slid on the Ice and bit the curb, steering components Options

[VavAlephVav]

So we had some super slick ice the other morning, I was zippin down the interstate at 80mph , like I normally do, then I got up to a point where they had both dirrections of the highway closed. At that point I decided I was gonna call the boss and tell him I'm turning around and going home.
then I got off the highway and took a shortcut through the parking lot of the abandoned supermarket, and I suddenly realized they had not treated this parking lot and I was only doing about 10 mph when I suddenly slid sideways into the curb. the front rim took most of the hit pretty much square on from the drivers side.
Its been too cold to take the wheel off and get a good look at it, but now my steering wheel is a bit more crooked than it was, and it makes some noise when driving like the CV joint.

So what are the main components you think would have taken the most damage? Iv put it on a jack and jiggled the wheel so I don't think the wheel bearing is bad. if I rotate the wheel by hand with it in neutral it feels just like the other side, but if I spin the wheel while its in gear I feel a little clunk, clunk on that side. but the CV may have been bad in the first place, now realy bad.
But do you think It may have bent one of the tie-rodds? hopefully not something in the racknpinion

[The_enD]

Hit my car today too, my rim is pretty much shot.
Car runs normally tho, which is nice.

[Lil-Joe101]

Based off the information you stated, it sounds like your alignment is definitely thrown off which if not fixed can cause further damage to your wheel bearings by warping them as well as extreme tread wear. Definitely try to get under there and really check for any damages that may have been caused. It's never best just to assume it's OK just because it sounds normal or you just happened to glance rather than doing a really detailed inspection. Just my ten cents worth.

[VavAlephVav]

Looks like the wheel bearing is OK , I think the ball joint and strut took most of the force. and the seal of the tie-rod outer is popped.
and I needed to replace the CV axle on that side and the struts anyway, and I'll get the swaybar links too.

[Lil-Joe101]

That and an alignment and I think you'll be alright man. Again never hurts to double and triple check one last time before you go spending your hard earned money, you know what I mean. Good luck man and keep us updated oh and stay warm lol.

[ILoveMySilly97]

I'm glad I don't get severe winter conditions. If I did. I would get a 4x4 truck or an AWD car. Most likely a subie. Lol.

[czwalga]

Most likely a tie rod.


I did hit something, it screwed up my toe.


Check those.....


They make your wheel do this....

[VavAlephVav]

I was too lazy to take a picture for ya, but I can see some deformation in the strut mount on the top, and the seal of the outer tie-rod is busted (but not all taco'd like czwalga!)
I can't be sure that the ball joint is actually tweaked but for $34 I was gonna replace it anyway.

which brings me to the next question, Where do you guys get your struts from ?
Rock auto has KYB assembly's for the rear , but the front only shows the cartridge. I'd like to get the rebuild-able KYB assembly's for the front so that in the future all I should have to do is
replace the cartridge. but If I have to replace the struts anyway I figure I'd like to get the ones comparable to what came with the GT-S package.
So where do you find them online?

Ya , I used to drive my 1994 AWD Grand Cherokee with the 5.2l, but I really only needed it a week or two out of the year.
now I've gone from 13mpg to at least 28mpg, so I can spend the extra money buying parts

[VavAlephVav]

So I got to take the front end apart and fix it last night
Special thanks to my friend who has a garage and a lot of nifty tools including his own press

Unfortunately I wasn't able to the whole job including the struts : /
but I can wait for another month or so
In the mean time I had the CV axle, outer tie-rod, and ball-joint, once we got it apart we saw for sure it was indeed a wasted wheel bearing
and the ball joint was pretty weak too




I'd say this one is toast


damnit the inner race separated from the rest of the bearing and stayed on the spindle, now how are we gonna get that off?



then he whips out his dremel tool with a little bitty cutting wheel and zips right through it

technically the surface of the spindle and the knuckle were worn just a bit, we measured 0.064 off in a few spots
maybe a professional would insist on replacing them but I didn't think it was bad enough, and wasn't about to scrounge the U-pick-it lot when it just snowed and -30* wind chils
so we just put it back together and its just fine

we pressed the bearing out/in ourselves instead of taking it to a shop( it was Sunday), my friend wanted an excuse to use his press,
but really he ended up using his ball joint press kit instead,
very similar to this one but bigger with a whole bunch of different sizes

http://www.harborfreight.com/ball-joint-se...icles-4065.html

now that I have it back together it sounds and feels much better, still a bit squirrely 'till I get it aligned
but now I can here another little noise and I think it's the rear wheel bearing on that side, I smacked it into the curb at the same time I'm gonna assume I need to change it too.

[Langing]

In your Jan 5 description of the work you and your friend did to the front wheel of your Celica, the first picture shows the steering knuckle. Would you do me a favor and ask your friend how I might bend those two 'ears' that are part of the knuckle. I've been renovating all the brake parts of my 94 Celica and ran into a problem where the caliper mounting bracket is bolted to the right side knuckle, namely those two ears. They are slightly bent outward and I want to take a sledge hammer and bang them back into alignment.

But I thought, isn't the knuckle a cast iron part? And isn't cast iron a rather fragile type of metal? If I took a sledge to those ears might I not break them off?

I am looking for a way to "adjust" these ears just a bit (about 2 and 3 32nds of an inch further away from the rotor) so the caliper mounting bracket will stop scratching the metal of the rotor. The left side ears are both 21/32 of an inch from the rotor, whereas the lower right side is 18/32 of an inch, and that difference is huge when it comes to aligning the mounting bracket over the rotor. TX

[VavAlephVav]

Off the top of my head I might suggest heating the metal and then bending it just a bit. but that's not a professional response, I'm not sure my friend will have much of a better solution than that.
maybe you should find another one at a salvage yard?

[Langing]

Off the top of my head I might suggest heating the metal and then bending it just a bit. but that's not a professional response, I'm not sure my friend will have much of a better solution than that.
maybe you should find another one at a salvage yard?

TX. . . I am getting close to that point. Just not looking forward to R&R -- it's so much work : )