crash - broken wishbone
 

First off I'm OK :) I'm standing at the side of a road waiting for the RAC which I've just joined. Was a nice day so thought we'd go out do a bit of filming and take some photos. Towards the end Richard was filming me doing some drive bys. Went down the road to turn round came back. All of a sudden crash and my from passenger side wheel is floating about. I thought the wing had come off but no, lower wish bone has torn in two just behind the ball joint.

I'll post some pics went I get back got some video as well but I'm not sure you can see much.

Now I have to call Terry again...

Glad you ok mate.

What happened? Wishbone just gave up the ghost????

There's a triangle metal bit that holds the ball joint its torn straight across where the weld is and over the metal. Looks like a material defect on initial inspection. I'll know more once I get it in the garage and the bits off.

Still waiting for the RAC man at the moment. Lucky I'm not too far from home.

Geeze glad your ok and not gong too fast.

How the hell are you reporting to this site while waiting for the RAC???

Damn, thats not good news, glad you are ok though. I hope you manage to sort it with Marlin, especially if it turns out to be a material defect.

John

The wonders of modern technology......and a long cable :eyebrows:

Glad you are OK Patrick. Scary stuff.....

Robin

he he I've got once of those pocket pc phone things :) (and a long cable :madgrin: ) took forever 3 blocks of wood and a trolly jack to get the car on the truck. Nice bloke though from the towing services.

Here's some photos, lucky there was no one else involved and it was on a very quiet B road:

http://www.msportster.co.uk/data/p_wishbone001.jpg

http://www.msportster.co.uk/data/p_wishbone002.jpg

http://www.msportster.co.uk/data/p_wishbone003.jpg

http://www.msportster.co.uk/data/p_wishbone004.jpg

http://www.msportster.co.uk/data/p_wishbone005.jpg

http://www.msportster.co.uk/data/p_wishbone006.jpg

http://www.msportster.co.uk/data/p_wishbone007.jpg

http://www.msportster.co.uk/data/p_wishbone008.jpg

First thoughts are that the metal plate does look a bit thin for such a job and that I would have thought it a better idea to extend the tubes to just after the central pivot point of the balljoint. I'm certainly no engineer though so could be talking boswollox.

John

Very sorry to hear about the crash but the important thing is that you are ok.

I agree with John that the metal plate doesn't seem that well supported (i.e. cantilevered off the wishbone) and the welding may also have weakened the plate leading to fatigue. Extending the wishbone tubes further out (like they are on the top wishbone) is a good idea.

Are there any signs of fatigue/cracking on the other side?

I wonder if anyone else has had the same problem.

Also, it will be interesting to see what Marlin have got to say on the matter...

Simon

You can't see much but I've put the video up at the bottom of this page:

http://www.msportster.co.uk/videos.asp

I'll have a longer more interesting video to post when I edit it.

That is absolutely incredible!

Thank goodness that you weren't going at speed or on a motorway! It looks like one of those F1 photo's when the wheels come off.
Good to see that your brake pipe styed intact.

Isn't this the part that had changed on Jason's kit (GOO's)? (remember he had to modify his bolt head to fit)

Is there a hint of rust on the crack (photo 4) suggesting that it cracked a while ago?

As others have said, Marlin's response will be interesting. (Might be worth contacting the MOC as well to see if anyone there has heard of this before.)

This would surely be a recall on safety grounds for inspection and replacement?

How does that work in the kit car world??

........probably say it's because you didn't fit the ARB :tape2:

Thanks for all your kind comments guys :) I've posted on the MOC forum too see what they say.

I'm going to take things to bits either after work this week or next weekend see if I can see any more. In the meantime I've posted another thread with the video from before this incident!

Looking closely at the pictures it looks to me like it's been cracked for some time - the area that I've circled looks like it's rusty to me.

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/martinclan/images/broke.jpg

Looks like you may be correct there, look how the other end it bent downwards as the wheel will have pushed up pull it off.

The car was making a squeaking noise but I had put that down to the exhaust bracket that was loose.

Just tried to call Marlin and leave a message but their phone number doesn't seem to be working!

(I've put up a new thread with the rest of the video of the day: Click me )

Good news spoke Mark. I'm sending the lower wishbones back to him to inspect and he's replacing all the parts for free that have broken! He's not see one fail there before so I'm hoping it was purely a weak piece of metal or weld.

Some progress which is good.....

I am worrying about mine now, since they are exactly the same construction as yours Patrick. I've noticed, that compared with some older pictures, the damper mounting plates on this type have been extended out towards the ball joint threaded bush,which makes the rest of the wishbone plate very stiff. The line where yours has broken becomes the weakest point.

It will be interesting to see if Mark modifies this area on your replacement parts.

Any other parts bent or damaged?

Peter

Ditto