Is my front suspension safe?

[TommyJ1980]

Hello - 1998 K2500, 5.7L, 250,000miles. Recent suspension work including upper and lower ball joints, steering box and shaft, pitman arm, inner and outer tie rods on both sides, sway bars, brake calipers, shoes, and hoses, and front end alignment after all that. Two nights ago, driving at about 20mph, I started getting bigtime up and down movements on the R side, like a flat tire but worse. was able to pull over and park, upon inspection, noted that the inner tie rod end was completely off of the bar that goes across in the middle of the suspension, the boot was broken, and the nut was gone, nowhere to be seen. It was a lock nut, not a castle and cotter pin. I am posting pictures of the other side which is still there untouched. Here's the thing - I torqued that down myself, TO SPEC. I was very careful with these parts. Another consideration is that the shop that did the front end alignment was the last to touch the rig, so there's that, and I did not pull the wheel off and inspect afterwards, which I'm learning was a mistake. The part was a masterpro, and only about two months old. I greased it, not overfilled, and torqued it to spec with its lock nut, that's truly all. For the replacement, which I'll post a pic of, I upgraded to Precision, and used blue locktite on the locknut. The crazy thing is, I have never thought to question a locknut like that. I used to fly ultralights before I started having kids, and those things are entirely assembled with AN nylock nuts, and I just never thought to question it. So I guess my question is - what the hell??? The new one (blue), is torqued to spec, and doesn't have a lot of thread showing, but it seems to be enough, about 1/8in. Anyways, appreciate any thoughts on this. Thanks,

Tommy

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[someotherguy]

It is possible the alignment shop took it loose and it didn't get torqued back properly. You never really know once someone else has touched it. When I bought my '92 ECLB forever ago and was poking around to see where I needed to make clearance to run 15's on the dropped truck, I noticed an upper ball joint with the castle nut ready to walk off because it had no cotter pin.

Richard

 

[Caman96]

So, all your steering parts use Nylock nuts and no castle nuts/pins? Also, Nylock nuts weaken every time they are removed.

 

[Hipster]

nylock nuts are pretty much one time use and if installed with an impact can be pretty much ruined from the get-go. When i saw the lock nuts instead of castle nuts I believe I would have sent them back.

 

[Supercharged111]

I won't touch off brand ball joints or tie rod ends with a 10 foot stick, even the name brand stuff isn't great.

 

[Hipster]

I won't touch off brand ball joints or tie rod ends with a 10 foot stick, even the name brand stuff isn't great.

Agree. This could have ended ugly, OP got lucky.

 

[someotherguy]

Wait, is that what we're seeing in the pics - nylock nuts on suspension parts? I must have overlooked it. I thought for sure what OP is saying is in his ultralight aircraft applications they used them (and I would seriously hope they get replaced after each removal, because yes, they're essentially one-time-use) ...

Typically on suspension parts like tie rods, ball joints, idler arms, pitman arms.. you have either the castle nut/cotter pin combo, or a distorted thread style locknut that gets torqued down.

Richard

 

[Hipster]

Wait, is that what we're seeing in the pics - nylock nuts on suspension parts? I must have overlooked it. I thought for sure what OP is saying is in his ultralight aircraft applications they used them (and I would seriously hope they get replaced after each removal, because yes, they're essentially one-time-use) ...

Typically on suspension parts like tie rods, ball joints, idler arms, pitman arms.. you have either the castle nut/cotter pin combo, or a distorted thread style locknut that gets torqued down.

Richard

I took it as nylock nuts, maybe I misunderstood but they look like nylock nuts opposed to "peened" lock nuts.

 

[someotherguy]

When I was a kid our skateboard trucks used nylock nuts all around - holding the wheels on, holding the truck bushings tight/adjusted, and holding the trucks to the deck. Being that I was a kid I had the awesome combo of broke and didn't know any better, so of course those nylock nuts got re-used constantly. The difference is you pretty much knew right away when they were coming loose, and I carried an "Elephant" skate key in my pocket for on-the-go tightening of those loose fasteners. A high speed run down parking garage ramps lets you know right away that your truck bushings need to be tightened, LOL

Richard

 

[Just Nobody]

I took it as nylock nuts, maybe I misunderstood but they look like nylock nuts opposed to "peened" lock nuts.

Stover Nuts.