suspension problems please help (jdm pic)

[mrjeffr0]

so basically i understeered into a curb last night in my s14 and afterwhich the wheel is not centered, it is now closer to the back of the wheel well. i took the wheel off to see what was bent or broken but i cant obviously see anything. please help.

[IMG][/IMG]

so i finally took some pics of the damage...i believe its my lca correct? where can i get a replacement?

[njd07]

Clyde, jack up the front of the car and look for any bent suspension. Could possibly be a lower control arm, tension rod, tie rod or worst case the frame seperated at the rad support(happened to a buddys rotten rusted 240). ive bent almost all these parts at one time or another...suspension has the be the easiest part of the car. all u need is a good pry bar and a few wrenches( or ratchet/sockets if you ballin) remove and replace the bent component. you may need an alignment if its the tierod.

[drifting.8]

well i know about understeering.... trust me haha i did something of that nature to my 240 lucky it was only a lower control arm its kinda hard to tell if its bent until u get under and take a closer look... jack the car up yo

[iROYAL]

so your saying you now have negative caster on only 1 wheel?

[mrjeffr0]

yea thats exactly what im saying, ill jack up the car tomorow and take pictures of everything.

[mrjeffr0]

bump. now with more pictures. where can i get a cheap lca?

[stinky_180]

pdm-racing.com

[DP_Michelle G]

frsport sells them cheap aswell

[ManoNegra]

Originally Posted by mrjeffr0

bump. now with more pictures. where can i get a cheap lca?

Junkyard
WTB forum
Make sure to get an alignment after aswell.

[kikit-sideways]

yeah i know your pain, ran into the curb as well, definetly check the frame at the radiator support, make sure the frames are not bent, i had to take mine to get the frame striaghtened out, had to weld radiator support back to frame, also check the lower arm and bushings, good luck

[gotta240]

i have a pair of s14 lcas for 120..... or 80 each.... You NEED them!

[azndoc]

When street drifting goes wrong.

Understeer into the curb.

[Gumballf355]

A lower control arm and a tension rod is just the start... you'll probably need some more things aswell.

[water]

Your strut could be bent too. Seen it happen from a curb crash.

[S14DB]

Jack up car.
Take off wheel.
Take pics.

[Neejay]

Originally Posted by S14DB

Jack up car.
Take off wheel.
Take pics.

+1

..............

[Dream240]

HAHAHA!!!! I did this exact same thing once! Fucking sucked to fix. Not laughing at you just the circumstances.

You will most definitely need:

Front Right LCA
Right Inner tie rod
Right Outer tie rod
Front Right Strut mount (upper)
New alignment after new parts are on.

Tension rod should be fine, along with the strut and hub. Good luck getting that LCA out though, the crunched portion conventiently blocks the tension rod bolts - MAJOR PITA.

You should just get an OEM replacement, it'll come with a new LCA bushing and ball joint. They run about 250.00 from most dealers.

Try Pinnacle Nissan's website, they have great prices.

GL and STOP STREET RACING DAMMIT!!!! Curbs always win!!!

[LongGrain]

Originally Posted by iROYAL

so your saying you now have negative caster on only 1 wheel?

caster wont uncenter your wheel in your wheel well, its clearly shown in that picture. even if your caster is changed your wheel doesnt move.

[DaPCWiz]

wow... I actually foolishly did the same thing last week - ended up having no suspension damage, but my caster got knocked from +7* to +5*. A quick alignment fixed that up.

Unfortunately I also bent my steering rack. I have aftermarket wheels, upgraded tie rods, adjustable tension rods, and coilovers. The car is dropped so, the tie rod ended up pushing down at the rack and bending it down. The result was the car pulling to the side that had less negative caster, and very stiff steering since the rack was rubbing its housing. My steering wheel also stopped auto centering.


^^ busted rack

I ended up picking up a another rack from the junk yard and had the car all fixed up and back on the road the next day.

Just to keep in mind... once you replace your LCA + get alignment, if you steering is still acting funny - look into the rack.

[Dream240]

Originally Posted by LongGrain

caster wont uncenter your wheel in your wheel well, its clearly shown in that picture. even if your caster is changed your wheel doesnt move.

WRONG, well sort of.

Caster gets thrown out of whack when the front suspension/steering components get bent thus throwing the wheel back into the wheel well.

Simply put this causes the wheel to be positioned BEHIND the strut due to the bent parts, thus causing one wheel to be "behind" the other and leading to a caster/pull problem.

I guarantee you your caster is at about -5 to -7 on the right wheel. Most passenger cars are designed to have about 1-2 degrees higher positive caster on the right so as to offset "road crown".

I'm sure he has a horrible pull to the right.

Here's the alignment specs for an S14

[Chrischeezer]

check your front tention rod, i bet its broken... also take a pic of the front sub frame where it connects to the LCA
LOVin the illustration!!! lol

[Dream240]

Originally Posted by Chrischeezer

check your front tention rod, i bet its broken... also take a pic of the front sub frame where it connects to the LCA
LOVin the illustration!!! lol

It's actually pretty hard to break them. You will snap the LCA before the Tension rod.

And I forgot to mention, even after you do all this work, you might still be off at camber. If you are....you need a new front subframe.....ouch. That's what happened to me. I was off at caster by about 1.5 degrees and swapped out the subframe....bam fixed.

GL

[gprb25]

Dream 240 gave you good advice. Listen to him. Also, if you're on a budget...you can find a nice used LCA on Ebay. Good luck with those tension rod bolts!

[mrjeffr0]

is its supposed to be bent like this?

[S14DB]

no .

[garagelu]

well its not supposed to look like that but I dont know if that picture was taken before or after you replaced the damaged components. The tie rod looks crooked because your castor is off. It doesnt look bent though. So after you replace the other damaged parts see if the tie rod still sits like that. One option is to get an adjustable tension rod to get your castor back in spec. But you may end up having to replace the rack.

[B Love]

If something else like your lca is bent then it will cause the spindle to sit differently and that will cause the rack to sit in a different postion. So check everything else before you spend money on a new rack. Your lca is probably bent maybe tension rod. Ive hit alot of curbs and bent the lca almost everytime.

[DaPCWiz]

I just replaced the rack because I hit a curb as well (as posted before) but its really not that bad a procedure. I picked up a used '97 rack from a local junk yard...

[S14DB]

I just noticed that you added pics at a later time. The LCA is gone and prolly the TC rod too. Take pics of the TC rod and the TC rod bracket.

Get a shot like this please: