91 Loyal wagon. So over time the big metal rod that keeps the suspension from moving back and forward worked its way loose or rather two of the three bolds holding to the body ripped out. There is a cheap metal plate that the foremost bold goes into. That plate came off so I tried to weld it the best I could. As for the other two bolts, they had both ripped out completely from the body. I ended up drilling holes in the floor of my car and just bolted strait through to the inside of the car. I know this happened to Tex as well. I was wondering if this has happened to anybody else and how they fixed it. I can still hear the thing slipping back and forth when I brake or accelerate. Any other Ideas would be great.

 

Thanks,

Brian

i havent had this happen but i can tell you its called a strut rod. not a tie rod thingy.

Good Luck. Mine is through bolted, and welded. I can hear and feel it move both on the street, and offroad.

 

Sadness :-\

What about welding a new steel plate on the bottom of the car, then through bolting it? if it was a large enough plate (say a foot by two feet?), you should be able to get enough area to keep it from moving. I've seen similar stuff done on old scouts from the east coast, where the entire bottom of the body rusted off, and was replaced by sections of diamond plate.

Seems to me if you already have drilled through your body and bolted it.

The only other thing you could do is put a bolt plate inside the car and secure the bolts to the plate.

It should stop any movement at that point.

it's in the process of happening to mine I'm not sure what I'm gonna do, I have very limited tool access before I have to drive to myparents house for Xmas....

That location takes a pounding offroad. Lift blocks tend to rip the captured nuts right out of the unibody. Tex made a through boult setup that helped. I just braced the snots out of my lift blocks. If your car isn't lifted, I'd say that you should make a chalk outline of the plate on the car, wire wheel the outline, clean up the plate and weld it in place. All the way round. Then put in through bolts and paint it. You have to unbolt the strut rod from the lower controll arm to install it now, but it's not that big of a deal.

Wow, this is a pretty interesting problem. I'm guessing the one-piece units will be a little more resistant to this problem? The torsional load will be lessened by the three pieces being tied together, right?

Yeah, the lift blocks tend to topple when you put too much stress on it. Which happens when you say, hit a stump with the wheel. I linked the forward one and the inner one together with a 3/8" piece of steel and remade the blocks out of steel. I made an ear out of 1/16 steel that I welded to the plate to hold the rear outer one aligned. It seems to have worked. I think Scotinbellingham is making a cast 1 piece for the whole area.

Yeah, the lift blocks tend to topple when you put too much stress on it. Which happens when you say, hit a stump with the wheel. I linked the forward one and the inner one together with a 3/8" piece of steel and remade the blocks out of steel. I made an ear out of 1/16 steel that I welded to the plate to hold the rear outer one aligned. It seems to have worked. I think Scotinbellingham is making a cast 1 piece for the whole area.

 

Do you have the three individual blocks? or the three blocks tied together?

 

I've been running the individual blocks since I put in the lift (AA sent me the other ones, but I just haven't had time), and now it's falling apart...

 

I think SJR's making a hole new Radius Rod that doesn't need a block....but don't quote me there...

Wow thanks everyone. I definatly have some ideas now.

Numbchuxit's in the process of happening to mine I'm not sure what I'm gonna do, I have very limited tool access before I have to drive to myparents house for Xmas....

ya I drove mine broke for while before I figureds out what it was. Then I drove it 5 hours from eastern washington back to my house on the west side. That was with one bolt. It was scary.

 

Ya I have the three lift blocks. I might just make some connectors to connect them all together. And I think Ill put a plate on the inside and bottom. haha that suckers in for it.

 

Thanks everyone for the ideas and input. Its very much appreciated.

brian

Ya I have the three lift blocks. I might just make some connectors to connect them all together. And I think Ill put a plate on the inside and bottom. haha that suckers in for it.

 

wow....I didn't realize the BYB kit didn't....definately do it!

heh, I've had no problems with mine. They probably should have been ripped out long ago, but they seem pretty damn strong.

Wow, I didnt ever think that could fail like that. I bent my driver side strut rod, but did eventually replace it. Maybe I should be checking the mount for it now.

 

 

Alex

What years of cars has this happened on? Mine is an 86 and it seems to be stronger than the loyale years. my buddies 92 bent and ripped all that crap out, just hittin a curb at 15 mph....

 

I'm thinking it may be a year based problem

I baja'd my '92 loyale up a 6-foot embankment at ~30mph when I was 17, destroyed the control arm, and leading rod.....mounts were solid as could be. one of the mounts quite literally disappeared from rust on my '85, but was still solid. Now the welds (note the welds, the nuts are pulling off the sheet metal, not the metal itself) are breaking....

 

I think the lift design, and use depends on how/what will break. I slammed into a frozen mudhole a couple weeks ago with the front wheels turned and bent things up rather severely, and with the 3 individual blocks, it put some nasty torque on things that shouldn't get it....

 

and here's a couple pics of the bracket on morgan's old '88...

http://www.mnchopshop.org/images/usmb/bad_rust_02.jpg

http://www.mnchopshop.org/images/usmb/bad_rust_03.jpg