Ford Falcon ball joints are a commonly worn item. They take a lot of load and will eventually wear out. Today’s breakdown was for this exact reason. This Falcon’s lower ball joint had failed causing the lower control arm to drop down and press against the brake rotor.
As this was a 2004 falcon with over 200,000km we decided on replacing the complete lower control arm rather then just the ball joint. The complete arm comes with a new ball joint already pressed in as well as new inner bushes installed. This makes the repair quick and complete as the worn inner bushes are replaced at the same time. After this repair a wheel alignment will need to be carried out.
This breakdown was avoidable with just regular servicing by an experienced mechanic. The falcon had its oil changed by the owner regularly, which is great… But it was not receiving an experienced eye carrying out the safety inspection which is needed each service to pick up on these items before they fail. During every service ball joints need to be checked for movement. If movement is found, replacement is required. It’s a simple check, but only 1 of many we carry out every service.
You can see in the main pic the ball joint in the lower control arm resting against the disc rotor. The pics below show the new and old control arms – note the pre installed ball joint and bushes.
