What's bent in the rear end?

Spinned the car at about 20 mph and hit the curv w/ the rigt rear tire, Now the left tire is pushed out of the body about 3 inches more than the right.What do you guys think is bent? that would slide the whole rear end to one side.i got under there and did not see anything bent.
thanks for any advise.

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97 Z28 A4 white w/black top,k&n fipk,flowmast amethunder,hpp3,160 stat,+free mods.

Last time you asked, the response was to check the LCA's and Panhard rod. Are you saying those aren't bent? That would really surprise me, those are really the two things that hold your rear end in place. Check again...

Dave

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1997 LPE 383/n2o Camaro Z28 Convertible (http://www.go-fast.org/z28)
12.39@112.2, 1.76 60' (na) 11.27@124.6, 1.76 60' (n2o)
LT1 Diagnostics (http://www.go-fast.org/z28/diagnostics.html), New to Nitrous? (http://www.go-fast.org/z28/new_to_nitrous.html) Northern California Racing Club (http://www.ncracing.org/)

Given that it was the outer side of the right side wheel that hit the curb, the PHB was loaded in tension. So the PHB itself would not be bent (a bent OE PHB requires the outside of the left rear wheel to hit the curb).

Look at the PHB chassis bracket for being bent or torn loose or for the chassis structure itself to be bent. It's highly likely that the PHB bracket brace has buckled as well. Check the ends of the PHB for cracks/tears, PHB bolts for being bent, and the PHB bracket holes to be torn or deformed. And don't forget to inspect the axle end PHB bracket (and the driver's side axle tube!!!) for damage.

Norm

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1979 Malibu, 355, 5 speed, cornering tweaks, some other stuff
2001 20th Anniversary Maxima, 5 speed

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Norm Peterson:
Given that it was the outer side of the right side wheel that hit the curb, the PHB was loaded in tension. So the PHB itself would not be bent (a bent OE PHB requires the outside of the left rear wheel to hit the curb).

Look at the PHB chassis bracket for being bent or torn loose or for the chassis structure itself to be bent. It's highly likely that the PHB bracket brace has buckled as well. Check the ends of the PHB for cracks/tears, PHB bolts for being bent, and the PHB bracket holes to be torn or deformed. And don't forget to inspect the axle end PHB bracket (and the driver's side axle tube!!!) for damage.

Norm

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You are absolutly right w/ your theory,that's what i was afraid of, the body itself being damage,cus a PHB is cheap to fix but the body of the car is not (i belive)


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97 Z28 A4 white w/black top,k&n fipk,flowmast amethunder,hpp3,160 stat,+free mods.

It might not be too bad $-wise if the damage is confined to the PHB bracket and/or its weld, its brace, and the PHB itself. Just re-aligning and rewelding the bracket isn't that difficult or time-consuming. If there's been only slight chassis distortion and it's confined to the local area of the PHB bracket attachment and the bracket can't easily be properly located you might be able to salvage correct rear end location with an adjustable PHB. It might be worth planning on going with the adjustable PHB anyway, just in case the repair ends up being slightly off.

At 3" lateral displacement of the axle, you might have some slight LCA bracket bending and possibly some LCA distortion. I'm not sure how much of this movement your LCA bushings will absorb before some metal starts to bend (this depends a lot on what kind of bushings you have in there). I'm not trying to scare you, and realize that this is still a relatively inexpensive and easy fix.

It's occurred to me to suggest that while you're underneath inspecting things that you take a look at the forward attachment of the torque arm, since this area is also affected slightly by the lateral axle movement. Probably there won't be anything wrong there, but it's at least worth taking the time to look.

Norm



[This message has been edited by Norm Peterson (edited July 01, 2002).]

Hey Norm Do you think there's a chance that the left axle shaft could be desingaged from the differential? cus i took the car to a local shop and they replaced the right side shaft (they said the stabilazer arm was bent)
i did not go back there cus i was not happy w/ the job they did.

I don't think it could disengage without getting the left rear caliper involved, and I think you'd get some scraping noises and a low brake pedal/poor rear braking/pulling to the right first. A disengaged axle shaft in a GM 7.5"/7.625" rear requires that the C-clip to first become dislodged. Not a very likely occurrence unless you have lots of severely worn parts in there already. And the shop could hardly have overlooked an errant C-clip when they opened things up to replace the right side shaft.

I'm afraid I don't make much sense out of their "explanation". I've heard the term "stabilizer" used to refer to an anti-roll bar before, but not to anything inside a rear axle.

Norm




[This message has been edited by Norm Peterson (edited July 02, 2002).]

Hey Norm thanks for all the info that you provided me with. I will take the car on friday to a shop and hopefully if it's not too bad it may be solved with an adjustable panhard rod.thanks again.
Marc

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97 Z28 A4 white w/black top,k&n fipk,flowmast amethunder,hpp3,160 stat,+free mods.

Hope everything turns out good this time.

Enjoy your 4th.

Norm