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Bad News, Good News


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Bad News... Something broke in the left front suspension of the GTO and slammed it to the ground as the wife and I were turning out of the driveway and on to the street.

Good News... It happened in the driveway and not on I-81.

http://s931.photobucket.com/user/us_strat/slideshow/Broke%20%20GTO?sort=6

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Sorry Stratman. Let us know how the repair process goes.

Ungerdog! Those of you out there in FP land who don't know ungerdog, he has the best looking G6 on the planet! :dancingpontiac:

Anyway... I plan to call my mechanic Monday and have him take it on his rollback to his shop. I'll let you guys know what he finds out.

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noooooooooo!!!!!






Ungerdog! Those of you out there in FP land who don't know ungerdog, he has the best looking G6 on the planet! :dancingpontiac:





dont worry, that will change soon. :badGT:


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Your very lucky you got her home before it snapped.


Dropping a ball joint at speed is NO FUN, ask me how I know :o


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noooooooooo!!!!!

dont worry, that will change soon. :badGT:

Prove it !!!! I thinkg Ringo (and the rest of us) are calling you out Ghosty !!!!

Your very lucky you got her home before it snapped.

Dropping a ball joint at speed is NO FUN, ask me how I know :o

SPRINT6 is right stratman !!!! This could have done serious damage to Black Beauty at speed ! If the castellated nut holding the ball joint came off at speed, it is very possible that the front spring might have also come out of its perch and that would be like a small grenade going off next to your steering box, left front tire, and engine. It could cause a lot physical damage if that were to happen. Not a pleasant thing to think about.

I am really hoping the damage is minimal bud! Let's hope it is just a ball joint that needs to be replaced.

It bothers me though - why did it snap in the first place? I hope these are not factory originals.

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SPRINT6 is right stratman !!!! This could have done serious damage to Black Beauty at speed ! If the castellated nut holding the ball joint came off at speed, it is very possible that the front spring might have also come out of its perch and that would be like a small grenade going off next to your steering box, left front tire, and engine. It could cause a lot physical damage if that were to happen. Not a pleasant thing to think about.

I am really hoping the damage is minimal bud! Let's hope it is just a ball joint that needs to be replaced.

It bothers me though - why did it snap in the first place? I hope these are not factory originals.

You are right Frosty... had we been on a highway and this happened, the damage to Black Betty would have been severe. That, however, is nothing to what has been bothering me all day yesterday and still today, and that is the thought of what might have happened to my wife and me and the cars around us had we been on I-81, which, by the way, we were planning to use to get to Martinsburg WV for a cruise-in. It is truly a God thing that it happened in the driveway!

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Ungerdog! Those of you out there in FP land who don't know ungerdog, he has the best looking G6 on the planet! :dancingpontiac:

Anyway... I plan to call my mechanic Monday and have him take it on his rollback to his shop. I'll let you guys know what he finds out.

How come ungerdog has not said HI or shown us pic's??? We like pic's!

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You are right Frosty... had we been on a highway and this happened, the damage to Black Betty would have been severe. That, however, is nothing to what has been bothering me all day yesterday and still today, and that is the thought of what might have happened to my wife and me and the cars around us had we been on I-81, which, by the way, we were planning to use to get to Martinsburg WV for a cruise-in. It is truly a God thing that it happened in the driveway!

Could have been much worse for sure. It's clearly the upper ball joint, from the treads N nut shown, looks fairly new. Drop another one in Strat. Since its been replaced (assuming it has) 3 -7/16 bolts hold it in place. Easy fix. Letting it bounce around on a flatbed is risking damage to the Black Beauty. Flatbed, shop mechanic is adding 4 times more to the cost of the fix, then the part alone. I like the look of Betty slammed, might be a good time to drop in 4 new ball joints on 2 new lowering spindles. :dancingpontiac:

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Ghost, when beat this, you will be crowned King G6 of the Earth and Moon! :bowdown:

DSC_0108_zps7d5c2e76.jpg

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Ghosty - I'm with stratman on this one. Top this and you are definitely King of the G6s !!!! Ohhhhh clean !!!!

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You are right Frosty... had we been on a highway and this happened, the damage to Black Betty would have been severe. That, however, is nothing to what has been bothering me all day yesterday and still today, and that is the thought of what might have happened to my wife and me and the cars around us had we been on I-81, which, by the way, we were planning to use to get to Martinsburg WV for a cruise-in. It is truly a God thing that it happened in the driveway!

While I agree with JUSTA that a slammed look would make Black Beauty a little more mean and stealthy, this is definitely not the way to do it.

You should definitely need to thank the Lord for the good fortune of this happening in the driveway rather than the highway for sure.

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You've been saying that for far too long :P

i know. at one point i completely stopped. this coming year! maybe... :D

Prove it !!!! I thinkg Ringo (and the rest of us) are calling you out Ghosty !!!!

mmkay. jus gimme some time. i finally have a garage again.

Ghost, when beat this, you will be crowned King G6 of the Earth and Moon! :bowdown:

DSC_0108_zps7d5c2e76.jpg

DSC_0111_zps8fe356d5.jpg

DSC_0068.jpg

i accept that challenge! will be hard. ungerdog has a very nice G6. i jus wish i had met him and seen the car in person before i left Cali.

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Do you mind telling telling your story, Jeff?

Well it was back sometime late 1980 while returning from a long weekend ski trip from upstate NY.

I had one of my first '66's all decked out with snow gear and having a blast.

While there we had a little snowbank mishap that lead to an unknown fractured ball joint. She let go on the early morning "express" trip to get back to NJ.

I think I was doing an average of 75 most of the ride back. Something started to feel wrong and on deceleration DS dropped out from under us.

Didn't need coffee that morning and couldn't save the underwear but I managed to bring it to a stop.

Tire, Rim, Control arm, Lower fender & bumper were toast. Not something I would like to repeat.

Glad yours was spared any major damage.

Cheers

2nd66PONTIACLEMANSa.jpg

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Didn't need coffee that morning and couldn't save the underwear but I managed to bring it to a stop.

Tire, Rim, Control arm, Lower fender & bumper were toast. Not something I would like to repeat.

Glad yours was spared any major damage.

Cheers

What an incredible amount of damage! Nice driving on your part to bring such a severely damaged car to a safe stop... Thanks for sharing!

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  • 2 weeks later...

So what is the latest assessment on the damage stratman?

Well... it turns out that I broke the left front lower ball joint and bent the left outer tie rod. Also, there was slight damage to the bottom of the left front fender. I got Betty back a couple of days ago and the wife and I cruised fifty-some miles today and Betty handled like a dream... very happy with the repairs!

Hagerty sent an adjuster to look at the front fender and the are sending me $708.04 to get it repaired. Here is a picture of the damage which is kind of hard to see. Mostly it is cracked paint with a little bit bent metal.

BrokeGTO009_zps44fa16bd.jpg

Here is Black Betty today, no longer slammed...

BrokeGTO010_zpsfa1e0831.jpg

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