint was hard to remove, and the ball joint's shaft began to spin with the nut. ViceGrips, etc did not work, so he used the torch to cut through the shaft, just below the threaded area.

It cut though easy enough. The rubber boot (he assumes) was burning and he extinguished it. He removed the knuckle from the truck and laid it down next to him. Approximately two minutes later .... super loud boom. The remaining part of the ball joint's shaft exploded out of the joint's body, punched through the wood overhead door about 20 feet away, and lodged deeply into the garage's block wall. My son's friend saw the knuckle jump about a foot off of the ground as it happened. Both boys ears' were ringing from the blast (even though they were outside in the driveway).

The knuckle was sitting on the ground between them, as they were kneeling down working on the truck. If that steel projectile would have hit one of the boys in the leg ....... or in the chest ....... or in the head ........

I was in the house at the time. I heard the blast .... thinking that maybe the oxygen tank exploded or something. I said .... Oh My God. Then I heard the boys laughing, and I said .... Thank you God.

I'm only writing this as a friendly precaution to everyone. The ball joints were original .... therefore sealed (no grease fitting). But when things are "sealed," like joints, roller/thrust bearings, etc .... it is done with hard rubber (I think). But, someway, somehow .... the ball joint became so tightly sealed, and I assume the internal grease was cooking from the heat and producing gas/pressure, and it turned into a potentially tragic accident. I would have never thought it.

Jim

 

thank you for posting this. Thank goodness no one had to get hurt to discover this.

 

those kids are lucky,

 

Damn....glad those guys weren't hurt.

 

I saw a ball joint from a chevy lumina do that once. don't use torches anymore.

 

I saw a guy where I used to work do that on a tie rod end of a big forklift......scary stuff!!!

 

Thanks for the heads up! Glad no one got hurt..


Dick

 

Glad no one was hurt, and thanks for sharing. This is the kind of thing we should all keep in mind. Grabbing a torch for a stuck piece is a common thing. This is one of those pieces of knowledge you don't want to learn the hard way. Rep points sent.

 

Thanks for sharing. I never would have thought that the ball joint would explode like that.

 

I've had u-joints do that too. The idiotic nylon-retained GM ones that you have to heat just to melt the nylon that retains the caps.

 

I have never even heard of such a thing happening. Will have to remember that in the future...

 

bump, thats scary stuff

 

The best way to remove the nut when it just spins is to use an air impact wrench, it spins fast enough to take it right off.

 

Sounds like my youngest son, give him a box of ball bearings and a feather duster and all you get back is iron filings. rugerman ps glad everybody is ok.

 

Any pics of this little accident