2manyturbos
Moderator
- Joined
- Mar 8, 2003
- Location
- Monroe, OR USA
I think any bolt breaking in this situation would be due the the suspension bottoming out.
I think it would be more likely for the bolts to pull through the control arm with the ball joint mounted on top.
I don't see how this is any less safe than using a long shank ball joint.
Look up in your engineering book how strong a 5/16 bolt is and multiply by 4.
I understand the engineering school taught you to avoid this type of fastening, but the sky is not falling.
These models have been around for friggin ever and if this was an issue Ralph Nader (or his Swedish equiv.) would have had a fit.
That's how this kind of scenario can fool you. The outer two bolts take all the load initially when you put the ball joint on the top side. That is where the risk is multiplied exponentially. There is a reason, plain and simple why it was mounted on the bottom of the control arm. Also, ball joints are designed to minimize stress concentrations. The fasteners that come with those ball joints aren't because they were never intended to carry the load the way mounting the ball joint on the top side requires them to. Fastener design varies based on its intended purpose. That's why moving this ball joint to the top side requires some engineering expertise, not simply moving it and bolting it in place. I won't be driving this car. It just concerns me that people doing this mod may not understand how it changes the stresses on the parts dramatically and could result in a catastrophic failure. I consider a front suspension assembly coming loose so the chassis drops to the ground and there is no steering on one side catastrophic. Dodge Dakotas were doing this due to a ball joint design shortcoming when almost new. Many crashes resulted.