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The Grape: Unofficially popped

I bent a control arm a few years ago sliding into a curb downhill in the snow. Not fun! Hope you get'r fixed!

IMG_0071.jpg
 
I bent my LCA screwing around in my SE a few years back. When the body shop fixed it they replaced the knuckle, the tie-rods and I think a motor mount or something like that. The steering was fubar, but they didn't replace it so it couldn't have been too bad and it's been fine since then. I hit at about 40 and then the rearend came around and slapped the curb and bent some of the rear suspension also. It could have been worse, you could have ruined 2 mint E1's :nonono: Hope you can get it fixed up
 
Sucks to hear this man.


I've got to laugh, though. A few years ago, I went over a curb at ~50 MPH in my truck, in order to avoid the idiot that thought it would be a good idea to turn left in front of me, and it didn't so much as need an alignment afterwards.

I guess hitting one from the side is a different story.
 
The car is in kind of rough shape now... The passenger side has negative camber and the driver's side has positive...

It was a pain to get that bent control arm out, too!

Ian, remember I do have extra parts lying around, and I am sure we can replace most of those parts for cheap... I have extra knuckles (just need a bearing), inner tie rods, and a few endlinks kicking around. and I can adjust the subframe slightly if needed.

I would have tried that last night, but it was almost 1 a.m. when we left the garage!!!
 
She goes under the knife tomorrow!

Here's the laundry list:
New end link
New tie rod
New knuckle
Drop subframe and realign

I'll update tomorrow evening...with pics!
 
yeah I noticed last night that the front corner of the subframe impacted the curb. might explain why the passanger side of the subframe wasn't aligned with the alignment hole.

ian don't forget about the differences in the knuckles that we where talking about last night.
 
She's back in action!

Brian, as far as we noticed, there wasn't any difference in the knuckles :shrug:. Everything fit together perfectly.

Anyways, onto the pics and the story! *dons flamesuit*

So we got the knuckle off the ball joint and strut very easily, and had to remove it from the axle. Meh, usually not a big deal, right? Uhhhhh not this time! Mallet, slide hammer, air hammer, NOTHING could get this effing knuckle off the axle! So I made the suggestion of pulling the axle apart at one of the CV joints. Aircougar popped off the boot, pulled the CV joint apart, and he clamped the knuckle into a vice. With a CRAPTON of PB Blaster, a propane torch, and a huge mallet, the axle FINALLY popped out.

Here's a comparison between the bent hub (front) and good hub (back):

0528091255.jpg


So we go to put the two halves of the axle back together (the two halves had separated while forcing it out of the hub), and realize that it is completely FUBAR. The joint wouldn't go back together properly. Took THAT boot off as well and pulled apart THAT CV joint, and one of the ball bearings was missing (aircougar recovered it and replaced it back to where it belonged!), and the end of the shaft looked like this:

0528091308.jpg


****! The splines were annihilated on the first 1/8" or so of the shaft. I suggested filing the valleys of the splines, but that was too tedious and was most definitely NOT working. Then we found out that the two outer sections of axle are the same between an MTX and ATX, so we took apart a GCK axle and tried to put it into the remaining 1/3 of the axle still sitting in the tranny. It would have worked if it was a Ford and not a GCK! Argh! Soooo, with my 100% approval, he did this instead:

0528091312.jpg


Yep, the end of the shaft, gone. We both agreed that the very end of the shaft is non-load bearing, and is only there to leave room for the locking circlip. It was only about 1/8" trimmed off. No biggie.

So after we got it all back together, I hopped under and took a look at the subframe. I did hit the front corner of it, but as it turns out, the subframe never shifted. The driver's side alignment holes were perfect, as was the front passenger side one. The only reason the reason the rear passenger side alignment hole was off was because a prybar had been used to force down the nut in order to tighten the subframe bolt! (This happened a couple years ago)

So all is well, and with BrApple's assistance in lending me his SE wheels (until my E0's are done), she looks like this:

0528091643.jpg


0528092310.jpg



Oh, and I made a little addition to my car as well:

0528091632.jpg


LMAO! :laugh:
 
And I would also like to point out that my car currently tracks straighter now while driving than EVER. The steering wheel is a bit crooked when going straight, but that thing won't budge even the smallest bit. It just cruises straight. I say we did a pretty good job eyeballing the toe for the alignment! :laugh:
 
Thanks guys. I was ready to give up on this pile of crap. :laugh:

That knuckle will need a new bearing, but that'll be absolute cake. I think I know where I can get one. That axle may need to be replaced within the next year, but it really shouldn't be a problem. Aircougar made sure to put anti-seize before putting the axle back into the hub :laugh:
 
zorrex said:
And I would also like to point out that my car currently tracks straighter now while driving than EVER. The steering wheel is a bit crooked when going straight, but that thing won't budge even the smallest bit. It just cruises straight. I say we did a pretty good job eyeballing the toe for the alignment! :laugh:
Click to expand...


Ian that could be because there is to much toe in. make sure you get that alignment done. And like I mentioned watch those snow tires in the rain, they are not that great anymore.


maybe the difference in the hubs is a 95 to 96-00 thing. I have read about it before but have never seen anyone confirm side by side.
 
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