on my way to work front right tire and suspension decided to stay behind!!!!!

got three blocks from my buddies house, and for seriously no descernable reason there was a loud "crack" and suddenly i was a low-rider! front left tire is mashed up against the top of the wheel well, and leaning at about a 45 degree angle. haven't had any kind of incident while driving that would have given me even the slightest incling i was in for some serious sH*%. and i'm in MN so you can imagine how much more fun this was for me today! anybody have any input here? ever heard of somthing like this before? help. -anon...

I suggest you have the complete suspension inspected by a competent shop. You were lucky not to be at highway speed when this happened.

I think I read something like this happening to someone else here in the forums. Im gonna take a wild guess and say the upper ball joint broke. If thats true then many times if not checked properly it can go unnoticed and just snap all of a sudden. the shitty thing is that the upper A amr and ball jiont is one assembly so you'll have to replace both at the same time. Plus any damage it might have caused.

Yep, upper ball joint, it is unitized and runs about 72 bucks from parts america. Kind of a pain to replace but can be done in under an hour. Check on the rest of the suspension while you're working on it, Its cheaper to replace worn parts now before they break and cause more damage, and suspension parts are quite a bit cheaper than body work.

Damn man - sorry that happened! But I DO want to thank you for bringing this to everyone's attention. I remember somebody posting the same thing in here about a year ago, but twice is good enough for me. I'm driving my bird from Augusta, Ga to Los Angeles in January, and I don't think I want this happening to my bird en route. It's a 93 so I'm sure this is something I should be looking at doing anyways.

I noticed the price of the part above, but is it worth it to do it myself? I have my Haynes manual, and am handy with it, but is this something better left to a real mechanic?

Thanks in advance, and thanks again anonamos for posting this!

;)

Damn man - sorry that happened! But I DO want to thank you for bringing this to everyone's attention. I remember somebody posting the same thing in here about a year ago, but twice is good enough for me. I'm driving my bird from Augusta, Ga to Los Angeles in January, and I don't think I want this happening to my bird en route. It's a 93 so I'm sure this is something I should be looking at doing anyways.

I noticed the price of the part above, but is it worth it to do it myself? I have my Haynes manual, and am handy with it, but is this something better left to a real mechanic?

Thanks in advance, and thanks again anonamos for posting this!

;)

Sure, its just 2 bolts in the engine bay and a pinch bolt at the spindle, problem is they're kind of a pain to get to and the spindle doesnt always like to let go. Doing it yourself beats paying someone else the big bucks to do it.

Doing it yourself beats paying someone else the big bucks to do it.

EXACTLY!

Thanks a lot for the tips, man. ;)

he only problem with doing it yourself is that itll be REALLY easy to mess up your camber. If you look really closely on the top pivot bolts there is an adjuster the adjusts your camber for each tire. If not marked properly your camber and possibly other alignment factors will be very off. I do say go for it though if you plan on getting an alignment done RIGHT after.

It's not too hard to change, I just did mine on my mark 8. I had to drop the strut to get the bolts out. Not sure if you will have to on your T-bird. But it's 2 bolts on the top, that go through to the engine compartment, nuts are on that side, 1 bolt at the top of the spindle.
I believe that the camber adjustment is on the lower control arm, not the top.

no its on the top its a little cam lobe like thing that is on at least one side Im not sure if its on both.

Wish I had my big book o' alignment stuff with me, but I'm fairly certain the camber adjustment is in the lower control arm. When I get a chance to I'll look it up in mitchell. I just can't remember for certain, I sold my MN12 about 4 years ago. Still miss it too.

usually if upper ball joint breaks tire leans out at top from car--probably is lower ball joint as upper does not have anything to do with ride height--the strut and coil spring attach to lower control arm and so does ball joint the lower ball joint is easier to replace than upper

i would go with lower balljoint also, because it sounds like what mine did to me about 2 years ago. i was just lucky i wasn't moving real fast or i wouldn't have had a front end when i was done. i live in MN and yeah i feel yeah on the cold and snow thing.

The cam bolts are on the lower arm. There is no adjustment on the uppers.