how does something like this happen?

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[3100MPFI]

Ever had one of those days?

Everything had been going fine.  I have not had any real issues with my 1995 Cutlass Supreme ever since I got the twin cam running.  I had checked everything out, but something new popped up...  er...  rather popped OUT.

I was backing out of a friends driveway and my car suddenly jumped, and made a loud banging noise.  It did it again before I could stop.  I got out of the car, stuck my head under the front, and had a friend start turning the steering wheel for me and this is what I saw.



Fortunantly, it didn't come all the way out.  I walked to my grandmothers house (only 3 blocks away) and borrowed her car.  I went to my moms and got a spare castle nut off of the pink car.  I lost the cotter pin, so I just drove the car to my grandmothers house, and used her car to go get one.

It looks like the cotter pin sheared off and the castle nut backed off until it finally just fell off.  

Fortunantly, it didn't come out, and fortunantly, the end of the ball joint was fine so I didn't need to replace it.

[AWeb80]

WOW


* AWeb remembers to crawl under his car next time he goes to it*

[3100MPFI]

i'm just glad it didn't come all the way out.

[TurboSedan]

wow!

[SofaKingWeToddDid]

ya know... i see alot of cars with balljoints damn near falling out, but not one THAT close!! that shit is nuts! youre lucky -errr kindof.

[mfewtrail]

Glad ya' caught it in time. I've seen them fail and separate before, but never seen a nut back off of one. I've had my share of w-body oddities though...I had a rear subframe bolt back completely out once(no threads stripped or anything, not sure how the hell it backed all the way out). I torque them every time I'm under the car just to make sure they're tight, so far none have loosened up.

[crazy k]

wow!