Arctic Cat XTZ1000 front ball joint(s)

Had a little problem with the AC Thanksgiving weekend. One of my boys took it out for a put and the front left lower A arm dropped to the ground. Not a good thing right.

So the boys took a jack, jacked it back up and pinched the pinch bolt back down and limped it back to camp.

Turns out what happened was the lower ball stud has a circular recess in the stud. The pinch bolt is partially captured in this recess and the pinch bolt is supposed to hold it all together. Guess the pinch bolt was a little loose, no where near hand tight, but the ball stud wore a groove in the pinch bolt allowing the ball to drop out.

I'll post a couple pics later.

The fix was replacing the ball joint with a aftermarket ball and using G8 through bolts with nylocks on the pinch bolts. I don't know if any other OEM's use this method, but if they do, I would check those pinch bolts pretty regular. This car is a 2010 with few very miles on it. But it is a long travel car, so there is probably more stress on everything.