Bent wishbone?

[ben]

Well I smashed my car into the kerb tonight and dented the mag (pretty bad) . Worse though - the wheel (front passenger side) is now about 1 inch back from where it used to be - so the car pulls badly to the left. I pulled the wheel off and the big flat crossmember (wishbone?) that goes from the two vertical joints and down to the hub has buckled with the weight of the crash.

Is that crossmember called the wishbone? And are they expensive to get second hand ones? I'm guessing maybe $100 plus fitting? Is anything else likely to be broken? And finally - anyone know a good cheap wheel fixing place in wellington. I sent my mr2 mag to palmy last time - they did a good job but it cost about $150.

[RS13]

You mean the bottom arm? A mate of mine did exactly what you did in his VR4. Just go to a wrecker and get a whole new bottom arm.

[ben]

Yeah that looks like what I'll do. Are they hard to replace yourself? I've only got a socket set... Otherwise I'll go get a replacement arm and get a shop to fit it.

[kingcorolla]

i did that same thing in my te71. Put it on the hoist the next day, and had bent more than just the bottom arm Bent the arm, the strut brace, the sway bar AND the tierod.

the wheel was so out of alignment, that when i drove, it felt like the car wanted to pull a U turn the WHOLE time!!! Had to use all my muscle just to keep the dam car straight!!!


good times.

[ben]

Yeah i just asked because i got a quote of $600 :O for the bottom arm. On a more sane note a wrecker is sending one up to arrive on monday for $110 all up.

And yeah - wtf is wrong with a socket set?

[ben]

Heh. Yeah. I do have a bit of a relationship with curbs.

I fixed it, yanked it all apart and threw it back together with my socket set. Drives straight and true. Now just to get some new mags.

Umm - what was that bit about torque settings for the suspension? I just did it back up really tight. Do you really have to correctly torque those motherbitches?

[Spannergal]

Heh. Yeah. I do have a bit of a relationship with curbs.

I fixed it, yanked it all apart and threw it back together with my socket set. Drives straight and true. Now just to get some new mags.

Umm - what was that bit about torque settings for the suspension? I just did it back up really tight. Do you really have to correctly torque those motherbitches?

supposed too coz if its done less - then overtime the bits loosen enuf to fall off - if it done too much it begins to strip threads which then need to be repaired - and its annoying when you find stripped threads with every second bolt that you go to put back - had this happen before - not sure how the engine was holding itself together when i got it