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Ok, long story short the car snap oversteered into a tall curb and nailed the back driver side wheel dead on the face while rotating. This cocked the wheel about 20 degrees inward at the front. (see pics below)
I took the wheel off and nothing LOOKS weird to me but I dont really know what to look for in situations like this. The wheel hub is cocked inward. I can take the tie rod end out and move it back into place but the tie rod wont go back in then.
2 things I think it COULD be... axle is wonky or the bearing might have gotten bent?
I am open to things to look at, not sure what to do now.
Check that you have not broken or bent the upper or lower control arms.
Check the cradle for cracks. Did the wheel still spin true even though the alignment was off? Pull the wheel off of the other side and visually compare stuff. You bent or broke something. Look at the frame where it is glued to the rear tub. If the tub and frame look like they are no longer glued together, you might have bent the frame
The way the car is in the garage (kinda drove diagonally) the other side is so close to the garage I cant get over there but so far when i looked nothing LOOKED different. I'll get some better pictures shortly. Couldnt see anything cracked or bent, but Im not sure where the cracks would show up. Ill get a lot of pics for you guys. Appreciate the help.
Look at parts 6 and 7 in this picture. Look inboard where part #6 attaches for damage. To adjust, the tie rod end (part 7) usually threads into the tie rod. look closely at the connection between the two for evidence that the threads stripped from a straight shot in shortening the tie rod.
With the tie rod disconnected you can rotate the wheel out so it looks normal facing back and forth, up and down and centered in the wheel well?
No the tie rod threads arent stripped or anything, it hit on the OTHER end of the wheel, so it would make the tie rod spot LONGER not shorter. Yes with the tie rod disconnected moving it back over it looks centered, no problems moving it around left and right or anything.
You said you drove it into the garage. How did it feel while driving it? How far did you drive it? Did it feel like you had rear wheel steering? If something is broken back there it would be very unpredictable while going around a corner or making a turn.
Yes, I drove it home, probably 100-150 yards. not very far... it felt like it was driving diagonally! all over the place.
Now, just going back out to look I noticed a bushing at the bottom that is way off center on the bottom control arm. Also, spinning the wheel makes the transaxle hop up and down (like the axle is frozen off center).
Here's the leaf spring bushing and then a closeup of the other side of it. The passenger side is centered in the control arm, this one obviously is not. Would the axle be holding everything off center? Still can't see any bend marks or anything, the upper arm looks ok and none of the mounting point bushings are off center that I can see yet either. only the bottom.
I'm guessing you bent all kinds of ****. Control arm(s) tie rods, ball joints, hub, spindle, etc. Hopefully no damage to the cradle, and I'd have the wheel inspected or replaced as well. I'd start looking at replacing all of those items if it were me. Best of luck bud...
oh wheel is toast... lip is in about 9 pieces. that i know for sure...
im hoping to find out a way to figure out whats wrong instead of the bank account bazooka method
right now i want to loosen up the bottom control arm and take off the tie rod and see if the axle is permanently bent and makes the transaxle bounce, and then loosen it all and hit it with hammers to see if its maybe just cocked sideways and could 'pop' back into place?
This is the reason you have collision insurance. Even at a $1000 deductible I think you are going to be on their dime quite a ways. No reason to Rube Goldberg it.
Id like to avoid that, I dont wnat my rate going up and paying more in the long run, in all reality thats not what i really need anyway. of course i could call them, tow it to a dealer and have someone else deal with it but i dont want to do that. i did it, i want to fix it.
Id like to avoid that, I dont wnat my rate going up and paying more in the long run, in all reality thats not what i really need anyway. of course i could call them, tow it to a dealer and have someone else deal with it but i dont want to do that. i did it, i want to fix it.
You are not going to fix it with a hammer. Suck it up and bring it to a pro. No one likes to go to the dealer but you will need it repaired right and re-aligned and be safe to drive. It does look or at least sound like velocity joint damage at the transaxle. Put it back together and have it ramped.
Or... start taking thing apart and look for damage. Compare the items side to side, maybe focus on the knuckle.
Think about what locates the wheel in that plane: control arms, knuckle, tie rod, frame. Hopefully it isn't the frame! The axle situation is probably 'effect', not 'cause', but it might be trash too. Hopefully the impact didn't transfer into the diff and damage stuff inside that.
Surprised no one here has more direct experience... if this was a BMW I could be a lot more specific!
Good luck, and it will need a pro alignment afterwards.
Agree the axle is wonky and the lower control arm is not in the right spot. i want to take the axle out and see if the diff and trans spin freely with just the right side wheel spinning and such. I will also loosen everything and see what does and doesnt line up. I may order a new control arm and see what that does, as if it just bent the control arm and a new one slides in where it needs to be maybe that was the main issue... just dont know yet and taking things slow right now.
(And yes, I did hit it a few times with a hammer already...)
i may eventually suck it up but i want to give at least a good effort and see what i can accomplish. im sure im not the first person to ever do this
The axle looks trashed at the transaxle. Something has to be broken for stuff to move around enough to cause that. You say all the parts look normal like the upper and lower control arms and the tie rod assembly.
I want you to look at the lower control arm where it connects to the cradle. Make sure you did not shear one of the bolts that it pivots on. Also inspect every inch of the cradle. Those are not prone to bending. They break. Something is broken. I'm guessing one if your next posts will go something like WOW I can't believe I didn't see that before
Well I went out and looked again, nothing looks abnormal anywhere except the axle joint really. There is a SLIGHT gap around the bushings of the lower control arm mounting points on one side, like the rubber was compressed pretty good and then put back in almost the right spot.
The only things I've seen though that scream are the axle joint and the gap on the bushing for the leaf spring. Id like to find out how to take the axle off and see if anything moves back in place or if its going to stay out of place like that. not sure how to do that, never worked around a leaf spring before.
taking off the tie rod end and putting the hub back straight and turning the rim still makes the tranny hop a little bit, but the axle is still not rotating correctly so im not sold on anything yet. i couldnt find any mounting, cradle or frame cracking or anything, not even any relocated bushing marks anywhere.
Anyone in the north orlando area feel free to volunteer to come lend a set of eyeballs btw can take all i can get.
09-13-2015, 12:53 PM
Need help, slammed into curb sideways.
can take all i can get.