Failed ball joint

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K

kimeddie

New member
Joined
Sep 6, 2022
Messages
2
Hi all
I wanted to share that last week the ball joint on my leaf failied in a dangerous way.
Its mostly my fault as I had heard a kocking noise on full lock turns but I had ignored it for well over 6 months. stupidly I figured it couldnt be that bad as it passed its MOT in January.

What I didnt expect was for it to fail the way it did , the ball joint stayed in the the pinch bolt and the bottom of the ball joint sheered off the lower suspension arm.
The suspension arm then hit the inside of the wheel and even scrapped off some of the inside of the alloy , then the driveshaft popped out. Luckily I wasnt going too fast.

Ive fixed it up thanks to this forum and youtube , but wanted to warn people not to ignore the noise like i did as at speed it could of deen disasterous.
I guess these wear out faster due to the heavy batteries for the size of the car.

here are some pictures

6wBbqB


6wBtsV


all the best
 
My 2013 Leaf had its ball joints go bad after 5 years. 5 years isn't great, and hoping my 2019s do better. I have ball joints fail on many other cars I have owned including Hondas and other well made cars, so curious if my driving style contributes to the problem.

I have seen others complain about failing ball joints in the earlier Leafs.
 
DougWantsALeaf said:
My 2013 Leaf had its ball joints go bad after 5 years. 5 years isn't great, and hoping my 2019s do better. I have ball joints fail on many other cars I have owned including Hondas and other well made cars, so curious if my driving style contributes to the problem.

I have seen others complain about failing ball joints in the earlier Leafs.
Click to expand...

wow on all 4 wheels ?

Do you live in the countryside by anychance ? big pot holes will contribute a lot i suspect
 
That's scary.

My '12 is still on its original set, but I'll rotate the tires and check them this weekend. Thx.
 
I think the ball joints on the front of my 2012 are going - making in a bit of a typical clunking sound. Then again it could be that weird axel nut not tight enough or axel grease thing.
 
Gigawatt said:
I think the ball joints on the front of my 2012 are going - making in a bit of a typical clunking sound. Then again it could be that weird axel nut not tight enough or axel grease thing.
Click to expand...
May not the ball joints but the axel nuts are coming loose. I did the job myself on a 2015 Leaf, not a hard job.Clicking noises may be heard from the axles during take-off or acceleration. Note: check wheel nut torque before continuing with further inspection or service. To eliminate the noise, apply Molykote M77 grease (p/n 44003-7S000) to the hub bearing surfaces.
 
It was almost inflatable on my Leaf 1.5 Nissan said the front suspension needed a part changing every year. When asked why something nearly always needed changing I was told parts wear at different rates and so needed changing at different times. i then learnt instead of changing a smaller part here and a part there they changed a whole part :unsure:
 
I need to jack up the car and take a look at the ball joints. I definitely think I have the loose axel nut thing going on too - just the start of it - very slight sound - had same issue on my Highlander - bizarre issue. The extra torque of the electric motor probably doesn't help. I can do both myself, little disappointed on the quality of the front suspension as this was a Japanese made leaf. Also have the squeaky squeak in winter with the subframe mount :( Can do all the work myself but I her the subframe squeak is not fixable without some major work.
 
Just ordered a pair of front lower control arms, for the ball joints. It's a 2014 with about 88000 miles. I should have realized sooner. The wheels still feel solid if shaking the car by the tires (not jacked up), and I've often heard a little click when shifting into drive after reversing. I just replaced the front tires and they had worn a bit unevenly on the inner edges, so I was wondering if something is amiss. When changing the tires, with either front corner jacked up, the play in the ball joint is obvious with a finger across it and pushing the wheel or brake assembly. It's even almost easily visible. Jeepers, I feel embarrassed to not have noticed sooner. Both sides are loose, the driver side maybe a little more.
 
LCAs arrived later Friday, only$102 for the pair, shipped! Got them in by midnight and set the toe with tape measure Saturday. I got it all done before the cold snap set in and the unheated garage got too awful cold.
 
Daklein said:
LCAs arrived later Friday, only$102 for the pair, shipped! Got them in by midnight and set the toe with tape measure Saturday. I got it all done before the cold snap set in and the unheated garage got too awful cold.
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Interesting to know the failure rate of ball joints in Leaf vs Leaf plus?
 
hradek said:
Interesting to know the failure rate of ball joints in Leaf vs Leaf plus?
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You think the extra battery weight might make increase the wear on the joints?
I wondered that too.. 62kWh Leafs are starting to drop in price here, but I'm not sure how robust they are..
 
decimal said:
You think the extra battery weight might make increase the wear on the joints?
I wondered that too.. 62kWh Leafs are starting to drop in price here, but I'm not sure how robust they are..
Click to expand...
I like to compare the larger battery as if you are carrying 2 extra people in the back seat all the time but the batteries are much less chatty.
 
I took my ,11 leaf to be tested.failed on ball joints .they are only a press fit. And are prone to excessive movement. always replace joint and wishbone.took 3 fails for me to cop on.
Ps they are secure however with large clip against total failure. But not test version
 
I have a creaking sound when turning the wheel on my 2014 Leaf when parking. It has been diagnosed that I need new suspension strut top mounts and top bearings. I'm now thinking it could be ball joints as well?

We have a LOT of potholes, speed bumps and bad roads where I live..
 
Wef said:
I took my ,11 leaf to be tested.failed on ball joints .they are only a press fit. And are prone to excessive movement. always replace joint and wishbone.took 3 fails for me to cop on.
Ps they are secure however with large clip against total failure. But not test version
Click to expand...
 
All your noise is probably the press fit lower ball joint moving.in my view they are not a good piece of engineering.should have been secured by nut thread in recess not just stiction. Put a bar under each side and you will see it move.
 
The extra weight of two silent rear adults (300 pounds), or a 62kwh battery pack, would not affect the ball joints life, because the ball joints don't carry any vertical or suspension loads.

The Leaf ball joints do not carry any weight of the vehicle or suspension, they only locate the bottom of the knuckle assembly. The strut spring and the sway bar links both go to the knuckle, not to the control arm. The control arm is relatively twisty and compliant overall, but stiff in the lateral and fore/aft directions. It's such a light control arm because it doesn't have to take any suspension loads, and the ball joint is tiny and cute for the same reason. Ball joints pressed into the control arm are not likely to loosen up, IMHO, but the ball joint itself certainly wears over time, or could wear and fail much faster if the rubber boot has been compromised. Rough roads and shock loads sure would increase wear.

It is certainly not worth reusing the control arm, pressing out and repressing just the ball joint, now that could loosen up, not to mention being a lot of work. The vehicle side rubber bushings on the control arm also are good to get new with a new lower control arm. A pair of new control arms, with new rubber bushing and ball joints, were about the price of one tire.

Having driven the car now with new LCA/ball joints installed, it is much quieter. I had been hearing noise for a long time that sounded to me like growling wheel bearings, but now it's clear it was the ball joints. There might be creaking noise from the upper strut mount bushings, but I'll wait until there's some obvious looseness, and I'm not worrying since it wouldn't be a catastrophic failure like a ball joint.
 

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