Bent Strut Rod

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DieselDan

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Hey guys,
I was out last friday night with my wife and was headed home from a 9:30 WalMart run. I have never been to where we were before, it was a brand new built store and its kinda out in the boonies. Well, I was about to get on the highway and my wife is starting to tell me that the onramp is the 2nd one and the GPS just keeps saying "prepare to enter the highway on the right" over and :q:q:q:qin over, I dont know who I was listening to, but I realized at the last minute I needed the second onramp. Well... since DDM fails at getting me parts within a 1 month window, I have been driving the car pediddle(one headlight). At the last second I realized there was a raised concrete island in the middle of the :q:q:q:qing road. I swerved at the last second but I grazed it with my RF wheel. It didnt feel like that hard of an impact, and I drove it on the highway home with no vibrations or anything that I could notice. I didnt drive the car this weekend because I was at a 2 day paintball scenario game but when I drove the car on monday I noticed the car was pulling a tiny bit to the right. I was the last one to align the car, it tracked perfectly straight, and the wheel was level. Now it pulls right and the steering wheel is pointed left. The right wheel is moved rearward in the wheel well about 3/4 inch more than usual. I put the car on the lift and everything looks fine, and the strut rod bushings are still good and tight.

My question is has anyone else done this before? I won't be able to tell if its bent until I get the replacement. I ordered one today, it was 113bux from motorcraft. The tire is an almost brand new BFG and my octi shows no curb rash or being bent(I already put it on the tire balancer). I'm just throwing the strut rod at it, because thats the only thing I figure it could be.
 
dan i am willing to bet that the lower control arm bent backwards, they come bent already, meaning, they are not straight, so you might think everything looks fine because you arent sure what to look for, take the wheel off and snap a picture straight in, i'll be able to tell you. if you bent the strut rod, chances are the tire would be too far forward in the wheel well, but if its too far backwards, i put money on a bent lower C.A
 
Haven't done what you did, but my car pulls to the right when braking and the steering wheel goes left too. I have a bad strut rod bushing and right ball joint. I could have other issues too that I don't know about but that is all we know now.
 
I did almost the same, except I did my damage at a carwash on the pull-through rail. That tire was knocked back in the fenderwell. The steering wheel was about 30 degrees off & the car would (hard to explain) steer itself as the front end traveled up & down on dips on the interstate & such. If I held the wheel straight, it would veer left & right with the suspension travel. If I let the wheel move in my hand, it would turn left & right with the suspension travel, but the car wouldn't veer, just the steering wheel. I replaced the front everything except for the rack & inner tie rods. I even replaced the strut-rods & bushings.
2 alignments later it was still F%cked. I even watched them adjust the caster the 2nd time. The wheel still looked pushed back:( We adjusted the strut-rods to the point where it looked correct in the fender but it was so far out of spec it seemed rediculous & drove worse. I sold it to my little brother at a discount:)
I would start with the tie rods. Mine looked good but they could have been bent. I even checked the K-member alignment holes, it was still in place, but it could have been bent @ the strut-rod mount(in retrospect). Most people thought I was crazy & told me it was fine & aligned perfectly, but I knew how it drove before, & it never drove the same afterwards. After 2 years I gave up on it. That's all i've got on the subject.
 
if he bent a tie rod it would never in a million years make the tire move backwards in the wheel well, his wheel is physically closer to the firewall now, no bent tie rod is gonna make that happen!!
 
My only thought on the Control Arm is... if you physically removed the strut rod from the vehicle, the wheel would move kind of freely in the wheel well forward and rearward. I am going to go to work early tomorrow and put it back on the lift and take a second look, i'll let you guys know what I figure out.
 
yeah but the strut rod runs front to back, so if you bent it, it would shorten the length of the rod, pulling the wheel forward, if you blew out the bushing in the front of the rod, i can see the arm moving backwards, but you would see if the bushing was smoked in the front, not the control arm side. i still put my money on a bent L.C.A
 
Jamie, you win the prize... LCA bent... Its extremely minimal to see with your eye, but if you put a straight edge on it you can tell the difference. Thanks guys for the input. I caught the parts manager this morning before he ordered the strut rod. I already needed lower ball joints so I'm not all that pissed off, however I was going to replace just the BJ w/ a moog, now I gotta do the whole arm.
 
its better to do the arm anyways.....the bushings wear out, where the strut mounts and also seen them wiped out at the subframe

I put Dorman LCA's on my mark....lifetime warranty $206CDN to my door from rockauto
 
Eh... the control arm and bushings are only about 3 yrs old... Jamie installed them.
 
Anyone know if a similar year t-bird will have the same LCA as a Mark? My parts guy says they are different parts numbers and there aren't any Marks at my local JY, but there is a crap ton of T-Birds.

Thanks!
 
You really want a salvage LCA? How bout some salvage brake pads too, I got tons of those

get a brand new one ffs!
 
I had planned on new ball joints anyway. A new motorcraft control arm is 131 bux. I dont put tokyo tuffy brand :q:q:q:q on my cars. If I get a JY control arm, as long as the inner bushing is good, the BJ is going to get replaced w/ a moog. 40 bux, vs. 131 bux. And obviously if the bushing on the jy car is toast, I obviously won't grab it.
 
time to pull control arm from JY + time to replace balljoint = your time must be worthless all i know, is im a licensed tech...and when i goto the JY to pull parts, i figure that my time has got to be worth atleast $50/hr so i always figure that into the cost of what it would be for new...but thats just me...some people dont feel there time is a valuable as i do

BTW Dorman is a leader in aftermarket OEM quality components...but moog and other well known brands can be had for similar cost but hey to each and there own
 
Or for $50 get a new fuggin LCA with new bushings AND new ball joint. Dont matter if its OEM, if its a 15+ year old part then its fuggin rubber bushing is shot!
 
Hmmm... not the question I asked, but oh well. And I am also a tech... see sig. I haven't made my decision yet, I was just trying to get info.
 
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