Land Cruiser Pulls to Left after Side Impact by Hummer...Help!

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tacomapro

tacomapro

10 Year
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Jun 28, 2015
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My 2007 Land Cruiser, all orginal with 77,xxx miles, was hit in the driver's side by a H3 Hummer. The repair shop replaced these major parts: driver door, the frame that the driver's door attaches to, front fender, front rim, and carpet. Once I got the L.C., back I was able to drive straight with the steering wheel turned half way around. It pulled to the left hard under acceleration and the steering wheel had vibration. If not accelerating, it had a slight pull to the left. The insurance said to take the L.C. to the Toyota service department. They found and replaced a leaking rack and pinion and did an alignment. The L.C. still pulled to the left under acceleration, but I was no longer able to drive straight with the steering wheel turned half way around (that was fixed!). The Toyota service department then replaced the driver side knuckle and upper control arm and found that the tire that was on the new rim had broken belts. The insurance agreed to replace it and the front passanger tire. (All four tires prior to the accident only had 4,xxx miles.) All four tires were road forced balanced and another alignment was done. Once I got it back, it still had the same pull to the left and vibration in the steering wheel. The insurance got the body shop to recheck and frame specs and it still checked out, no frame damage. Now the body shop thinks a custom alignment would fix it? I do want to have trade it or the insurance total it. Any help would be appreciated.
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Damn! These 100's are beasts, that's a hard hit. Was the driver CV replaced? I wonder if it or anything else got shoved over in the collision.
 
Mine had a similar pull and "offset" steering after meeting up with some unforgiving large rocks. I went to Firestone for my "Free Alignments For life" but they wouldn't touch it since they can barely do a minor alignment. I took it to my independent mechanic and He thought there might be frame damage or something as he measured the tire depth to the fender as about 2" different side to side and referred me to a specialty alignment shop called Alignments Plus in Bellevue, WA. They corrected everything in the steering and had me back on the road in 45 minutes. It really pays to get the expert to focus on things. I highly recommend Alignments Plus.
 
DarkPharf said:
Mine had a similar pull and "offset" steering after meeting up with some unforgiving large rocks. I went to Firestone for my "Free Alignments For life" but they wouldn't touch it since they can barely do a minor alignment. I took it to my independent mechanic and He thought there might be frame damage or something as he measured the tire depth to the fender as about 2" different side to side and referred me to a specialty alignment shop called Alignments Plus in Bellevue, WA. They corrected everything in the steering and had me back on the road in 45 minutes. It really pays to get the expert to focus on things. I highly recommend Alignments Plus.
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why can your Firestone barely do a minor alignment? I worked at a Firestone and we did all kinds of alignments and had some great techs. I purchased the Life Time Alignment from them while there and still use it (at a different location than I worked) and I've had no problems at all...
 
Stinky - I get hit or miss support from my local Firestone. There are some good mechanics there so I don't mean to bash them completely, but I have lost faith in my local Firestone to do anything beyond basic maintenance since the "good crew" I used to have work on my rig seems to have disappeared. The managers now push back on the work I bring to them because it is less "textbook". I have called them out on bad diagnosis too many times to trust them anymore. So I moved on. Free alignments were nice while they lasted. . .
 
DarkPharf said:
Stinky - I get hit or miss support from my local Firestone. There are some good mechanics there so I don't mean to bash them completely, but I have lost faith in my local Firestone to do anything beyond basic maintenance since the "good crew" I used to have work on my rig seems to have disappeared. The managers now push back on the work I bring to them because it is less "textbook". I have called them out on bad diagnosis too many times to trust them anymore. So I moved on. Free alignments were nice while they lasted. . .
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I understand that: I quit because they suck ass to work for. I only use them for the alignment (it seems that here, all the shops that do alignments are good at it) and never let them do an inspection on the truck... :lol: I was just curious.

Back to the OT and the OP: I agree with the checking of the CV and posting the alignment specs before and after, but I would also double check the frame specs as well.

How fast were the vehicles going?
 
Measuring the right points on the frame is the key. The frame can be straight, but still the mounting points for e.g. the lower A-arm can be shifted. I.e. the frame can be locally squeezed without affecting the overall frame, or show up on the diagonals.
On the attached drawing, the B and D measurements are interesting, both horizontally and vertically.
Frame uzj100 front.webp


I had a 1.5 ton normal family car run into my left front wheel on my 2000, and the frame got a slight indentation just behind the rear A-arm mount. Together with the damage to the fender and grille, it was a write-off. Probably a bit harder hit than yours tho', as the lower ball was pulled out of the joint and went through the wheel. Also the CV got a slight damage in the cage, so that it didn't rotate evenly anymore.
 
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TXLX100 said:
Damn! These 100's are beasts, that's a hard hit. Was the driver CV replaced? I wonder if it or anything else got shoved over in the collision.
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The CV was not replaced.
It was a hard hit, the Hummer was going at least 45-50 mph. The front tow hooks on the Hummer is what did most of the damage, they are like battering rams! One ripped through the drivers door and the other one hit between the rim and tire, breaking part of the rim off. The tire kept pressure and did not go flat.
 
tacomapro said:
The insurance said to take the L.C. to the Toyota service department. They found and replaced a leaking rack and pinion and did an alignment. The L.C. still pulled to the left under acceleration, but I was no longer able to drive straight with the steering wheel turned half way around (that was fixed!). The Toyota service department then replaced the driver side knuckle and upper control arm and found that the tire that was on the new rim had broken belts. The insurance agreed to replace it and the front passanger tire. ....

Now the body shop thinks a custom alignment would fix it?
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nahtnoj said:
The body shop is run by criminals. Or idiots. Maybe both.
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Seems that the original shop is missing many things because after they supposedly fix it, you took it to a dealer, and the dealer find more broken items to replaced. I would not let this body shop touch the vehicle anymore.

Tell the insurance that you want the dealer to go thru the car, and fix/replace anything that they find. Insist on getting the car back to original condition - it used to drive straight, so if now it is pulling to left, then something else is broken/need to be fixed.

Good luck, and sorry to hear the trouble.
Chris
 
If a Hummer at 45 mph hit your front wheel, I think the frame must be bent/dented, at least around the A-arm.
Was the side airbag activated? It should be at that speed/hit.
 
bctlex said:
Seems that the original shop is missing many things because after they supposedly fix it, you took it to a dealer, and the dealer find more broken items to replaced. I would not let this body shop touch the vehicle anymore.

Tell the insurance that you want the dealer to go thru the car, and fix/replace anything that they find. Insist on getting the car back to original condition - it used to drive straight, so if now it is pulling to left, then something else is broken/need to be fixed.

Good luck, and sorry to hear the trouble.
Chris
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Thanks!
 
uHu said:
If a Hummer at 45 mph hit your front wheel, I think the frame must be bent/dented, at least around the A-arm.
Was the side airbag activated? It should be at that speed/hit.
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Talked to a Lexus tech today, he thinks that it is something in the rear or the drivetrain. That something is not handling the load like when I accelerate?
 
This is the CAR-OLINER sheet, the sheet listed model as Land Cruiser (120 Series). Would this make a difference or is the 120 and 100 series the same frame specs
Frame sheet

Frame sheet

  • Media owner tacomapro
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I drove it today and tried shifting into neutral while accelerating. It immediately stop pulling to the left and steering stayed the direction it was at the point of shifting into neutral.
 
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