Darryl, Service Bulletin SC-03-1/81 was issued several weeks after it was discovered that many of the replacement nuts supplied for Safety Campaign RA-0001 (Lower Ball Joint Failure) were cracked causing stress failure of the ball joint. The second re-call took place shortly after the first for the same problem, therefore several cars slipped through the cracks and did not receive the new components. DMC Joe / DeLorean Services / <dmcjoe@xxxx> Web Site: <http://www.deloreanservices.com> ---------- > From: darryl@xxxx > To: dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxx > Subject: [DML] balljoint failure [long] > Date: Sunday, August 15, 1999 3:26 PM > > I'd like to relate a problem I had with my car that could have had serious > consequences. Last Saturday my wife and I left for a car show in our > supercharged Chevy powered DeLorean. The first 10 miles or so of the trip > was on a winding, narrow country road, and I let the car out a little, > easily exceeding twice the speed limit of 40 MPH at times. I backed off > once we hit the state highway, and cruised another 20 miles or so to the > show. Upon entering the parking lot I stopped to chat with an old friend, > and then turned hard right when suddenly BANG the left front wheel was at a > terrible angle. Thankfully I could drive straight ahead to a parking spot, > where I got out the never-used jack to see what had happened. The lower > ball joint had broken at the nut, and the lower control arm had popped off > of the spindle! I don't want to think of what would have happened if that > had failed a few minutes earlier. I bummed a ride home where I got some > tools and several spare ball joints, and was able to replace it in the > parking lot in a short time. > > I know there was a lower ball joint recall from the factory, and as a parts > vendor I thought I knew which was the correct one to use; plus I had rebuilt > every piece of this car's suspension myself. And yet somehow I had managed > to use the wrong parts, an error which could have had deadly results. > > The point of this is: check your lower ball joints. The bottom (where the > zerk fitting is) should have a crowned shape. If it is a flat circle about > 1 1/4" diameter which appears crimped into the larger housing, REPLACE IT! > (It also appears the nut on the correct one is 19mm, compared to 18mm on the > faulty one, but check the bottom to be sure.) The stud on these ball joints > is undercut and weak at the point where the taper ends and the threads > begin, and could fail - mine did. (And if anyone is curious, the elapsed > time today to remove both lower control arms and replace both ball joints, > alone and without a spring compressor, just a floor jack, was 4 hours.) > > I welcome input from Joe, Stephen, etc. on this subject. > > Darryl Tinnerstet > McCleary > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > To address comments privately to the moderating team, please address moderator@xxxx >