Front Wheel Fell OFF!

[WXman]

There ya' go. 26 freakin' ft/lbs. On a fastener that could save your life. It's bull ****.

I'm glad I decided to do the leveling kit. It gave me the opportunity to discover this issue and correct it. I don't like playing the "it should be ok" game on fasteners that literally hold my wheels to the truck.

 

[Dookie]

No, it's 26 ft-lbs + 180 degrees (1/2 a rotation). No idea what that equates to, but it's north of 26 ft-lbs. hence my comment on just give me the spec. number. Not sure why they do this. They do the same thing on head bolts of all things. Stupid. After doing 1, I saw it hit XX ft-lbs with my digital torque wrench, and just used that amount for the rest (in sequence).

 

[JJRamTX]

No, it's 26 ft-lbs + 180 degrees (1/2 a rotation). No idea what that equates to, but it's north of 26 ft-lbs. hence my comment on just give me the spec. number. Not sure why they do this. They do the same thing on head bolts of all things. Stupid. After doing 1, I saw it hit XX ft-lbs with my digital torque wrench, and just used that amount for the rest (in sequence).

It almost sounds like they are trying to encrypt what the setting is so that it becomes a dealer only checked or set item. SMH

 

[Tom@seal beach]

I seriously doubt that the torque spec is the problem in this case. It's more likely that the cotter pin was either forgotten or wasn't fastened correctly. No way that nut is backing off if it's installed correctly. Castle nuts are a proven safety fastener for this application. Unless of course they aren't using castle nuts anymore. I guess I should take a look.

No cotter pins....here's the ball joint after the failure! Must be a castlehead nut. My guess is the nut was not put on at the factory or the nut failed.

 

[Dookie]

When I installed my level top hat spacers, I torqued it all back to Dookie spec...Tight as fuk!! I may pay for that later if I ever have to get it off it's taper again, but with a proper tool (no, NOT a pickle fork), it shouldn't be an issue.

 

[Chuck19]

Guess I better look into this on mine!

 

[Tom@seal beach]

It almost sounds like they are trying to encrypt what the setting is so that it becomes a dealer only checked or set item. SMH

26 ft lbs plus a half a turn probably put it in excess of 50 - 60 ft lbs of torque.

 

[Tom@seal beach]

Guess I better look into this on mine!

Yes that would be a great idea!

 

[vdemarco]

the extra 180 is because these are torque to yield. The torque is to make sure the bolt is tight enough, the the extra is to add enough stretch to the bolt.

The cam bolt on the 5.7 is the same, the cam bolt can't be reused and must be trashed. I hope the ball joint doesn't need to be trashed if you take it off though.

 

[Dookie]

Head bolts are TTY as well, one time use. I find it hard to believe a ball joint would be though.

 

[Neurobit]

Head bolts are TTY as well, one time use. I find it hard to believe a ball joint would be though.

Well, not the bolt, but the nut seems to be in this case.

 

[Dookie]

Hence, the prevailing nut, gotcha. Reused mine when reinstalled, will have to keep an eye on it, and maybe add some wicking loctite for good measure.

 

[Boston]

Computer controls the torque at the factory.

Suggest you file a defect report with NHTSA.

Hope dealer doesn’t put up a fuss and claim she hit something to cause this.

 

[mikeru82]

A lot of ball joints in newer vehicles don't use cotter pins anymore. They use prevailing torque nuts.

You are correct. It seems to be the case here:

Thanks for the correction guys.
That's what I get for not working on my own vehicles anymore, besides oil/filter changes.

 

[J-Cooz]

There ya' go. 26 freakin' ft/lbs. On a fastener that could save your life. It's bull ****.

I'm glad I decided to do the leveling kit. It gave me the opportunity to discover this issue and correct it. I don't like playing the "it should be ok" game on fasteners that literally hold my wheels to the truck.

I think the engineers know what they are doing. This sounds like a complete fluke and most likely human error.

It's hard for that to happen at the factory though because the torque guns will stop the line if they don't reach their desired torque. I used to work at Brampton assembly plant building the charger/300/challenger.

 

[Neurobit]

I think the engineers know what they are doing. This sounds like a complete fluke and most likely human error.

It's hard for that to happen at the factory though because the torque guns will stop the line if they don't reach their desired torque. I used to work at Brampton assembly plant building the charger/300/challenger.

Agreed.

 

[WXman]

I think the engineers know what they are doing. This sounds like a complete fluke and most likely human error.

It's hard for that to happen at the factory though because the torque guns will stop the line if they don't reach their desired torque. I used to work at Brampton assembly plant building the charger/300/challenger.

Well it's been a problem on the Jeep pickups too. Some guys found theirs to be finger tight and had it corrected under warranty. Regardless, ball joint nuts should be more secure than this. The OP's post is no surprise to me.

 

[GraniteRam]

I think the engineers know what they are doing. This sounds like a complete fluke and most likely human error.

It's hard for that to happen at the factory though because the torque guns will stop the line if they don't reach their desired torque. I used to work at Brampton assembly plant building the charger/300/challenger.

But sometimes the guns can torque out but the fastener not be fully torqued. I work for one of the auto manufactures and see it from time to time. It's up to the inspection people to catch it then and if they don't, out the door it goes. Very rarely happens but it can.

 

[J-Cooz]

Well it's been a problem on the Jeep pickups too. Some guys found theirs to be finger tight and had it corrected under warranty. Regardless, ball joint nuts should be more secure than this. The OP's post is no surprise to me.

But this is the first anybody has heard of this on this forum in over 2 years... Mistakes happen. The dealer should make it right and hopefully RAM does as well

 

[LimitedGRR]

Great another thing to add to my OCD list of things that will happen to my truck......


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