Jury-rigging my Toy

[Sniper-T]

Out hunting last week, the unthinkable happened as we were driving across a field trying to get to a creek bottom to hunt... I broke a lower ball joint on my truck. there was a loud Snap! immediately followed by the front end of the truck dropping and then a nasty scraping sound as we stopped. Luckily this happened here at 5 miles an hour and not on the highway at 60.

Pretty much pooched, my buddy grabs his gun and starts heading out, looking to find someone to flag down, while I make arrangments for a tow truck with CAA. Then with nothing to do but wait, I start thinking about what I could do, if this happened in a place without cell service, or where and/or when, CAA was not available.

For good or for bad, this is what I came up with, that I would/could do to get mobile again, based on ONLY what I had in the truck at the time. Luckily I have all kinds of crap inthe truck. lol

The jacking and blocking are obviously no problem, everyone is set for that.

I figured I could remove the bottom nut off the lower control arm part of the broken ball joint, and even knowing how much of a pain it is, I had the tools to be able to pound the broken piece out. The top part is simply four 10mm bolts and it is gone.

Searching around, I found the 3/8 X 2-1/2 lag bolts that I used a couple weeks ago to secure a couple logs to my skidoo trailer for piling wood between. They stil had 1-1/2 OD washers on them, which would work pretty sweet to drop down.

Looking around I see some Oak trees, and even though my machete is in the camper (doh), I do have my standard hunting 6" fixed blade buck knife. yeah, it would take some work, but I could hack off a piece a couple/few inches long to screw the lag into.

I had a drill with me, but left it at the camper too, and I was worried that that lag bolt would just crack the piece of wood, so I kept rooting around... I came up with a long shafted narrow guage flat screwdriver, which I figured I could bore a pilot hole into the wood block with, without puncturing my hand or leg more than two or three times...each.

I also found a roll of baling wire, and having several pairs of pliers in my tool kit, figured I could put several twist tied wraps of that around the block to help strengthen it too, and also around the control arm and up through the original boltholes to add a little more strength.

All well and done... except that for anyone who has ever blown a ball joint in motion knows, the very next thing that happens is that the axle pulls out of the front diff, and snaps the snap ring into pcs and drops it and bearing parts all over the ground.

Now I would like to say that I could find all the parts and repack the bearing and replace it with a snap ring from my tool kit but...no. Even though I had a grease gun, the likely hood of finding all the rollers and repacking it successfully were slim to none in a field, and no, I didn't have snap rings either, although I probably could have made a retainer with the wire, but on a rotating axle that mild steel would have disappeared quickly.

So, what I came up with was, that i would pull all the remaining pieces out that I could, slide the axle back in (spline shaft into spline hub), and then I would be ok... except that it didn't take much movement of the tire up and down on the shock and it would have pulled out.

At this point I came up with two choices,
1. secure the front shock/strut, with another block of wood, so it would not be allowed to travel
2. rip the axle right out, and then have a 3X4.

I think either would have worked, although I would have tried #1 first, and possibly tried using some wire, or a ratchet strap to hold the axle in to the diff, although given the rotation of the axle, would have been difficult, had that failed, plan B would have been to pull the axle completely.

I personally think that this would have worked, had it been necessary.

C'mon grease monkeys... critique my thought processes!

pics to follow!

[bacpacker]

T, I hate to hear you had troubles on your trip. But good on you for taking the opportunity to work on solutions to fix your truck. Pics will help me understand more what you were planning. I haven't worked on front ends in 30+ years. But in general the fix sounds reasonable. I would think blocking and locking everything in place (option 1) would have worked if you could have gotten it tight enough and took it easy on it. Nothing would have held if you pushed it.
Looking forward to see pics.

[Sniper-T]

At a standstill:

http://i605.photobucket.com/albums/tt140/Sniper-T/hunting/deer%20hunt%202013/1112130948b_zps8c7ab1e1.jpg (http://s605.photobucket.com/user/Sniper-T/media/hunting/deer%20hunt%202013/1112130948b_zps8c7ab1e1.jpg.html)

Perspective:

http://i605.photobucket.com/albums/tt140/Sniper-T/hunting/deer%20hunt%202013/1112130948a_zpsbc82f10c.jpg (http://s605.photobucket.com/user/Sniper-T/media/hunting/deer%20hunt%202013/1112130948a_zpsbc82f10c.jpg.html)

As they say in real estate... location location, location...

http://i605.photobucket.com/albums/tt140/Sniper-T/hunting/deer%20hunt%202013/1112131026b_zpsa12dc97f.jpg (http://s605.photobucket.com/user/Sniper-T/media/hunting/deer%20hunt%202013/1112131026b_zpsa12dc97f.jpg.html)

CAA to the rescue:

http://i605.photobucket.com/albums/tt140/Sniper-T/hunting/deer%20hunt%202013/1112131254a_zpse3aa2657.jpg (http://s605.photobucket.com/user/Sniper-T/media/hunting/deer%20hunt%202013/1112131254a_zpse3aa2657.jpg.html)

The damage:

http://i605.photobucket.com/albums/tt140/Sniper-T/hunting/deer%20hunt%202013/1112131252a_zps81b04d4e.jpg (http://s605.photobucket.com/user/Sniper-T/media/hunting/deer%20hunt%202013/1112131252a_zps81b04d4e.jpg.html)

Notice the lower control arm on the bottom right(covered in grass)... that should be attached about 3/4 way up the right side.

Notice the inner axle boot, top right, with the black marks on the shaft, that's showing the shaft as it is pulled out, and mostly useless.

notice the streak on the flat deck from mid left to low right. That is where the bearing race fell out, and i dragged it out to look at it.

notice a little lump bottom right, that is a clump of bearing rollers, covered in grease. Yep. that bearing was TOAST.

[bacpacker]

You guys have great wrecker service. How many miles did you have on it? Any issues before, or were those the originals? I, like you, love Toyotas. I've had 6 or 7 over the years and all but the current one had 200,000+ on them and never had one go out on me.

[Sniper-T]

lol

that is my 5th Toy in 25 years. Including the untimely death of my last one, the toys total over 2.8 million km combined. Out of that, I never blew a ball joint. (my 84 that I sold to a buddy with 880 000 km, he bought for his son, who drove it for 300 000, then turned it into an ice racer, then into a dune buggy. Even though the body has changed, it is still basically original, and has 1.3 mill km on it. original powertrain, frame, everything... other than the consumables (brakes/body/shocks, etc)

The closest NAPA store, in business at that location for 11 years, never, not once, ordered a ball joint for a toy. they stock them for just about every chevy/dodge and ford.

I have a plus membership, which gives me a 100 mile window(ish) - 160km. the closest service location available was 60km away. and he was on a call at the time. so it was a 4-1/2 hour wait for him to get there.

In spite of, and in part because of the paint job, I got a sweet deal on this one. it is a '98 and I bought it on Christmas eve in 2010 with 87000 km (52500mi) original on it, owned by a kid who never, not once, drove it out of the city. It was lowered with 13" wheels on it, which was quickly rectified. It currently has 263000km (160000ish mi) and it has most certainly put through it's paces. lol

[Possom]

3 words. Solid axle swap.

[Sniper-T]

meh!

had solid axles on my first two 84, 85. much prefer independant, even though it is more moving parts.

again, I have NEVER had front end issues, unless they were directly driven by my own carelessness. until now, that is.

[Possom]

Street and light 4x4 I agree IFS works just fine. I use Toyotas as play toys. Crawling up the rocks an IFS just won't cut it.

I think solid axle is a little easier to rig on the trail if something breaks though.

I think you did pretty well figuring out how to rig the ball joint to get at least to cell phone service.

[Sniper-T]

Street and light 4x4 I agree IFS works just fine. I use Toyotas as play toys. Crawling up the rocks an IFS just won't cut it.

I think solid axle is a little easier to rig on the trail if something breaks though. .

Not the point of the post... but In this situation I would agree. however, in my situation, I couldn't necessarily fashion a new solid axle front end from what I had... ;)


...I think you did pretty well figuring out how to rig the ball joint to get at least to cell phone service.

Thanks. but you seem to have some decent mechanical knowledge... what else could you recommend?

[ak474u]

Maybe a come along to cinch all that stuff back together? I bet it would be fun to do without it because of all that spring tension in the front end. Obviously, you could pull the axle out completely if you had to, it endangers the front transfer case either way you go.

[Possom]

If I had to repair on the go, instead of pulling the busted ball joint out I would jack it up and force the ball joint ball back into the cup. Only problem is keeping the ball in the cup. A welder would be ideal for that but in a pinch go around the bottom of the ball joint then around and over the top with the bailing wire, as many wraps as you could get Then a ratchet strap over the Lower control arm and under the bottom of the ball joint and cranked as tight as you can get might carry you out. Very slowly without bumps would be preferable. Ball joints don't really have that much pressure on them from the top. I think the torque at 30 or 35 lbs. 110 lbs on the bottom nut or close to that. Not really all that much.

I would pull the axle as well, one less thing to bind and break if all goes haywire again.

[MegaCPC]

Dang, that balljoint must have been ready to go if it broke right there! I would look into replacing all of them now


If I had to repair on the go, instead of pulling the busted ball joint out I would jack it up and force the ball joint ball back into the cup. Only problem is keeping the ball in the cup. A welder would be ideal for that but in a pinch go around the bottom of the ball joint then around and over the top with the bailing wire, as many wraps as you could get Then a ratchet strap over the Lower control arm and under the bottom of the ball joint and cranked as tight as you can get might carry you out. Very slowly without bumps would be preferable. Ball joints don't really have that much pressure on them from the top. I think the torque at 30 or 35 lbs. 110 lbs on the bottom nut or close to that. Not really all that much.

I would pull the axle as well, one less thing to bind and break if all goes haywire again.

This is probably what I would have tried. Less movement if you can get the balljoint back in it's cup.

Broke an upper balljoint wheelin a couple years ago, at speed. Tie rod snapped, hub separated. I don't know about Toyotas, but Chevy IFS uses a sealed hub assembly where the axle nut basically holds it together.

So just in case you ever have to pull an axle: I learned the hard way after replacing the hub without the axle and made all of 50 feet before the wheel literally came off and my brand new hub assembly was split in half again, and useless. I ended up cutting the CV axle in half right at the outer boot and bolting the outer back on so the hub wouldn't separate again.

For some on the go welding, try this:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PV5oLPLUzrM

[Sniper-T]

Toys have a different axle system on the front end, and would be easy to rip out, and I will be replacing all the ball joints in the near future. I have since dropped a couple of 3/8 fine thread grade 8 bolts into the tool box. worst case scenario, I can bolt it back together with those, and be mobile.

I've done welding like that before, primarily on exhaust though, with only one battery, It's tough welding anything beyond 12 or 14 Ga.

[mitunnelrat]

Can I piggyback your thread?

How would ya'll fix THIS in the field?
http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn165/mitunnelrat/002_zps70af17c9.jpg (http://s304.photobucket.com/user/mitunnelrat/media/002_zps70af17c9.jpg.html)

:(

That happened to me last Friday. I'm waiting to see if my insurance company deems it repairable or not, and may be getting a new car soon.

[FL-Jeeper]

2. rip the axle right out, and then have a 3X4.

That's what I'd a done. Good on ya for using your head. An open field wasn't that bad of spot to break. At least the wrecker could get to you. Try something like that on a mountain trail~miles from camp, in the dark. Last month we were up in Alabama and one of our guys cracked his transfer case at the bottom of a ravine on Choccolocco Mountain. It took 4 rigs, 3 winches and 8 hours to get him back to camp.

[Sniper-T]

^
That! is the way my luck usually goes with stuff like this. Even my budy thought it just seemed wrong to be in such a sweet spot!

lol

[Sniper-T]

Do you have any more pics MTR? tough to see what all the problems are underneath, although it kind looks similar to mine, but you were probably going faster.

At the very least, you need a new tire and rim.
But I'm thinking there is more to it that that based on the position of the tire.

And is that actually a chunk broken out of the rim? well done!

[mitunnelrat]

No, no more pics. I only took the one.

Believe it or not, I was actually on level ground, moving slowly to execute a u-turn. The damage is where the driver of the vehicle behind me made impact.

The rim is indeed broken, the tire shot. The ball joints are possibly connected, but the tie rod broken... My fender smashed, with a ripple effect across hood, the opposite fender, and something out of alignment on the passenger side door. The bumper got ripped off, and the sub-frame (proper term?) for it was ripped half off.

I don't know what all else. The insurance company called me a little bit ago and told me its non-repairable.

[Sniper-T]

ok... so in the field...
I would naturally replace the tire with the spare, and while it is up and open have a good look at everything. If the ball joints were indeed ok buit the tie rod was broken, then I would look at a make shift repair with my wheel wrench. some scraping with the serrated edge of my knife should 'nick' the metal enough for wire to grip it, so after nicking both ends of everything I would wire the wrench to the tie rod. Multiple wraps, multiple ties. it wont have the strength for hiway speens or off roading, but limping along on the shoulder should be fine.

Everything else I would ignore, unless the fender was interfering with the tire or steering, then I'd either kick it or abuse it back into shape or lose it entirely.

The sub frame I would ignore too, unless it looked like the vehicle was going to break in half, but even then if I couldn't repair it, I would drive it anyways, as 5 miles an hour limping home with my ride and all my stuff is better than walking with only what I coul carry.

IMO, anyone else?

sux about your ride though bud. hopefully the insurance co doesn't rape you.

[mitunnelrat]

They actually didn't do too bad. My car blue booked from $2-3,000 and they're offering me $2,002 if they take it, or $1,577 if I get it back from them. I'm not too sure what I'm going to do yet.

Thanks for the reply too. I wouldn't have known to do that and would have been walking for sure.

[Sniper-T]

can you argue with your insurance company? around here they always low ball the first offer, and usually a stern "Are you fucking crazy?" will boost you closer to the midpoint of the value. argue again, if you have receipts and bills for recent work. Check out the local trader magazines as well. see what your vehicle is actually going for in the used market. it it is above 'book value' you can argue that too.

it costs you nothing to try, and may get you more money. Once their offer is made, they cannot go down, only up or stay the same.

[mitunnelrat]

I plan to, but honestly won't be pushing too hard. I talked it over with my dad last night, and given some of the other repairs I had pending anyway decided I'd just scrap the car and get something else. I did a little looking around, and they actually offered me full value for my car, minus the deductible, so I'm working on keeping my deductible too. I'm waiting on a call now.