S13 bent tie-rod: opinions? [pics]

[slipnfall]

Hi folks, Well last night wasn't good to me... I'll spare everyone the details, what's done is done. I curbed my right-front wheel on my '92 240sx, and bent the tie-rod. There are pictures at:http://jamie.hackthebox.org/pics/curbd/

At first I thought I got off easy, untill I tried to drive. :-( It was dark and it wasn't untill today that I could look at it. Obvious major toe-out. Tire is rubbing the fender well, and pulls pretty nasty(duh, it's almost comically bent... though I wasn't laughing last night )

Anyways, I wanted to get some opinions on the rest of the components, particularly the control arm, ball joint, and T/C rod. Is it safe to say the tie rod took the brunt of the hit? The T/C rod looks fine, but I'm not sure about the LCA: no obvious kinks, bends, or otherwise stress indications. Would it be wise to replace it anyways while I'm in there?(what, another $50 or so?). Shock tower seems ok.

Thanks, Happy Hollidays everyone... I'll be away from the car for a few days, but I'll keep responses, well, responded to.

Jamie

[float_6969]

Not to be a dck, but that is pretty funny...

[McRussellPants]

I've been rockin out on a bent tie rod for a while now... but its only like 5 degrees. no where near that monstrosity.

[slipnfall]

haha, no it's cool, I laughed when I saw it too. I guess my only concern now is the steering rack: hope I didn't 'jam' it too hard...

[nismofly]

just look at it as an excuse to get spl

[float_6969]

or Tein...

[slipnfall]

True, breaking things is always good excuse/reason to upgrade. However, the way I see it, if that tie-rod was any stronger(ie SPL) and *hadn't* bent, I think I'd be looking at some more drastic repairs... I'm taking this incident as a sign not to be doing(read: attempting) any more drifting in this car: as you probably suspected was the cause of the curbing. It's my 'daily, and I've been told by many people it's too clean of a car to 'give up' to drifting.

Anyways, does the sway bar & end link look OK? I had a long-time drifter feel my control arm in the dark, and told me it's bent. It looks fine to me, is the picture good enough to tell if it's going to need replaced?

Thanks for the responses, and keeping my spirits up. It's a bit of bad timing more than anything: my parents are in town and I had hoped to take my Dad out for a spin, since he hasn't rode in it yet(he's a old, old-school Chevy guy)

[KFL]

odds are its bent they go kind of hand in hand tie rod/lca.Basically look at the passenger good side and check for symmetry.for all parts your unsure about.Can't tell from pics as it might just be slightly tweaked..I let a friend drive my old car 95 lost control and I had a tension rod have a very slight bend, swaybar endlink snapped,tie rod look like that,and my lca look like a taco.

[float_6969]

Ouch, did you get a new friend after that as well as new suspension?

[slipnfall]

Wow, I don't see how a strut tower could survive something like that... I mean, if the bottom of the assembly(essentially where the knuckle connects to the LCA) moves in-wards, the tower would *have* to give at the top...

I cringed hearing that... taco...

[continental_drift]

I'm not gonna play search nazi on this one, I'm just gonna repost whatI posted in someone elses similar thread. I am an expert at bending suspension components. in fact, if I do say so myself, I've never met anyone better. that having been said, if the hit was 30mph or less youwill most likely ONLY have to replace the tie rod inner and outer, it is possible that there is more damage but I've bent a tie rod WAY worsethan yours is bent. now THAT was comical. the only surefire way to find acouple mm of variance in a control arm is find a point towards the front of the frame which is congruent on both sides, then measure from that pointon the "good" side to a determined point on the control arm, then do thesame thing on the "bad" side, measuring to the same point on that sides LCA. unless the control arm is bent, I would not replace it but replace ball jointson both sides. should work out fine...believe me, I've come back from a LOTworse... I'm assuming you had good angle when you hit that curb, otherwisethe damage to other components would be more evident. the tie rod cantake quite a hit and absorbs most of the impact (along with the tire).since you didn't mention your tire popping I'm gonna assume that it wasunder 30mph also.make sure they adjust caster when you get it aligned otherwise the hub assembly will still sit too far back in the wheel well (towards the door). good luck

[slipnfall]

Good information there, thanks. I was considering buying new LCA's w/balljoints installed from PDM-racing because I need new balljoints anyways. Are the balljoints a PITA to install? I assumed they had to be pressed in/out(hydaulic) because they are a taper-fit.

[naed240sx]

Wow you really fubared that thing. I bent mine recently, but you couldn't even tell it was bent by looking at it. It was only when I tried to adjust it that I noticed. I was going to get spl, but opted to keep my ends, and buy an autozone tie rod. 20 bucks, warranteed for life against bending/breakage, and beefier than stock. Can't beat that.

[McRussellPants]

Thats how my passenger side is...

I think I'm just gonna let it ride until I can get a chance to get SPLs.

[slipnfall]

Was that $20 for the inner or outer rod naed? Not bad... yeah I don't see the point in upgrading the tie rods...for me personally that is. I don't need 90*(exagerated, I know!) of steering angle.

:edit: I see you said you kept the tie rod ends, so it was the inner rods that you got at AutoZone...gotcha... I'm seriously considering keeping my tie rod ends, I *just* replaced them with OEM units, and they weren't too cheap... :edit:

[naed240sx]

Was that $20 for the inner or outer rod naed? Not bad... yeah I don't see the point in upgrading the tie rods...for me personally that is. I don't need 90*(exagerated, I know!) of steering angle.

:edit: I see you said you kept the tie rod ends, so it was the inner rods that you got at AutoZone...gotcha... I'm seriously considering keeping my tie rod ends, I *just* replaced them with OEM units, and they weren't too cheap... :edit:

Yeah 20 for one of the inner rods(maybe cheaper, can't quite remember). I had recently bought autozone outers because my old ones were going to crap, so i really didnt want to buy spl and end up throwing them away (spl rods must use spl ends). If I had of used the spl rods, I wouldn't have even used the steering angle spacers, because I don't wanna deal with bad bumpsteer on the streets.

[nterrigno]

Heh. I did a search for Bent tie rod and came up to this. I just basically did what you did with my 05 350Z and it came out exactly like yours. Except Autozone dont have a tie rod. I had to have my body guy get one from Nissan. Its sittin in the shop now. I attempted a drift and also hit a damn curb. Bent the right front wheeel inwards and the damn steering wheel was like completely to the side when I tried to drive it. Worst feeling EVER! Ill know that when I attempt that again, Ill do it in an open lot lol

Nick