jumped a left turn median

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Muad'Dib15

Muad'Dib15

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yep, you read that right. Through a combination of aggressive tires, rain / very slippery road idk, and a little too much throttle after turning left (don't know how that's possible I wasn't driving any different than I had been 5 minutes earlier), my cuda pulled a U on me after I attemped to steer out of it and just made it worst and jumped the median. I blew my driver's front tire, luckily this happened right in front of where my mom works and miraculously didn't pop off the bead so I was able to limp it to her parking lot at 5 mph. I ordered another tire from the place where I got them to begin with and went back to work, my dad did all the heavy work (thanks again) ie: getting the tire off, taking it to the shop, and putting it back on. So now it can be driven again? not so fast, what I didn't notice when limping it there was that it pulls, aparently quite badly. the car did a U to the left when jumping the median obviously, so what could have happend to cause the alignment to go out of wack? Could the K member have just shifted? Or could it be something more serious?
 
Hard to say with not being able to see the underside really clear. Maybe you got lucky, maybe you got screwed (not to be rude).
 
Definitely need to get it to a good alignment shop, anytime you smack a curb you wack the alignment out of wack. (Do not go to Tire Plus or Walmart!!!) hopefully it's just your blown tire and an alignment issue, maybe a tie rod, probably not a k-frame. Sounds like you got lucky that a c-body wagon wasn't passin by at the same time :glasses7: Good luck
 
More than likely you bent a tie rod, its pretty hard to hurt the K member, frame or spindles.

But if you really clobbered it, you could definitely have tweaked a control arm, bent or even broken the upper control arm mounts (they aren't the strongest), bent a strut rod, etc.

Take it into an alignment shop and have them check it out. Preferably someone that knows something about Mopar torsion bar suspensions, although that rules out pretty much any major chain unless you get lucky and they happen to have a mopar enthusiast working there.

The front end should be thoroughly inspected on BOTH sides, since all the steering components are connected.
 
Another early A guy posted long ago he bent a lower control arm in a similar situation. You will need it checked out by a good front end guy to tell what parts are bent. The easy bendable parts are tie rods and control arms.
 
Go to a non chain shop where the guys are real mechanics! I never trust the big chain type stores. They are looking to make sales!!! (Just my .02 cents worth!)
 
apparently I rolled a cam on the uca (fixed), and flattened the wheel on the passenger side. now I need $250 for a new wheel and tire or it gets parked, and I don't have 250. damnit.
 
A loose tie-rod clamps can unwind the adjustments too. Especially if the tie-rod have been lubricated. Danger!!! The early a's have light tie rods, adding larger sticker tires might require other upgrades.
 
Well, when it comes time to change out the tie rod ends I'll go with bigger. luckily, the car can still be driven. I'll get a picture of the flat spot on the wheel, the rim is also bent out, but it still holds the bead. I'm hoping that it can be pounded back into place with a rubber mallet. I hope it just sounds worse than it is.
 
Muad'Dib15 said:
I'm hoping that it can be pounded back into place with a rubber mallet.
Click to expand...

If you're talking about steel rims, feel free, hammer away. You're probably not going to fix a flat spot in the rim with a rubber mallet though.

If the rims in question are the cast aluminum ones in your avatar, the answer is NO. The cast aluminum will probably break when you try and hammer it back in place. If by some chance it doesn't, it will still probably break later, at a more inconvenient time. Cast aluminum really can't be worked like that. If its a cast aluminum rim with a flat spot and a bend, its scrap.
 
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