Steering lost

EastSideRide · Dec 11, 2014

So just today I had some guy almost smash into my driver side while driving towards me so I moved to the right to avoid him and nailed the curb pretty bad. Both wheels got beat up. I didn't hop the curb though.

After a bit I noticed that the steering was acting up. To drive straight I have to keep the wheel turned to the right somewhat. And overall it feels very loose. If I do the left and right motions with the steering wheel its very sloppy.

I looked under and took off the wheel and nothing seems out of place or bent or broken. I have a LBJ that has a broken boot but that's not new so its not it. I'm very confused about this and I am not sure what to do. I just had an alignment too, maybe the shop can cut me a deal since this happened not long after.

I can't upload the pics at the moment because the file sizes are huge lol

RawCarnage · Dec 12, 2014

Check the inner tierods and the outer ones for play.

CokeZero · Dec 12, 2014

Tell the shop your car isn't driving straight after they worked on it and see if they will "fix it" lol

EastSideRide · Dec 13, 2014

RawCarnage said:
Check the inner tierods and the outer ones for play.

No play on either.

CokeZero said:
Tell the shop your car isn't driving straight after they worked on it and see if they will "fix it" lol

I guess by "just" I meant last month lol.

Today I took the car to the Firestone in my area because I know some people who work there and they do quality work. They looked all over my car and could not find anything wrong. The conclusion was there is something bent but they don't know where or what. They aligned it and honestly it seems back to normal so far. $159.99 lifetime alignment, hell yes!

xci.ed6 · Dec 13, 2014

LR toe is off far

and I assume it's lowered? (rr camber)

So whats up with RF?

EastSideRide · Dec 13, 2014

xci.ed6 said:
LR toe is off far

and I assume it's lowered? (rr camber)

So whats up with RF?

Yea its lowered without adjustable arms. But the RF is what hit the curb the hardest. And they are saying they don't know what is bent but something is that's unseen

xci.ed6 · Dec 13, 2014

ah, looks like LCA,

to get toe in the knuckle would move in
to get + camber, the LCA would go in (the UCA probably wouldn't get longer)
caster is a very odd area, but it points to something other than (just) tie rod

If only toe was tie rod, that would be the only thing off.

edit: check mount positions (chassis side) but very rarely do those move.

EastSideRide · Dec 13, 2014

xci.ed6 said:
ah, looks like LCA,

to get toe in the knuckle would move in
to get + camber, the LCA would go in (the UCA probably wouldn't get longer)
caster is a very odd area, but it points to something other than (just) tie rod

If only toe was tie rod, that would be the only thing off.

edit: check mount positions (chassis side) but very rarely do those move.

That is what I thought I had them look it over. Their whole crew looked but they said its most likely something in the "belly"

xci.ed6 · Dec 13, 2014

Even at the LCA you are looking for something bent ~1/2" to 3/4"...so the LCA mounting point ought to show that, but the LCA shouldn't show it much.

Measure left side stuff with tape measure, compare to right side.

Given misaligned caster you probable also have the LBJ point of the LCA moved backward too, but not much, like 1/4". So also compare radius rod length.

EastSideRide · Dec 13, 2014

xci.ed6 said:
Even at the LCA you are looking for something bent ~1/2" to 3/4"...so the LCA mounting point ought to show that, but the LCA shouldn't show it much.

Measure left side stuff with tape measure, compare to right side.

Given misaligned caster you probable also have the LBJ point of the LCA moved backward too, but not much, like 1/4". So also compare radius rod length.

I'll take a look into it and then measure both sides just to be on the safe side. I'll need to check my lower ball joint anyways because it has a torn boot but it's only a small tear. I'm not sure if the ball joint is bad though but I'll find that out