Broken/dislogded suspension part

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It was raining rather heavily on my way home from work, and in the process of doing a good deed ran through a pudddle that turned out to be a severe pot hole, and have either broken, or dislodged the passenger side suspension.

I know zilch about it, and just want a general idea of what needs to be repaired/replaced when I go to the shop.

Any ideas? Photo 1 shows the now floating anchor point. Photo 2 shows the drivers side, unaffected.



 
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Wow. Looks like the upper strut mount took it on the chin. It's tough to tell from the picture, but it might have bent the metal where it mounts, so for sure a more involved fix. I'd look around under the car as well, if the metal up top is that bent, you might have other "customized" parts below.
 
I had a busted one on my Liberty that made a terrible noise. Not sure how it broke (possible off road or from old age) but that was the only damage. Get an OEM one, the aftermarket ones from the research I did are hit and miss.
 
The diver side and passenger side look identical behind the tire when I removed them to compare. There is a flexible rubber fluted boot that seems to be crammed up on the passenger side and no longer extended down below the spring. I gave it the ole college try to see if I could remount it myself, but I lack the tools and basic knowledge.

I figure I'll have to replace the entire strut, but figure that it couldn't hurt to have some more eyes on it.
 
Hoosier, I didn't notice it initially. When I turned in my apartment, I hit the little pothole that lives there and noticed it was a little louder than the drivers side. If I had the radio on, I might not of heard it at all. The hood hasn't been bent either, but there is a clear impact scratch on it.
 
Something's bent upwards down below and that has pushed the strut rod and the rubber pieces up as well. The strut may be OK but you better look for bent control arms and such.
 
That mount is toast, no fixing that.

Take it in for alignment check somewhere, most places do that for free and they'll tell you if anything is bent.
 
Originally Posted By: HoosierJeeper
That mount is toast, no fixing that.

Take it in for alignment check somewhere, most places do that for free and they'll tell you if anything is bent.


+1000, great advice
smile.gif
 
When you get it fixed, take a picture of the pot hole (with a dollar laying next to it to establish scale) and send a claim into the city with a copy of the repair bill. Seriously.
 
if it was on a state highway you can send it to them as well. here in AZ if something breaks from a road condition, on a state road ADOT will pay to fix your car.
 
Originally Posted By: car51
Originally Posted By: HoosierJeeper
That mount is toast, no fixing that.

Take it in for alignment check somewhere, most places do that for free and they'll tell you if anything is bent.


+1000, great advice
smile.gif



I agree, but you will now need to do both sides. Especially if you have more that 60k on them. If you could collect from your state or local gov, i'd look into that.

Looks like the shock was not doing any dampning anyway, the spring compressed and the full force of the pothole went into that mount bending it or ramming the strut rod through the mount. The metal cap is sitting above the rubber of the mount !

Can you do this your self? How much repair have you done, do you have the tools to do this?
 
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Originally Posted By: HoosierJeeper
That mount is toast, no fixing that.

Take it in for alignment check somewhere, most places do that for free and they'll tell you if anything is bent.


Thank you! I wouldn't have thought of that, and much like it to wandering in like a deer in the headlights.
 
Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
When you get it fixed, take a picture of the pot hole (with a dollar laying next to it to establish scale) and send a claim into the city with a copy of the repair bill. Seriously.


Oh?! I'll have to stop on my way home tomorrow and get pictures. It was on a city here in Melbourne, and I'm sure it's a city road, or at worst maintained by the County.
 
Originally Posted By: spasm3
Originally Posted By: car51
Originally Posted By: HoosierJeeper
That mount is toast, no fixing that.

Take it in for alignment check somewhere, most places do that for free and they'll tell you if anything is bent.


+1000, great advice
smile.gif



I agree, but you will now need to do both sides. Especially if you have more that 60k on them. If you could collect from your state or local gov, i'd look into that.

Looks like the shock was not doing any dampning anyway, the spring compressed and the full force of the pothole went into that mount bending it or ramming the strut rod through the mount. The metal cap is sitting above the rubber of the mount !

Can you do this your self? How much repair have you done, do you have the tools to do this?


I had guessed that if it wasn't repairable, I would have to at least do both sides. They're 13 years old, and currently at 150k miles, so far as I know. I couldn't locate any records they've been replaced.

I could easily watch a vide on youtube, and monkey my way through. Short of rebuilding an engine or transmission, I've certainly got the basics to take something off and re-attach it.

But I lack a garage, and it's in my lease not to work on my car in our lot. The maintenance guys look the other way for most minor things (oil, belts, brakes, batteries, alternators and such that's quick) because I do my best to do my own apartment maintenance if they supply the parts. Recently, I've gotten a rather new neighbor who's openly pretty hostile to me, I'm guessing from the rainbow on my car. If he reported me, the management company would terminate my lease.

Additionally, I lack sockets large enough, and don't have a torque wrench or breaker bar. Nothing of great I do have an old friend that owns a transmission shop, and I'll run it by him to see if I supply parts (AcDelco are far cheaper online than from the dealer), he'll just bill me labor. He occasionally offered me bay space in his shop, but that was 10 years ago before he had more work then mechanics.

I will definitely retain the bills and take them down to City Hall with photos and hope they don't laugh me back into the parking lot.
 
An alternate fix is to just get a junkyard strut.

You get five parts... the strut, spring, overload cushion, dust shield (bellows) and top mount/ bearing.

You toasted the top mount and probably have a bad overload cushion as well. They are made of dense foam rubber, decay, and fall out unnoticed.

Your tranny shop buddy can zip this in with impact tools in literally five minutes. You need about a 14mm for the three top nuts and about a 22mm for the two huge bottom bolts. You can also have a "craigslist mechanic" (crackhead) do this. You can do your own car work in an alley in an industrial park on sunday morning, just look like you belong.
 
Originally Posted By: eljefino
An alternate fix is to just get a junkyard strut.

You get five parts... the strut, spring, overload cushion, dust shield (bellows) and top mount/ bearing.

You toasted the top mount and probably have a bad overload cushion as well. They are made of dense foam rubber, decay, and fall out unnoticed.

Your tranny shop buddy can zip this in with impact tools in literally five minutes. You need about a 14mm for the three top nuts and about a 22mm for the two huge bottom bolts. You can also have a "craigslist mechanic" (crackhead) do this. You can do your own car work in an alley in an industrial park on sunday morning, just look like you belong.


Ya know, thats a good option if you don't plan on keeping the car long.
 
Originally Posted By: RichardS
Oh?! I'll have to stop on my way home tomorrow and get pictures. It was on a city here in Melbourne, and I'm sure it's a city road, or at worst maintained by the County.


My Dad was walking down a city sidewalk when he tripped and fell over a raised section of concrete that subsequently tore a hole in one of the knees of his Hagar slacks. He put a claim into the city and they paid it!
 
Originally Posted By: spasm3
Originally Posted By: eljefino
An alternate fix is to just get a junkyard strut.

You get five parts... the strut, spring, overload cushion, dust shield (bellows) and top mount/ bearing.

You toasted the top mount and probably have a bad overload cushion as well. They are made of dense foam rubber, decay, and fall out unnoticed.

Your tranny shop buddy can zip this in with impact tools in literally five minutes. You need about a 14mm for the three top nuts and about a 22mm for the two huge bottom bolts. You can also have a "craigslist mechanic" (crackhead) do this. You can do your own car work in an alley in an industrial park on sunday morning, just look like you belong.


Ya know, thats a good option if you don't plan on keeping the car long.


I'd like to see it clear 315k miles to outdo one of the church ladies record of 310k in her Oldsmobile, so buying new bits doesn't hurt my feelings. And I've wasted 2-3 hundred dollars on a lot worse.

I've fallen pretty far in love with this car in the past few months, it's earned the new bits
 
Just a casual update.

After a few horrendous repair quotes to replace the front struts, I decided to take the advice of doing the work in a parking lot. I figured that if things had to be taken off and apart, I'd just replace entire strut replaced instead of the strut mount that busted.

Just shy of $300 in parts and tools. 2.5 hours in all, and most of the learning mistakes made on the first one.

Thank you again for the tips! She floats like a dream.

Now to go toe-to-toe with The City for a reimbursement.
 
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