Please help diagnose ... suspension? - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

wanna986 · 10-21-2010, 07:25 PM

"Control Arm, Rear - Track Rod"

blue2000s · 10-21-2010, 07:44 PM

Careful, the track rod (6) controls the suspension's toe, but the big ball joint that carries the hub is the lower control arm (5). You need to figure out which one it is.

clueless1 · 10-21-2010, 08:09 PM

its the track rod. you can see it behind the hub when looking into the wheel. It has come detached from the side bracket on the ?hub carrier?. The ball joint I referred to is the end directly above the number "6" on the track rod in the diagram you provided. On the car's good side it is attached to the ?hub carrier? with a nut on the top. On the bad side the two are not connected at all anymore.

Thanks.

Looks like I won't be able to get my hands on the part for roughly a week (shipping to canada).

I assume this ball joint is not serviceable? Any idea how I could use a screw/nut to temporarily connect so i could at least sloooooowly creep the car to a lift (won't drive it a block the way it is).

wanna986 · 10-21-2010, 08:11 PM

if Clueless is accurate in his diagnosis it is "Control Arm, Rear - Track Rod".

wanna986 · 10-21-2010, 08:19 PM

Beat me to the post, Clueless,
Canada? Have you tried AutoPartsWay. Pretty quick in the GTA.
Not really sure what a bandaid solution would be... drill the ball joint out and go from there? I'd be concerned about the safety of it all.
Here's to the best possible outcome.

*It is an easy repair once you get started. Be careful to mark the alignment so as not to mess it up once you install the new piece.

clueless1 · 10-21-2010, 08:19 PM

I believe that is just the full Porsche name for the same part.

clueless1 · 10-21-2010, 08:25 PM

APW lists the part, but when I pull up details it is not listed. If APW doesn't have it I figure I'm looking at a week minimum.

I'll call dealers tomorrow but I'd bet they'd be trying to pillage.

There is no alignment any more....

Kind of shocked at this mechanism of failure, I have to say. I was going 5 mph in a parking lot when it happened. I don't usually drive that slow EVEN IN parking lots. Thank goodness. I don't want to imagine how disastrous an outcome could have occurred were it to have happened elsewhere. Wow. I can't find a single mention of this failure on the boards ... is it a known failure mode?

When the leafs were 4-0 I knew it couldn't last....

clueless1 · 10-21-2010, 08:27 PM

I should ask, do the track rods need to be replaced as a pair, ie on the good side too?

wanna986 · 10-21-2010, 08:38 PM

I am no expert, but I do not replace parts that are not broken. It is weird, though. that you should have experienced this type of failure...

yelojkt · 10-22-2010, 04:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by clueless1

I should ask, do the track rods need to be replaced as a pair, ie on the good side too?

Ask yourself how long the broken part has been on the car and why it broke. You can tell this by closely examining the cracked area. How much of the cracked area is new and clean like it just broke a few days ago and is there any cracked area that looks like it has been weathered. Is there impact damage to the part and so on. Then ask yourself do you really feel comfortable running a high performance sports car with a critical piece of suspension that you are unsure of. Knowing the potential outcome of losing track rod at speed I would replace both.