Broken steerage linkage

The steering linkage broke in our car today while it was being driven by my wife, thankfully at low speed. I'm having waking nightmares about what might have happened if it had taken place on a motorway. Is it reasonable for the linkage to deteriorate so much in less than a year that this went from not being spotted at all at the last MOT to complete and sudden failure?

Reply to
Alan Craig
Loading thread data ...

Alan Craig gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

It depends.

What car, what bit actually failed and how?

I'd expect most "steering linkage" complete failures to be cause by impact damage rather than wear.

Reply to
Adrian

Broke, or dropped apart?

It wouldn't be impossible for a track rod end to just about pass an MOT, but 11 months later to fall apart.

BTW, I understand your concern about where it could have happened, but in practice such failures usually occur at low speed, when the loads on the steering at at their highest.

Chris

Reply to
Chris Whelan

Agree with the above, the stress on the steering when making small movements at speed is minimal, therefore breakage is unlikely. It's parking maneuvers that do the wear n tear, particularly if the driver has a tendency to turn the wheels without moving the car at the same time, although I'm not suggesting it's the reason for your particular problem.

Stu

Reply to
Stu

Chris Whelan gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

The car would be damn near undrivable for a considerable proportion of that intermediate time, though.

Reply to
Adrian

Hmm, it doesn't happen too often, but I imagine that the load on hitting fairly deep standing water at mnotorway speed is very high, too.

Reply to
GB

Hmm, thinking about that, I'm going to sell the car, then go back to bed with the duvet over my head.

Reply to
GB

"Damn near undrivable" for some, perhaps...

Many years ago, Ive seen a track rod end that had dropped apart be "repaired" with string to hold it back together!

Chris

Reply to
Chris Whelan

There was a very tidy Focus in the local Tesco carpark blocking an access road - had the hazards on, but no driver. The nearside bottom wishbone outer balljoint had sheared clean off. The driveshaft was just about stopping the wheel from going horizontal. Would have been very nasty at speed. But for some reason, these sorts of failures often happen at very low speeds.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Chris Whelan gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Sorry, should have specified "for anybody with the vaguest modicum of mechanical sympathy"...

Reply to
Adrian
[...]

Not Mr Average then...

:-)

Chris

Reply to
Chris Whelan

Chris Whelan gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Sometimes, I live in a utopian wonderland...

Reply to
Adrian

LOL!

Me too, but the effects of alchohol eventually were off.

Chris

Reply to
Chris Whelan

"Alan Craig" wrote

If by "broken" you mean the metal fractured, rather than moving parts wearing loose, then yes, it would be unpredictable with normal tools or visual checks.

Reply to
DavidR

Please tell us which bit actually broke.

Rob Graham

Reply to
Rob Graham

Probably you see them because if they happened at high speed the wreckage would be in the barriers/trees/field/embedded in another vehicle :)

Having said that I had a bottom ball joint fail many years ago at crawling pace. No indication beforehand that anything was amiss. It was a clean fracture right at the transition from the large end of the taper at the neck of the ball.

Reply to
The Other Mike

That was where the Focus failed too. Looked quite a chunky part, too, considering the size of the car.

Both the front struts on my E39 BMW failed within a year or so of one another. At about 60,000 miles. They are aluminium, and the platform the spring bears on sheared off. But then dug into the tyre side wall causing that to deflate with a bang. Or rather it did the first time. As I drove the car some way to get it off the main road in the rush hour. The second time it happened in a quiet road. Both times in town at low speeds.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Tsk Chris as you feel it wear off down a few more :) then back to utopia

Reply to
Thelibrarian
[...]

Well OK, but then my spelling starts to deteriorate...

Chris

Reply to
Chris Whelan

The rod end and linkage needed replaced

Reply to
Alan Craig

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.