DONT BUY CHEAP SH!T; saving a few bucks isn't worth your life, imagine if i was going any faster..

Looking at the design of the part and the different sizes in the pinch bolts, the liability assumed by manufacturer, by providing the wrong diameter bolt with the part, is huge. The bolt diameter is obviously important to the retention of the ball joint shaft. I'm glad I'm not their insurance underwriter. A lawyer would have a hay day with that case.

I've spent a lot of years working on cars and I'm not sure I would have caught that.

I'll give the OP an attaboy for pointing this out. If it keeps one person from making a similar error, it's worth the bandwidth.

Thanks man, ill keep trudging thru the threads so others will not follow the same path I did.

I'm not planning to sue I just want the mfg to pay for the damage of supplying the wrong part. Preferably not the parts store. Those guys can't keep track of everything.

As anybody who owned a fiat spider in the 80s and 90s will tell you.. even the good parts can be bad. There was a batch of bad ball joints that came in during that time. because there were so few fiats on the road, there are probably still a few of them out there lurking in unopened boxes in some parts warehouse.

I personally went through 3 of them in one year... one of them broke apart in 4 pieces. The Ball separated from the pin and the two halves that were welded together around the ball also came apart. I think that one lasted almost exactly 3000 miles

SVreX wrote: After market suppliers just did what they always do. They supplied a pinch bolt like most of the others. Most of the other designs, a pinch bolt pinches. It doesn't also act as a wedge.

I have never seen this style ball joint where the pinch bolt wasn't also a secondary retention device, meaning there was a groove in the ball joint stud and it couldn't escape the knuckle if there was a bolt in there.

The Ford pinch bolt is, from vague memory, a 12mm bolt. I can't see anyone putting an 8mm bolt in a ball joint set and a 10mm bolt should still have enough overhang to hold the stud in place. I'm going to assume that the ball joint was not fully inserted in the control arm.

dude, it was pushed all the way in correctly. you see the top go thru the hole and then just above where the groove in the joint meets.

you also see the pin thing on the side.

if you still dont believe it was pushed all the way in, i cant help you.

look at this poor diagram of ball joint install ofc there is another hole on top that lets it in. this is the side view

http://imgur.com/n7UH8GX

Yeah, it sucks when parts aren't right or identical to OEM, but its a fact of life. Get in to the habit of laying old and new parts side by side and check for differences prior to fitment. Just yesterday I went to fit a dealer supplied oil pump gasket, I almost made the mistake of fitting the pump and gasket without checking because the part had been ordered using the vehicles vin, lucky for me and the engine I decided to double check just in case.... To my surprise and dismay, the inlet section of the gasket was slightly different to what I had removed meaning that the suction side of the pump would have sucked air and not oil and would have either meet redoi g the entire job or worse still I could have killed the engine.

I ring said dealer, re check both the part and vin number, all was correct, it turns out at some stage someone had fitted a slightly older engine and there had been a revision to the oil pump on the newer engine and gasket.

While it not ball joint related, it highlights that every part you buy, be it OEM or aftermarket should be checked and checked again, not doing so leaves you open to having to redo the job or even worse, something or someone being damaged. If you want to repair a vehicle the onus is on you to ensure all parts are correct and are fitted correctly.

This isn't a bash at op, just an example of what can happen if your not on the ball when carrying out repairs and maintenance.

yea i think thats the final lesson learned. glad your car survived and whatnot.

i blew up earlier mostly because the reddit post was full of asshattery. i did my best to leave it alone.

I have seen other examples of wrong/dangerous aftermarket parts, worldpac sells a brake failure kit for mk4 Volkswagens in the form of a rear caliper rebuild kit that is given a part number for calipers with different size pistons than the kit is for, there is a particular VW timing belt tensioner that will fail far before the timing belt is due foe replacement, etc. I mostly avoid non factory/oem supplier parts if possible, because using cheap Chinese parts is the quickest way I know of to convert a decent car into an unreliable beater.

this lesson learned was a bit tough for me. It's gonna hurt up front to do proper maint and fun parts. However that day was proof that it will save me later.

Looking back I'm still glad I was going slow and lucky no oncoming traffic hit me. It could be a very different world for me.

Looks like I'll be calling Ford more often now.

I swear I'm repeating my self a lot on this topic.

Here's a "don't buy cheap E36 M3" with the right end-result: I did not install the parts.

I inspected these flywheel bolts upon receipt and did not install them because they were JUNK. I could easily see someone installing these.. if you don't know how bolts should look you might not realize these are crap.

I received ATP "OEM replacement" bolts, part no. ZX-200. These are supposed to replace the flywheel bolts for a Chevy 60* V6 engine, original part number 476576.

They were so bad I ordered another set just to be sure they weren't knock-offs. I was even more surprised to find that they were very different, but STILL crap!

From left to right, the 2nd batch of ATP ZX-200 bolts I received, the 1st batch, and the original GM parts they are supposed to be "equivalent to"... LOL

The other side of the two ZX-200 bolts. I would not install even the one that says "good" because I don't trust this brand at all at this point. The metal still looks like crap..

Ok so what's wrong with these? More like "where do I begin?"

The first set of ATP ZX-200 bolts (left in the closeup) has stepped transitions (NO radii on these parts AT ALL), and tool marks under the head. The numbers on the head are STAMPED in -- you can barely even see them in the top photo. They were obviously not made during the head forging step, assuming the head is forged at all. The original GM part has nice radii everywhere, no tool marks, and an obviously forged head with a foundry mark and the grade (11.9).

The second set of ZX-200 bolts had a radius from the thread root to the unthreaded shank, and a smooth transition from the hex part of the head to the under-head surface. There were still tooling marks on the hex sides, but at least the numbers were apparently forged into place on the head. The second set is also darker in color, indicating perhaps a different alloy or heat treatment.

Both ATP parts were made in China based on the packaging. There are no foundry marks on any of them.

I sent an e-mail to ATP regarding their parts. This was the reply:

ATP said: The ZX-200 bolts are sourced from an overseas supplier. We rely on the supplier's engineering expertise to provide us with parts that are functionally equivalent to the OE parts. We have not experienced any problems with the ZX-200s.

Don't risk your life with crappy parts.

For the record, I ended up installing ARP bolts because I could get them faster than the GM ones. ARP makes very, very nice stuff.

Here's what happened not with a cheap part, but with a wrong part. I was looking for new hubs, even dropped the old ones at the shop that got me the new ones, and they weren't cheap either. But they had an 0.5mm step-up in the hub "flange" radius that the original ones did not. Result? Brand new discs cracked.

rcutclif wrote: I had a problem with that on my focus too. Real problem turned out to be the knuckle was 'wallered-out' from the ball joint being loose for too long. But yes, I did go through numerous iterations of wrong and broken pinch bolts before I figured out it was the knuckle. Never had a major failure though, just banging and bad noises that made me not really drive the car until fixed.

So my Focus is doing this now, and I have been chasing a lot of parts to find the source of the chattering and noise. How long did it take you to find the root cause? I'm going to change out the struts anyway, but I would really prefer not to go down a rabbit hole if I donnt have to.

If only I could remember whether I used The original ball joint bolt or the replacement's when I changed it out last year.

I've run into similar things more than once, unfortunately. It's why, as others have mentioned, it's best to compare old and new side by side to be sure it's right before risking one's neck.

Trivia: when sourcing lower ball joints for the Jensenator it turned out a Ford Taurus ball joint was the proper part; it would fit both the Miata spindle and the Jensen Healey lower control arm. There was a Moog set that was of course the highest priced and there were two other brands available as well. After comparing them, it became very obvious that the Moogs were the best quality and of course the most expensive. The interesting thing about the other two: they were both 'house brand', one was a 1 year warranty the other a lifetime, in different color boxes etc. After very close examination it was obvious the parts were exactly the same, had the same manufacturers' markings etc. This meant that all you were doing with the 'lifetime' part was paying for a replacement in advance.

Mitchell wrote:

rcutclif wrote: I had a problem with that on my focus too. Real problem turned out to be the knuckle was 'wallered-out' from the ball joint being loose for too long. But yes, I did go through numerous iterations of wrong and broken pinch bolts before I figured out it was the knuckle. Never had a major failure though, just banging and bad noises that made me not really drive the car until fixed.

So my Focus is doing this now, and I have been chasing a lot of parts to find the source of the chattering and noise. How long did it take you to find the root cause? I'm going to change out the struts anyway, but I would really prefer not to go down a rabbit hole if I donnt have to. If only I could remember whether I used The original ball joint bolt or the replacement's when I changed it out last year.

If I were you, I'd just go get two of the factory bolts and replace them straight away. If it turns out you already have them, you're only out a few bucks - a lot cheaper than having it separate.

Remember, the OP drove on it for several weeks, and even auto-crossed on it if I recall.

If you have noises after that, then you may have rcutclif's problem.

Mitchell wrote:

rcutclif wrote: I had a problem with that on my focus too. Real problem turned out to be the knuckle was 'wallered-out' from the ball joint being loose for too long. But yes, I did go through numerous iterations of wrong and broken pinch bolts before I figured out it was the knuckle. Never had a major failure though, just banging and bad noises that made me not really drive the car until fixed.

So my Focus is doing this now, and I have been chasing a lot of parts to find the source of the chattering and noise. How long did it take you to find the root cause? I'm going to change out the struts anyway, but I would really prefer not to go down a rabbit hole if I donnt have to. If only I could remember whether I used The original ball joint bolt or the replacement's when I changed it out last year.

Do it anyways. Shake your tie rod ends, inner control arm, and lca. Shaking your wheel to test ball joint (youtube vids show this is a common method as well as several forums) didn't work for me. It didn't budge. A firestone guy shook it pretty well on the alignment rack and saw it was bad. Hoped this helped a little bit

There is a reason you did not see any indicators when you shook it, and were able to drive it for a month.

It's that breaker bar.

You tightened it enough that the shaft was held in place by the friction of the knuckle being clamped on it.

It was not locked in place by the pin, as designed.

You enabled it to function temporarily, but it ultimately failed because the pin was the wrong part.

The correct answer is neither shaking, nor randomly replacing the pinch bolt as a precautionary measure.

That will still leave the possibility of the wrong part.

The answer is careful comparison of new parts to old, and an in depth understanding of the design specs.

I'll bet if you checked a Ford shop manual it would say something like "Do not reuse old pinch bolt", "Use only original manufacturer replacement parts", or "Check diameter with a micrometer".

YouTube is great, but limited.

Mitchell wrote:

rcutclif wrote: I had a problem with that on my focus too. Real problem turned out to be the knuckle was 'wallered-out' from the ball joint being loose for too long. But yes, I did go through numerous iterations of wrong and broken pinch bolts before I figured out it was the knuckle. Never had a major failure though, just banging and bad noises that made me not really drive the car until fixed.

So my Focus is doing this now, and I have been chasing a lot of parts to find the source of the chattering and noise. How long did it take you to find the root cause? I'm going to change out the struts anyway, but I would really prefer not to go down a rabbit hole if I donnt have to. If only I could remember whether I used The original ball joint bolt or the replacement's when I changed it out last year.

Here's how I finally figured it out. I had the correct pinch bolt and ball joint installed correctly, and could still get the ball joint end of the lower control arm to move up and down about 1/16 to 1/8 of an inch with light pressure and a prybar. to SVreX's point, I had actually tried to fix by tightening the pinch bolt over spec, and I had tightened an earlier correct pinch bolt to the point of shearing off the head of the bolt, and still had the movement even with the pinch bolt WAY WAY WAY over-tight.

Keep in mind I got my car at auction price from a dealer a buddy worked at because they just brought it in on trade. That wheel had a huge dent as well, so my guess is someone hit a curb, and damaged the wheel (and probably the knuckle) at the same time. Of course I thought at first a ball joint would fix it, but alas, there was more damage. The ball joint I got was a "one-piece" with the lower control arm, and now everything aligns up perfectly. My only noise left is my front sway bar needs to be lubed, as it squeaks on big bumps.

Bought the pinch bolts, ball joints, and tie rod ends as "might as wells." The car has been clunking for over a year, so that may very well mean that my knuckles are effed. $200+ per corner is annoying, though, so I'm going to sleep on that expense.