Jury-rigging my Toy

[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:

[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?




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.