Front suspension repair after collision

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4whlmama

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This repair is actually on a 2010 Ford Edge SE. It belongs to a friend of mine. She was in a low speed accident and the person that hit her made first contact at her front drivers side wheel. The damage was to her steering knuckle mostly. Where the upper tie rod connects to the steering knuckle, the knuckle itself broke off right where the tie rod bolts to it. Initially I thought the tie rod broke, but when I pulled the wheel off and seen that the knuckle had broke I was surprised! Anyway, I'm replacing the hub, hub bearing, and knuckle. The bolt for the tie rod was still in the tie rod and it doesn't look to be damaged at all. Some oil came out of the axle when I pulled it apart. This is where my concern is and if I should maybe replace any other parts??? Nothing shows visible damage. I'm about to put in the parts order for her vehicle and need to make sure we are only gonna do this one time. I would really hate to have to pull it back apart to fix something else. So I'm turning to my expedition family...any suggestions? Sorry, I don't have any other photos to show the actual damage on the stearing knuckle. This is the best I got. It looks worse than it is without the number trim, but it isn't that bad.output(1).jpg output.jpg

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Gary Waugh

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Cant help you much, but are you sure the wheel isn't bent, it takes a lot of energy to break the steering components, I would be very careful to check the wheel and the steering rack. I assume when the other vehicle hit this one, it probably hit the wheel and caused the steering to go to full lock and then the steering rack would have stopped moving and then the steering knuckle broke. I would be checking the steering rack and all joints/links very carefully as they are not designed to absorb that sort of shock. Hopefully nothing is damaged, but you need to be sure, having the steering fail later on could be a very exciting and dangerous thing!!

Gary
 

1955moose

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Why are you fixing it when she was hit by another vehicle? The other owners insurance should pay, unless your friend was charged with the accident. Accidents can be a touchy thing to handle without a alignment rack to check everything before you start. Her frame could be bent too. If your hell bent to do the job, replace all the bent/broken parts, and have the alignment checked by a body not tire shop. Body shops usually have special tools to bend parts back to spec. Bring the wheel to a tire shop that can spin it and be sure it isn't bent. What ever happened to your Expedition? Did you get it fixed? Sorry for our banter on your posts, it's kinda what we do for fun! Their a good group of super intelligent guys, better than most dealerships. Some work in the Ford industry.

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4whlmama

4whlmama

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Apology accepted and that's why I turned to this forum. My fiancee is fixing it and he is an auto body guy, but we had a disagreement when I was ordering the parts because I think he should be doing more than just replacing the knuckle, hub, and bearing. The axle was still in 1 piece until he pulled the hub. It will be going to tire shop to be aligned to spec after the new parts are put on. The lady that hit her fled from the scene. Unfortunately, she learned after the accident that her mother (the policy holder) had let the insurance lapse and had spent the money she had been given to pay my friends share of the insurance coverage. So she was not insured for this accident. Even worse, my friend is a single mother and she had just purchased this vehicle 4 months ago!

Oh and my Expedition is still going strong. Just turned over 200k miles. My friend is driving it until her Edge is fixed. I don't just let people borrow my vehicles...ever! It's my best friend and her children are the reason. One of them has medical issues and is being treated by several docs and sometimes 2 to 3 appointments per week.
 

Trainmaster

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The story is bizarre. It seems problems always find those with the most problems. Couldn't be something they're doing, could it? But I've been involved in some bizarre stuff myself over the years.

But for the mechanical stuff: For starters, you should replace anything that took a good shot and was subjected to sudden impact or stress. That would obviously be the knuckle and the tie rod end that's attached to it. That could have unseen damage or a crack that would cause it to fail. I've seen the studs break off these after hitting potholes. Perhaps the wheel bearing too depending on your budget. Carefully study the geometry of all the front end parts involved. Look for stress marks or cracks that would appear if a control arm or steering link were bent. Sometimes you can see this, sometimes you can't. Follow the impact and look at each part involved by the forces. Strut? Shock absorber?

Unfortunately some damage may not show itself until the thing is back together. You have to replace the knuckle to do an alignment. Only after you put it on the alignment rack will you find a minor bend in a suspension part. Then you have to order the part and take the thing apart again.

You can check the wheel for runout on a tire mounting machine.

Until you drive it, you won't know if the axle and bearing are good and even that damage may not show itself for several months.

One reason body shops hit up insurance companies with such big bills is that a good shop will replace every part that was stressed, assuring safety and minimizing call-backs.

Good luck with your cars, your repairs and that cast of friends.
 
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