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I'm back! And I think I've broken my front end... (89 Z24, Aussie)


taylorhayis
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Sooo over the Christmas break I took a track. The most insane track I've ever done!!! Had to do it all in low range 1st, 15 PSI in 32" mud tires, and I barely made it! The truck I was out with was on two wheels for alot of the track. Heavy stuff!!

 

Although I made it, at the end coming up very steep hill, I came across a ledge in the hill! 1m high and a big rock outcropping. So I went right over it! Amazing. But I really stuffed up the front end.

 

If I jack up the front passenger side, I have 50mm of wobble. Tie rod ends? Pitman arm? Ball joints?

I also noticed a bit of a tear in the "c-arm holder thing" (a big shaft comes from the C arm lower and attaches to the chasis. I'm planning on just welding a plate over it and drilling a new hole.

 

I made it home, with some serious squealing coming from that tyre, and stopping a few times to adjust it and stop it from making noise... and I have been driving it since. But I need to get it fixed, it's scary to drive as the steering kinda has a mind of its own now.

 

What do you guys reckon I'm up for?

 

Pics!

 

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Bonus pics!!

 

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Just after breaking the front end...

 

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custom Jerry can holder with some old vice grips to lock it in place. Works a treat!

 

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snapped a torsion bar... crappy

 

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made a radio from a FM reciever, amp, and bluetooth module from Ebay and a 3pos rotary switch. Works amazing!! Aux in, BT and FM. Just some scrap sheet metal tigged together, and boom - coolest head unit around.

 

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This is what happens when your clutch slave goes out in the bush when you're alone. And you have to get back to the road with no clutch... (I later learned to put it in gear with the car off, then start it to roll start yourself in low range! Brilliant! Wish I'd have thought of that. Instead I turned the idle down on the carb so it barely idled, and then in low range just SHOVED it into gear as it was about to stall and then slammed on the gas.

It got me home! And then to the mechanic! Who laughed at me...

 

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The first thing I'd check is the strut rod (also called compression rod or tension rod) that connects the back of the lower A-arm to the frame. It should have two bushings sandwiching a frame bracket (what I think you're calling the C-arm holder thing) in between. The bushings wear, the cups that hold them in place fail, the rod wears through, and you end up with hellacious steering play thanks to the fact that the LCA is only attached at the front anymore. I can see clean metal and what might even be daylight through yours... that's where I'd start. It'll probably need new cups welded up (most people use bearing races) and with that much play, I would bet on the rods themselves being shot as well. The holes in the brackets may be hogged out as well.

 

That tranny looks expensive. Funny that the little teeth for the engagement sleeve are fine, but the gear itself is completely ground out... and the gear it would've meshed with looks fine too. Just shock loading I guess.

 

I like that head unit! It's kind of a pain to find a commercial one that doesn't look like something out of Tron and beep for no good reason.

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Strut rod... That sounds much more legit. I read a writeup on here a while ago about those rods wearing very thin, and now that I've ripped the cup, I'll have to pull that apart and weld up a new one / add material back to the rod. Should be a snap!

 

You reckon that could be largely responsible for the wobble? My mechanic was thinking tie rod ends, and arms and stuff - which all sounds expensive. Maybe I should try the strut rod first?

 

Yea new tranny was from a diesel pathfinder, but fit alright. Spent more on that and a clutch (within a week of eachother! Clutch went, then a week later tranny went...) than the truck is worth!

 

The tranny was fine for a day of 4by'ing, but on the way home, cruising on the highway it just all at once gave up. Such a funny place to do it...

 

Glad you like the headunit! I plan on making and selling them at some point, why does nobody make cool ones?!

 

Thanks for the suggestions!

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Take a good look at the whole front end while you're under there, given the truck's age and usage, but my money's still on the strut rods. I've read about a few people having similar issues when theirs went out.

 

Huh... sounds like the failed clutch probably didn't have much to do with the trans failure. I found a similar failure in a tablesaw recently, the pinion was completely stripped and the spur gear it meshed with looked new. All I could figure was that one was made of harder steel than the other, or maybe the larger gear had more teeth to spread the wear over. Sucks it went out right after a clutch job!

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Everything in the front end us usually trash after years of wheeling and abuse. Centerlink, tie rod ends, idler arm, tension rods, ball joints... I see the tie rod end jam nut is completely loose, that's not okay at all. Did you do that trying to make it go down the road straight again? If not that means it was already loose and the twisting the center link does when turning has backed the adjuster off.

 

Blowing out tension rod bushings will definitely make the truck track like crap and wobble over bumps.

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Everything in the front end us usually trash after years of wheeling and abuse. Centerlink, tie rod ends, idler arm, tension rods, ball joints... I see the tie rod end jam nut is completely loose, that's not okay at all. Did you do that trying to make it go down the road straight again? If not that means it was already loose and the twisting the center link does when turning has backed the adjuster off.

 

Blowing out tension rod bushings will definitely make the truck track like crap and wobble over bumps.

Cheers for that, the loose but was absolutely me, putting it way out of alignment, but getting rid of some of the wobble. Poor muddies are paying the price...

Tension rod bushings... Sounds probable. I am unfortunately quite unfamiliar with front ends, guess I better learn.

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Take a good look at the whole front end while you're under there, given the truck's age and usage, but my money's still on the strut rods. I've read about a few people having similar issues when theirs went out.

 

Huh... sounds like the failed clutch probably didn't have much to do with the trans failure. I found a similar failure in a tablesaw recently, the pinion was completely stripped and the spur gear it meshed with looked new. All I could figure was that one was made of harder steel than the other, or maybe the larger gear had more teeth to spread the wear over. Sucks it went out right after a clutch job!

Yea my mechanic mentioned that the gearbox was failing, and the teeth were probably cracked already. But the absolutely crap clutch (which had heaps of slip) didn't apply full power to the box. So after a brand new clutch, the moment I took it off road, all that torque that before was gettin lost in the clutch went right into the box. Made sense to me!

They were so sad to see me back so soon :( hadn't even paid them for the clutch yet.

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