[eschaider]

This failure has to do with a faulty weld or possibly a damaged portion of tubing. In order to determine the actual reason for failure an examination of the failed component would be required. The failure most probably does not have to do with vehicle weight imposed loading. Almost (but not all) all of that load is absorbed by the tubing between the shock and the ball joint.

A bad weld is not a bad design, it is a bad weld. While we are in the FWIW mode, bending moments are not created by areas they are created by forces. Units of force are quite different than units of area, do not describe the same physical phenomena and in fact are not interchangeable.


Ed