Lucky or what?

hey winko checking your posts 9 months ago you were complaining of your steering being flighty,unpredictable.........is this the reason or was that another issue..... :dry:

Wow Winko, glad you cheated the reaper on this one.
Missus had a ball joint on her front wheel come out of its clamp once, it was a newly fitted one a couple of weeks earlier, she was doing 3 miles per hour backing out of the drive....if it had happened on the dual carriageway ten mins later, then it would have been nasty!
Turned out the parts supplied by General Traffic were machined incorrectly, was a big inquest! We got a free replacement, but it could have been much worse!

Sundance

Winko wrote: Have just collected Roxy. Here's what was left of the bolt holding in the ball joint...

Repair - which involved fitting a new n/s lower ball joint was £93.88 including vat. The garage mechanics all asked to shake my hand for good luck, as if that bolt had sheared at speed, I wouldn't be here.
Still puzzling what stresses could have made it shear. Any ideas?

I think the rust on the break line says it all. The bolt should be a proper shouldered high tensile one one.
Also, that looks like a chrome plated socket bolt, you should never chrome plate high tensile fasteners, the plating alters the structure of the material.
I shudder to think what might have happened but all long as you are ok that's all that really matters.

Geoff.

No. That problem manifested itself through the wrong front tyres (Goodyear F1's) and a loose n/s/r locking nut in the hub. Since then I've had that hub completely rebuilt, fitted the right tyres and lowered her on Bilsteins. At the rate I'm going, she'll either end up rebuilt, or she'll kill me.... (Much like the wife will if she finds out either what I've spent, or about the mistress..)

You are SO right. I've an appointment with Chris Flanagan at MG Lifestyle tomorrow to put Roxy on a ramp and have a really good look at all the fastenings on the steering and suspension. I do 600+ miles a week in Roxy, so she's got to be right.

Apart from being the wrong bolt (stainless chrome or whatever) that failed mode looks very much like a classic cup and cone. Reason for this is normally over tightening ad putting the material past its yield point. Also note the failure point is t the top of the thread
Might be worth checking all your suspension fastenings.

You are spot on. Chris Flanagan (MG Lifestyle) and I had a good look at the bolt and whilst it's rating shows it's top grade hi-tensile, there's every likelihood it was tightened up with a gun, as opposed to a torque wrench, which meant it was only a matter of time before it failed.
Roxy's spending Wednesday up on the ramp having every fastening checked. Don't want that experience again.

There are counterfeit bolts out there, cheap and nasty rubbish from China with hi-tensile markings, they even come in counterfeit packaging, pretending to be from reputable brands such as Unbrako!

If the bolt in question was of quality........it'd take one hell of a rattle gun to do that damage.
To snap at the root of the thread could be due to a number of reasons like, poorly roll formed thread or fretting due to the bolts bottomed out in blind holes.

My money is on crap bolts!

Well, well, well. Guess what we found when we took out the o/s front steering pinch bolt?





One serious crack, which could have snapped at any time, with potentially fatal consequences.

Looks like these are part of a faulty batch. It's long odds, but if you've got an allen bolt in your steering pinch bolt, might be worth inspecting / changing it.

Off to buy another lottery ticket!

Unlikely to be a dodgy batch, more likely wrong bolt for the application.
Is the shank of the cap head bolt the same as the correct bolt. If not then you applying a bending moment at the bolts weakest point - where the thread ends. When the bolt goes through the casting it also retains the lower ball joint spigot via the groove. The shank of the bolt should be through the groove and not the thread.

Beware using the wrong bolts either strength or material -look up stress corrosion in stainless

I obviously have a problem - as tonight my o/s track rod pinch bolt failed again.

Driving home and doing around 60, there was a sudden double bang under the car, like a stone had been thrown up. I stopped, had a quick look to see if there was anything obvious, and then drove on. However, because the noise was so like what I’d heard before Roxy’s wheel caved in last time, I pulled over into a safe space, applied full lock and got my torch out. The o/s track rod pinch bolt was gone, leaving just the shiny metal trace of where it had been.

Pretty pissed off, I rang Chris Flanagan of Retro Sports Cars - who I’d paid good money to to inspect and replace these bolts just over 2 years ago. Chris told me I was the only case he’d heard of where these bolts have failed. This is pretty unbelievable to me, as I’ve now had two complete failures and a failing bolt.

I had Roxy transported to a local garage and hopefully they can sort out a
repair, as I’m meant to be in Ayrshire tomorrow night - a 4 hour drive.

Key facts: Roxy has the Bilstein suspension kit fitted; she’s running on the lowest settings; she has Sports Pack springs.

Two questions.

1. Anyone else with this (frankly scary) problem? I do not hang about, but the prospect of the bolt failing again when I’m in hooligan mode doesn’t bear thinking about.
2. What bolt spec etc should I ask the garage to fit?

All advice greatly appreciated....

Winko

The bolt should be high tensile, sourced from a reputable supplier and in turn a reputable manufactuer, there are a lot of Chinese and Indian made bolts that have high tensile markings but are anything but!
And never replace high tensile bolts with stainless steel bolts, they don't have the mechanical properties required for critical assemblies like steering, suspension and brakes. Unless of course the original manufactuer specified stainless in their design, and then be careful to only use bolts of the specifed grade.