Front suspension bolts snapped

I'm new here so I hope I'm posting in the right area i have a 99 tahoe with a 6 in fabtech lift and duel fox shocks in the front well I was driving and I started hearing a humming sound then my steering wheel started to hold at the 9 oclock position then there was a loud pop got thrown into the ditch when I got out to look the upper controll arm ball joint with the bracket was separated all 4 bolts that attach it to the arm was sheerd off i cant figuer out what caused that to happen it was perfectly fine that morning going to work....the ball joint is toast but its not broke would it being worn out cause that humming and my steering weel to become ofset it just dosnt add up I need help figuring out what would have caused this to happen or atleast somewhere to start

Kind of unusual to see bolted in ball joints. I'd suspect they got a bit loose and sheared off, maybe a low grade bolt to start with too. Any damage to your machine when it ran off the road?

tom3 said:

Kind of unusual to see bolted in ball joints. I'd suspect they got a bit loose and sheared off, maybe a low grade bolt to start with too. Any damage to your machine when it ran off the road?

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Yea these joints are a first for me I was confused when I first saw it. I was talking to a guy eirler about it he said with the ball joint wore out so bad that all that vibration could have caused the bolts to loosen then ultimately fail it makes sense now and I got very lucky it didn't tear nothing up other than gouge my rim on the inside I thought my shocks were done they were shoved up into my fender well but some how they survived thankfully but since it's down right now I'm gonna go ahead and replace the uppers and lowers all of the front assembly i got a few other issues i need to address

Welcome to the forum from Oregon.

The bolts loosened, likely one at a time, and then sheared. Lifts put way more stress on things like this. Should all be at least one ton strength with those big wheels and tires.

Oh, almost forgot, NO you did not break the record here for the longest run on sentence with no punctuation. Typically there are members here that will ignore posts like that because it takes too much effort to decipher where the jumble of words gets to a stopping point and therefore makes sense. You only had 4 1/6th sentence/lines length, today. We had an 8 liner one day. I think his computer shut down and refused to work under those pressures.

The way I type is the least of my concerns right now if people don't like it that's their problem not mine it affects me none but hey 2 replys is more than I had before the post so between you and the other fellow and my friend all saying the same thing is good enough info for me I appreciate the reply tho

Round one goes to @hooper92

tom3 said:

Kind of unusual to see bolted in ball joints. I'd suspect they got a bit loose and sheared off, maybe a low grade bolt to start with too. Any damage to your machine when it ran off the road?

Click to expand...

OEM ball joints like this are riveted to the control arm from the factory, not bolted. My son’s 1990 K1500 has them as does his 2005 Buick LeSabre. To replace them, you have to grind off the head of the rivets and then either drill them out or punch them out. The new ones come with high strength bolts.

hooper92 said:

Yea these joints are a first for me I was confused when I first saw it. I was talking to a guy eirler about it he said with the ball joint wore out so bad that all that vibration could have caused the bolts to loosen then ultimately fail it makes sense now and I got very lucky it didn't tear nothing up other than gouge my rim on the inside I thought my shocks were done they were shoved up into my fender well but some how they survived thankfully but since it's down right now I'm gonna go ahead and replace the uppers and lowers all of the front assembly i got a few other issues i need to address

Click to expand...

I think kryptonite makes some heavy duty ball joints for these trucks I’ve had good luck with their suspension parts on me past 3 trucks with no issues
Make sure to get grade 8 or higher bolts when you go to put them in

wjburken said:

OEM ball joints like this are riveted to the control arm from the factory, not bolted. My son’s 1990 K1500 has them as does his 2005 Buick LeSabre. To replace them, you have to grind off the head of the rivets and then either drill them out or punch them out. The new ones come with high strength bolts.

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Oh ok gotcha I went ahead and ordered all new upper and lower control arms etc I'm just gonna redo everything in the front so I know it's good

wjburken said:

OEM ball joints like this are riveted to the control arm from the factory, not bolted. My son’s 1990 K1500 has them as does his 2005 Buick LeSabre. To replace them, you have to grind off the head of the rivets and then either drill them out or punch them out. The new ones come with high strength bolts.

Click to expand...

Oh ok gotcha I went ahead and ordered all new upper and lower control arms etc I'm just gonna redo everything in the front so I know it's

Trey Hardy said:

I think kryptonite makes some heavy duty ball joints for these trucks I’ve had good luck with their suspension parts on me past 3 trucks with no issues
Make sure to get grade 8 or higher bolts when you go to put them in

Click to expand...