Allenspurs

First of this is my first thread so I apologise if I have posted this in the wrong area.

Two weeks ago had my drivers side lower arm changed on my '02 ST170, last friday the arm seemed to pop out of place and my tracking went all over the place accompanied my a massive amount of vibration.

Obviously I returned to the garage where I had the work done and they replaced the part under warranty.

Last night I picked the car up and within five miles of leaving the arm popped out of place again and the vibration started again. I have called the garage and they are going to replace the part again.

I have been advised that the lower arms is a generic part that fits all Focus's of up to the 2004 models but the technical spec from ford describes its as "ST-tuned MacPherson strut, with angled coil spring over dampers and lower A-arms mounted on separate front subframe via double horizontal bushings. Anti roll bar (21 mm)"

In short am I getting the right arm fitted? or is there some specific part/bolt that is specific to the st170

Apologies for the waffling post, any help or advise will be massivly appreciated!!

Thrustyjust

I am unsure of being different. I have just bought a pair of wishbones for my mk2 ST and have a larger balljoint (21mm over 19mm if I remember) but this is also fitted to the cmax and diesel focus's, so nothing special. The Mk1 ST will have differening damping and springs to standard and a stiffer ARB, but the wishbones are probably quite generic across the range. I am not sure what you mean by it 'popped out' the only thing I can see doing that is the strut to the upright, which you cant remove without taking the bolts out and you dont want that to happen !!

Allenspurs

Hi thanks for the response.

What I mean by popped out, the ball joint pin came away from where it attached to the wheel spindle. it was still attached but I could feel the gap when I pressed on the rubber seal covering the pin and the wheel could be wiggled about easy when on the lift.

My garage seem to be at a loss as to why this has happened, I was just wondering if they missed anything out or had fitted an incorrect part

Allenspurs

update:

I have just received a call from the garage and they belive the hub has become elongated or worn and I will most likly require a new one.

Is this feasable? surly if this was the case I would have been experencing this problem before I had the lower arm replaced?

Thrustyjust

Very unusual that the balljoint should come loose to the upright, as if fitted correctly is on a taper and a nyloc nut. They should have seen the issue on the first visit. The taper can go bad if the nut was loose , but you may have noticed an issue prior to fitting the first arm, like wayward handling and clunking.

Allenspurs

Thanks Thrusty,

The mystery deepens, it seems that when they fitted the second lower arm only then did they use a ford pinch bolt, the first was fitted with the pattern part pinch bolt.

I it feasable that the pattern part pinch bolt has distorted or worn swivel joint on the hub because it was to big?

The Underdog

either they have not pushed the ball joint fully up into the strut before bolting up? unlikely has they would have to whack the bolt through but possible.
or the ball joint is too small a shaft and the half round cut out is dropping past the bolt?

or the bolt is too thin and not filling the cut out in the ball joint?
if you didnt have this problem before with old setup i would say its either bolt too small or ball joint too small

Straight_4_N/a

ill tell you whats happened. the garage didnt fit the ball joint in the hub correctly and thats caused it to be able to move and its made the hole in the hub to big and its fucked it so you will need a new one. Thats whats happened 100% because i did it to my old one.