Alignment ****up

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

gluaisrothai

gluaisrothai

Joined
Jan 2, 2021
Threads
19
Messages
412
Location
Alameda
Took it to a shop for alignment. They broke the tie rod.

IMG_2409.jpeg

Telling me this is how it was when I drove in. What the actual ****. Trying to get AAA to tow it home for me. Anyone have the part number handy?
 
Bummer sorry to hear. I am also in the eastbay, do tell who butchered your 200 so we can steer clear of that incompetent shop.

Left outer tie rod: 45047-69146

Right outer tie rod: 45046-69236


If you are in a pinch and need a replacement part right away let me know. I have new tie rod ends on the shelf that i have not installed.
 
If you can part with them I might come over and collect this evening. I will DM you my info. Right now just trying to get this towed the two miles home…
 
TLC2013 said:
Bummer sorry to hear. I am also in the eastbay, do tell who butchered your 200 so we can steer clear of that incompetent shop.

Left outer tie rod: 45047-69146

Right outer tie rod: 45046-69236


If you are in a pinch and need a replacement part right away let me know. I have new tie rod ends on the shelf that i have not installed.
Click to expand...
Tire Choice in Alameda. 100% they swung off the locknut in the wrong direction without a backup wrench on the tie rod and torqued the ball joint apart.
 
gluaisrothai said:
Tire Choice in Alameda. 100% they swung off the locknut in the wrong direction without a backup wrench on the tie rod and torqued the ball joint apart.
Click to expand...
Yikes that would do it....utter incompetence.
 
And family wonders why I won't let anyone touch my vehicles with a wrench..
 
A little forensic inspection now the truck has been towed to my hangar. I can see the witness marks on the plastic liner inside the joint where the ball was torqued out. Makes it clear what happened. They were tightening the locknut and not backing it up. And then lied about it.
IMG_2411.webp
 
bloc said:
And family wonders why I won't let anyone touch my vehicles with a wrench..
Click to expand...
I have so many horror stories. Honestly I don’t know why I’m shocked any more. I just don’t have the tools to do an alignment and honestly thought it would be impossible to feck this up on a 23k mile California car.
 
Im like 1 for 5 for successful visits taking my car to a shop or dealer for work.
 
"Telling me this is how it was when I drove in" - either they are stupid, or they think that you are to believe that.
Sorry about the troubles. If the manager doesn't own up, I would file a claim with my insurance to go after their dumb asses. Keep the damage parts for inspection.
 
Fixed! Many thanks to @TLC2013 for temporarily giving up his spares stash. I replaced both ends as I was concerned they swung off the other side and damaged it as well… it actually looked ok when I removed the boot. No dents from being over torqued.

Aligned with a “Dreamstick” to 1mm toe in at the rim edge.

The locknut was incredibly tight but I ascribe that to it being turned the wrong direction by the incompetents.
IMG_2418.webp
 
gluaisrothai said:
Fixed! Many thanks to @TLC2013 for temporarily giving up his spares stash. I replaced both ends as I was concerned they swung off the other side and damaged it as well… it actually looked ok when I removed the boot. No dents from being over torqued.

Aligned with a “Dreamstick” to 1mm toe in at the rim edge.

The locknut was incredibly tight but I ascribe that to it being turned the wrong direction by the incompetents.
View attachment 3633380
Click to expand...
Right on, happy to help. Looking forward to hitting some trails in the future. 😆 your log book for 5/16/24 is spot on.
 
I did not know the ball could pop out if done wrong. They must have done this lazy trick on a camry or something and it didn't fall out like that?

I only know lazy tech usually leave the boot twisted.
Dealer seemed to have put a scratch in the rim on the inside of the bead with the alignment sensors.
That's why I didn't get alignment with my new tires.. it was done on my worn tires, now it still goes straight enough.
 
LX4x4 said:
I did not know the ball could pop out if done wrong. They must have done this lazy trick on a camry or something and it didn't fall out like that?

I only know lazy tech usually leave the boot twisted.
Dealer seemed to have put a scratch in the rim on the inside of the bead with the alignment sensors.
That's why I didn't get alignment with my new tires.. it was done on my worn tires, now it still goes straight enough.
Click to expand...
The two highlighted concave areas are deformations of the swaged rim that holds the ball in place. These are not present on a good ball joint. The fact that they are aligned at 90 degrees to the rotation axis of the lock nut tells me that these are a result of the locknut being turned without a backup wrench. And not only that but they were trying in both directions until they popped out the ball.

IMG_2411.webp
 
Can't believe they were able to break one of the most robust TREs out there. Monkey fisted @#%holes.

Also great to see how awesome this community is. Cheers to @TLC2013 !
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Back
Top Bottom