pictures are coming as soon as i can walk back to the car with a camera.

 

long story short there was this steep rutted pothole filled, snow covered gravel road that i tried to drive up. i went up, got stuck. then rocked it and did a little digging till i got it out on my own. being me i thought ill have one more go at this and i went up and avoided where i got stuck the first time only to get stuck somewhere else. i rocked it and i was almost out and then kinda felt the car catch on something. i got out to see what i was stuck on only to find that my front right wheel isnt attached to the suspension!!! thats right, the wheel is not attached to the car! - not just a broken tie rod or anything, actually ripped right off the car. not having owned this sube more than 2 weeks i really have no idea exactly what i broke but ill call a tow truck and then start calling junk yards for parts...

 

its an 81 wagon just in case anyone was wondering

Wow. yeah. We need pics

Last night after a good session of snow mobbin my buddy's 75' f-100 (lifted about 9 inches) roder u-joint broke, whole wheel assemb crumpled under it, the 35 inch tire was laying down.

PICTURES!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I Agree...

I Like your Third eyed Subaru! ... Looks Nice & Clean.

I Hope it will be an Easy Fix...

Good Luck!

yeah the old school 3 light ones rock - the grill was mashed up a bit and the motor that is supposed to lift the light cover didnt work so i took that off... looks like i got me a new project now

+2....having had this happen on my '85.....ball joint failure, which hyperextended the inner axle joint. the axle might be rebuildable (although yours pulled apart more than mine did).

its going to be a lot of work to fix. once i find a tow truck to come get it in the snow, i have to figure out how to get it off the truck and into my garage to work on it. then i have to find junk yards with parts ... wouldnt be a big deal except that its snowy and i cant really ride my 160mph street bike in the snow ...

good luck thats pretty bad. Try to source a junkyard to get same ERA entire shock with mount, all the way down to the lower suspension arm, hub,brake, ball joint, axle, etc all in one big hunk. Get yours up on jackstands. Unbolt the shock, , remove the lower suspension arm, clamp off the brake line. Put used parts back on and see if it will drive out. that is a lot of work, but may get you back if you can get those parts as a unit. your tie rods may be hosed too, but worth a shot. someone here may have the parts.

That does look quite fixable if the top hats are ok. It does look like the jy is going to be your next best friend. In the picture I don't see were a ball joint is, its just this flat piece of metal, missing the hole for it. If the knuckle is fine and the rubber boot kept the strut from getting damaged and miracles come to save you, did I forget steering and brakes?, (its still attached) the empi booties are like ten to fit'een bucks, for the axles, and balljoints 25 new at napa. I read a post were he was talking axles apart at the pull a part so as to check for wear and getting like three of four sets worth for like 20 a piece. That and an alignment and your on! price point. Oh, GD's write up rocks, come to think of it!

 

http://home.comcast.net/~trilinear/axle_rebuilding.html

 

I'm so hoping that doesn't happen to me right now, I'm beginning to have my own issues on the same topic.

its going to be a lot of work to fix. once i find a tow truck to come get it in the snow, i have to figure out how to get it off the truck and into my garage to work on it. then i have to find junk yards with parts ... wouldnt be a big deal except that its snowy and i cant really ride my 160mph street bike in the snow ...

 

it's going to be easy to fix. seriously. but it is going to be extremely difficult to move (it won't roll, and it won't track right being towed from the front 2 wheels...).

 

it depends on what came apart in the axle joint, as the end of the shaft is not visible in the pics. if the snapring broke/popped off the end of the shaft, and the races, retainer, and balls are all in the boot, no problems. if the circlip popped out of the cup (what happened to my '85), then you'll need to make a substantial effort to find these parts.

 

as for fixing it. you'll need a ball joint (might be a good idea to replace the other....) for sure. and either a CV boot kit (get the kit with clamps, grease, circlip and snapring) or an axle. the ball joint and boot are easy, just stop in at your parts chain of choice, and buy them (might have to order....). the axle would be available there, but will cost quite a bit, and will be remanufactured, so will be poorly made. if you need a whole new shaft, your best bet is putting a post in the wanted section here.

 

if you don't have a repair manual, might want to get one of those too, even a haynes will be adequate for this project.

I dotn know what type of situation you live at but when my car broke down the tow truck driver put that car off the flatbed right into my garage.

I dotn know what type of situation you live at but when my car broke down the tow truck driver put that car off the flatbed right into my garage.

 

problem is...this thing isn't rolling on or off a flatbed.

 

 

truth is, you'd probably be best off just sticking the end of the shaft in the cup to keep it from flopping around, and installing a ball joint right where it sits. then you'll at least be able to drive it to where you can get the axle squared away.

boy is it good to have guys like you around!

 

well with the snow and everything i cant really see what all is broken. i dont have easy access to parts so im going to have it towed to my house and pushed into the garage till i can deal with it. the sucky part is that all the tow companies in the area are swamped because of tards who ran off the road in the snow. ive called 6 companies so far.... ill need a flat bed because i cant get parts today and i dont know how you would tow a 3 wheeled car otherwise its too bad i cant just leave it there till i get parts to roll it out on its own power.

 

its blocking one side of some rich peoples road .... nothing liked inconvenienced rich people to get my car impounded - the fee would be more than the car is worth !

 

ok so its an 81 wagon, what years and models will have running gear i can salvage ?

Edited December 23, 200817 yr by bicycle_ben

1980 through 1984 wagons, hatches, or brats. And maybe 1985 throgh 1988 hatches? Any EA81 4wd, pretty much.

ok so its an 81 wagon, what years and models will have running gear i can salvage ?

 

my last try....don't need to salvage anything.

maybe a new ball joint is all that is needed to put it back together.

I think the idea is that he doesnt want to work on it in 2 ft of snow on the side of the road. And he wasnt saying he wants to salvage the car, just what he needs to take off of parts cars in the junkyard. How car are you form home. Cant they just hook it up to one wheel and whats left of the front suspension. When i wrecked my wifes minivan this last winter:rolleyes: they drug that sob up on the flatbed and it had the wheel riped clean off.

I think the idea is that he doesnt want to work on it in 2 ft of snow on the side of the road. And he wasnt saying he wants to salvage the car, just what he needs to take off of parts cars in the junkyard.

 

haha oh im going to keep this beast, i just need to get parts off other less fortunate subarus and yeah working on a car in the snow is kinda rough never mind that i dont have parts.

 

id be working on it right now except that because of the snow no companies around here are towing. ive called 6 so far...

the problem is that the nearest parts store is a two and a half hour round trip walk and then its another half hour walk back out to the car where i get to use only the tools i carry on my back. having never done this before i think i had better do it in the comfort of my own garage where i have access to tools, the internet and beer

C hes not going to leave a man behind:)

I saved the old ball joints that came off my 85 Brat and they should be the same. I could send one out to you priority mail in the morning, i can't get home to it before the PO closes today.

It would at least get you home, but then you should replace it with new.

PM if you want that.

It would arrive possibly Friday, Sat, or Monday to you-where are you.

or get new at rockauto.com and get expedited shipping which will be pricey.

I think the idea is that he doesnt want to work on it in 2 ft of snow on the side of the road. And he wasnt saying he wants to salvage the car, just what he needs to take off of parts cars in the junkyard. How car are you form home. Cant they just hook it up to one wheel and whats left of the front suspension. When i wrecked my wifes minivan this last winter:rolleyes: they drug that sob up on the flatbed and it had the wheel riped clean off.

 

regardless of where he's working on it. there's nothing broke there that is junkyard parts. if you don't want to do it where it is, alright, that's fine. but don't put a used ball joint in there if you don't want this to happen again. they're not expensive.

 

and the axle is probably salvageable, but like I said, it's impossible to tell from those pictures.

operation cannot possibly fail

 

i took the lugs off so the tire wouldnt rip all the running gear out

 

 

 

i looked in the frozen mud/slush for the bolt that i think belongs there but didnt find it

 

doesnt look so bad!

 

aww sad little car

 

operation cannot possibly fail a second time

 

ok so one truck came, took one look and drove away. then AAA came and they brought out a flat bed. they used a second truck to pull the sube down to the flat and then loaded it onto the flat bed. we went up the hill to turn around and on our way down slid into the ditch. that took 2 hours and then once we offloaded the sube into the garage the two tow trucks got stuck again leaving my house!!! ahhh good times. i was with those two drivers for 5 hours! anyway long story short the car is in the garage and it didnt cost me a dime, now i can start work on it. im going to jack it up so i can figure out what exactly broke first and what was consequently damaged. then i set to work buying new and used parts to get it out on the road again!

 

Good job on getting it taken care of. Im sure it will all work out and yea make sure to get your own tripple A if you bummed it off your parents. They have saved my butt more then once.