drag link failure!

[hemi71]

Heres a little scary story.

Last week, i started up the T/A wanna be just to get the juices flowing and move it around a bit. When i turned the steering wheel, i heard this loud POP.
After that, every time i turned the steering wheel to the left, i heard another POP. I got out and looked under the car...nothing looked out of place.

Got the wife out to get in the car and move the steering wheel while i looked under the car...turns out the drag link failed (the ball was almost pulled out of the arm, barely held in). That would have been a nasty failure on the road at speed going around a turn.

 

Replaced it today, it looks to be the original piece, no provision for grease. Dry as a bone.

In all the mopars I've owned (98) thru 32+ years, never saw a drag link fail until this one.

[6packCuda]

 
That could have been really bad.

[Oldschool]

First one I've heard of just failing like that.  That's pretty scary....             

[Moparal]

You mean the Pitman arm? The draglink/center link has no ball in it. Just open holes. They are called non wear.

[hemi71]

You mean the Pitman arm? The draglink/center link has no ball in it. Just open holes. They are called non wear.

What I've always heard called the drag link has a stud/ball on the end of it that attaches to the center link. The other end of the link attaches to the K-frame. (passenger side of car) The pitman arm connects the steering box to the linkage.

When i ordered the part at NAPA, I told the counter guy I needed a drag link, and got the correct part.

I was just thinkin about this....it's the idler arm...not the drag link...LOL...i guess I'm lucky i got the right part! Or maybe i told him idler arm......OH GOD, time for another beer!

This sucks getting old!  LOL

[Bullitt-]

I was just re-installing my idler arm today and pondered what service should be performed on it.
The service manual makes no reference that I could find & there is no apparent way to lubricate either end. Anybody have any suggestions?

[hemi71]

The aftermarket one i just installed had grease fitting in it. the factory ones either did not have fittings, or they broke the fittings off so they could not be regreased...planned obsolesence.

[aussie-e-body]

geezus,that was lucky.reminds me of a time i broke a uni in my driveway in my dodge phoenix (71 plymouth sport fury to you guys).tailshaft bouncing on concrete is not a nice sound.and the time i snapped an axle pulling out of my driveway,its great-no towing costs.i blew a clutch once miles from home and it cost me half my wages to get it home.a guy i knew years ago wasnt so lucky,he put a 440 into an aussie a body.90 mph test drive on the freeway then a sudden bone shaking vibration ,crunch,bang ect.turns out he used furniture grade bolts to bolt the 727 to the 440 and they were waaay too short.ha,imagine that,90 mph and the gearbox seperates itself from the engine.bits of trans case all down the road.the only thing that saved his sorry ass was the exhaust stopping it dropping clean out of the car.4 people in the car(not me thank god)