Ball Join almost came loose!

[mharrison]

My '01 LS V6 had been driving funny since I performed an off-road adventure to avoid a wreck that killed 3 people. I had a bent wheel on the front drivers side and that is it. (I felt like I got the best end of the deal.)

Anyway, about a week later it was swaying a bit on the Interstate but drove fine at slow speeds. When going around a big sweeper at speed, it felt like the drivers wheel shifted, so I put her up on the stands to investigate. Well, to make a long story short, the nut on the bottom of the ball joint had loosened up almost 1/4 inch. I could rock the wheel in and out. I tightened her back up and everything is good. I was afraid I'd be buying an uber-expensive ball joint (knuckle assembly). I wonder why they didn't make these use castle nuts with pins?

So that is the latest on my LS. I got off cheap this time as well as lucky. If that had come completely loose it could have ended very badly.

 

[02LSE96LSC91SE84TC]

Is it a locking style nut? If so you might want to replace it.

 

[NateRW21]

+1

 

[mharrison]

It doesn't appear to be a nyloc style nut. I put some Loctite on it.

 

[eastcoastLS]

keep an eye on it.

 

[scjmc]

They are one time use torque bolts. After they are tightened they need to be replaced. I just ordered knuckles, nuts, and bolts for my LS as I have a bad lower ball joint. All of the ball joint/tie rod end/and hub nuts/bolts can only be tightened once per the FSM. Also there was a TSB about the nuts loosening on the lower BJ.