[TR] Coulda-Been Catastrophic Failure?

[v6spitfireguy at cox.net]

Can't help with the problem, but have had similar luck.
I had a bolt that holds the rear lower A-arm to the frame, the ONLY one,
break in the street just as I was backing out of the driveway!  This is on
a rotoflex converted suspension) Wheel all cambered inward since only the
axle and upper spring was holding the wheel assy to the car.  Could have
been far worse if it happened at speed!

Sometimes things just fatigue, especially over time and continued stress -

Original email:
-----------------



Greetings. I got a bit of a shock last night. After an hour-long drive in
the
twisty hill roads near home, I started pulling into the driveway only to
hear
a loud crunch. Started backing up only to discover I had no brakes. It was
dark, so it was hard to see what was going on. Some fluid had leaked from
the
area of the right front wheel, so I figured that there was a leak in the
break
line, though that didn't explain the crunch. Pushing the car up the driveway
proved extremely difficult, so I took a chance on driving up, hoping the
weak
hand break would keep me from plowing through the far wall of the garage.
HORRIBLE sounds came from the front right wheel, but I was able to stop the
car once in the garage.

With the good lighting in the garage, it was easy to see there was something
very wrong. The top of the right front wheel was sticking out by about 10
degrees. When I jacked the car up, the angle got worse and worse and in the
end, the brake line was all that was keeping the wheel from being parallel
to
the ground. The vertical link was completely separated from the ball joint.
I'm guessing the nut must have worked loose and come off during my drive,
and
the deep gutter in front of my driveway was enough to finally separate them.
Yikes!

How lucky was I that this didn't happen at speed? -----

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