I can't believe the damage done to my F-150 Lariat 4x4 today after hitting a pothole. The right lower control arm snapped clean off across the ball joint hole and my wheel was almost torn right off. It will need a new control arm, brake hose and tire. I have never heard of a control arm breaking in two and am wondering if these aluminum control arms are really that safe. I checked the ford recall list and found nothing that points to a problem with the control arm itself.

Any thoughts?

 

That must've been a monster pothole! Got any pics? I've hit some pretty nasty asphalt but I can't imagine the control arm snapping. I installed my own level kit and it seems to be VERY sturdy. But I have heard people talk about being able to see the arms bend under heavy braking. Sorry dude. I wonder if it's something insurance would/could cover.

 

I haven't heard of one breaking but it seems like if it was going to break, the area near the ball joint is the thinnest. This is purely a guess but from the parts I see being offered for our trucks, it seems that, while there are companies that make after market wielded steel lower control arms, there are many more making upper control arms and quite a few of the mid level (as in price not necessarily travel) pre-runner style kits retain the factory lower control arms.

 

Haven't heard of that before. I've seen trucks be WAAAAYYYY out of alignment after something like that though.


I don't really think it's a strength issue though. After all, the RAPTOR still uses the aluminum lower control arms. They are a little longer than yours, but not much different other than that.

 

I ran over a dang near whole deer carcass on my way to Austin one time at about 65mph. I ran it over with both front and rear driver side tires. I felt the impact but the truck just kept right on truckin. I didn't break anything nor did she get out of alignment.

 

Ive seen them break before. I work at a repair shop and we had a customer install his own ball joints. After we got the truck on the lift and inspected the control arm we found hammer marks and burns where he heated the control arm.The guy said yeah that one didnt want to come out or go in very good. Turns out he didnt use a ball joint press just beat them out and beat them back in. Is it possible that someone did this to your truck? It does not take much misalignment when your pressing in a ball joint to put a hairline crack in aluminum.