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**** me, I broke more stuff...

C

conbon

CEG'er
Joined
Feb 23, 2008
Messages
271
Location
St. Louis, MO
Came aorund a corner in the rain today and understeered/slid into a curb with the right front wheel. Wheel, tire, LCA, tie rod, end link, and sway bar are totaled. I really hope I didn't bend the subframe, but chances are its already ****ed. I'll be going to the JY tomorrow, I think I'm just going to unbolt the control, and the sway bar and tie rod, then just take the whole assembly out and install it on my car. I really don't have time/money to go through and replace individual parts. I might try and just bend the sway bar back to where it needs to be, because that looks like a pain in the butt to take out. I'll post pics once I start the tear down tomorrow morning, its too dark and cold out right now.

FML, Connor
 
I'm sorry, its not my fault our cars come from the factory with the suspension tuned for an un-godly amount of understeer. :laugh:

-Connor
 
HAHA, you think this suspension is tuned.....

It is really crappy. You can tell this car only has driving straight and at constant speeds in mind.

I hate working on this thing. I'm thinking a Chrystler engineer designed this car. I'm replacing the transmission in ours now and this is much more work then it needs to be. I can do this in 6 hours on a ZX2. It would take two whole days of non-stop work to do it on this car. Taking the subframe out seems impossible unless you have magic tools and triple jointed fingers. It wouldn't be so bad if you could reach the driver steering rack bolt with the ABS in the way. I thought about taking the steering fluid lines loose and taking the rack out with the frame, but you can't reach those damned things either. So, I just pulled the engine and tranny out together.
 
Went by the junkyard today, and I came away with:
-Decent condition OEM headlights with all tabs in tact
-3 sets of upgraded cupholders (anybody need one?)
-set of rear floormats (I didn't have any)
-set of pre-98 sail panels
-one steelie with ~50% Dunlop tire
-metal Zetec valve cover (blu, I'll be requiring your services in the future)
-Left side spring/strut/bearing assembly

All for $120. I'll be going back tomorrow for the right side spring/strut assembly along with the LCA and tie rod. Anybody know how a tie rod is connected at the other end (not nuckle)? I was stumped and cold today so I gave up on it.

Here's how clear the headlights are (left is better than right):
IMGP2434.jpg


New wheel/tire:
IMGP2439.jpg


Old wheel/tire:
IMGP2438.jpg


Tie rod:
IMGP2435.jpg
http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u238/conbon575/IMGP2435.jpg

LCA:
IMGP2436.jpg


-Connor
 
Are you an old man???

Are you an old man???

ZX2Fast said:
It would take two whole days of non-stop work to do it on this car. Taking the subframe out seems impossible unless you have magic tools and triple jointed fingers. It wouldn't be so bad if you could reach the driver steering rack bolt with the ABS in the way. I thought about taking the steering fluid lines loose and taking the rack out with the frame, but you can't reach those damned things either. So, I just pulled the engine and tranny out together.
Click to expand...

With just a handful of hand tools and my lovely 1/2 impact this OLD man got the trans out, rebuilt and back in, in 3 days on my abs equipted conturd and that was with me crawling around on the floor and the car supported on a set of jackstands with just a floor jack to raise and lower things.. Of course I had my wife breathing down my back and that might have sped up the process.
 
I can't get any of the tools I have on that driver side steering rack bolt with the ABS in there. Even with the ABS out, I'm not sure I could reach it. Well, I can get a socket on it, but there isn't enough room to turn it. I figured if I could drop the frame a bit, I would have room to get that rack bolt, but even with a Craftsman impact at 120 psi, the subframe bolts weren't budging. Since I've broken similar bolts before with a cheater bar, I didn't want to try that. It wasn't so bad, I needed to replace the PCV valve (that is in a stupid place) and serpentine belt tensioner anyway. I also took the chance to clean the grease off the block so any new leaks will be easy to spot.
 
I understand now, the rust belt

I understand now, the rust belt

I live in the desert and my car is a desert car thus I didn't have any rust to deal with. Lived in Indiana for too long (18months) and the amount of rust damage from the amazing amount of salt that they used was astounding..

I feel for those of you that have to put up with rusty bolts, nuts, and sheetmetal
 
looks similar to a 2008 Scoin TC we have at our shop. The guy has the lower control arm, inner and outter tie rod ends, and subframe bent along with a busted drive axle. Good luck with the repairs.
 
I live in Texas, subframe bolts came right out. I pulled subframe with rack still bolted to it. I made a wrench to take off one of the fluid lines by bending either an 18 or 19 mm. (been awhile) with torch to a right angle. If you pull lines at rack don't lose that little one way check valve that goes under one. Subframe went back on using some sockets that piloted perfectly just like the Ford alignment tool. No tire realignment required at all.

To OP, you gotta pull rubber boot to get to end of inner tie. It screws on end of rack, there may be loctite in your new part box. Use TWO wrenches to install part if flats on end of rack itself. Simply tightening the inner tie down can damage inside of rack assembly if you overdo it. Whatever you do don't scratch up the sliding rack inboard of the tie attachment point unless you love really big fluid leaks.
 
I don't think I'll end up replacing the tie rod myself, I'll probably have a shop do it.

My dumbass can't even figure out simple things like new springs/struts or LCAs, I'm not gonna try anything else until I get those sorted out. Any tips on getting the driver's side strut in? I can't remove the LCA because the one bolt won't come out because the transmission is right there. I've tried to use a spring compressor to get the strut compressed enough to just slide it in, but the compressor won't clear the strut tower. I'm pretty stuck on that side, and I haven't really started on the passenger side spring/strut or LCA.

-Connor
 
WOOO! I got both front struts replaced and the LCA on the passenger side replaced. It was really hard to get out because it was so bent the it was actually pulling the nuckle towards the inside. Even after I loosed it with a pickle fork, it took a good 30 minutes of beating on the LCA with a hammer and the nuckle supported by a jack. I got drivers side all finished up and its back on the ground, on passenger side all I have left to do is tie rod. I'm not sure if I should just attempt it myself, or try and drag this thing to a shop. How hard are tie rods?

-Connor
 
I think the hardest part is that you have to take the rack out just to get access to the inner tie rods. Afterwards putting new ones on shouldn't be to hard.

Thats what i know, if you can do it with it in the car then that would be better, but im not sure
 
UmmScott said:
I think the hardest part is that you have to take the rack out just to get access to the inner tie rods. Afterwards putting new ones on shouldn't be to hard.

Thats what i know, if you can do it with it in the car then that would be better, but im not sure
Click to expand...

BS. No need to remove the rack to get to the tie rods. You just need a tie rod removal/installation tool and a pair of vice grips, because the stock Ford tie rods usually don't have the notches to remove them. I used a pair of vice grips and a BFH.
 
Just checking, they tie rod on the passenger side is nomral threads, right? Cause I was banging and yanking on it with my vice grips the other day and it wouldn't budge. I guess I'll break out hte torch tomorrow and try and break it loose. Any other tips if that doesn't work???

-Connor
 
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