Oops.

[Kowalski]

i fucked up

was going into a downhill turn, turned the wheel, car decided it liked going straight a lot better. wheel was at just the right angle that the car didnt jump the curb... the side of the wheel just went flat into it. car drives... but the mile-ish i drove it home took some chunks out of my month old tires.
im not really sure of the complete damage yet... i dont really want to even think about this shit for a day or 2. after typing that i went back out for a look and it seems the car should be fine... ish save for the stabiliser bar... can i take it off and drive the car wiithout it?[/url]

[PhyrraM]

If the anti-roll bar is bent, most likely the control arm is also.

Good news is that the crossmember is strong and most likely you will only need a control arm and swaybar. Balljoint too, to be on the safe side.

[beatersubi]

Its probably not safe to drive with a bent control arm.

[dropdfocus]

Been there, changed out the exact same damage on Matt's old '92 LSS. You definitely ruined the control arm and might have bent the sway bar (hard to say because Matt only slightly tweeked his). You'll most certainly need an alignment after you get the control arm replaced.

[Kowalski]

sway bar is gone. the little plastic thing on it that connects to the control arm is gone, and the control arm is hilariously bent. also need a new steelie on that side as it got TRASHED

[dropdfocus]

If that's the case, it's unlikely the sway bar sustained major damage due to the end link braking. I bet your sway bar is fine.

Agreed that the rest of the stuff is trashed.

[jamal]

been there:



Ended up needing a new wheel bearing and balljoint too. The bearing pretty much shattered from the impact. I got a used control arm and knuckle from a junkyard in CO called Mclaughlin auto for like $80 shipped.

[Kowalski]

can i use any 1st gen legacy control arm? i'm going to harry's u pull it tomorrow to pull one out of the wagon that gave me my door handles but its a post-facelift model.

also- do i really need a sway bar? i took it off to move the car around a bit (was grinding against the tie rod) and it didnt seem to make a difference, although its not like id notice much with my wheel 4 inches back

also- kids, don't drive that mile with a bent control arm, especially without the spare on. you will seriously destroy your tire, scare the whole neighborhood with tire noises, and rub some of your undercoating in the fenderwells off.

[entirelyturbo]

This doesn't cover all of it, but suffice it to say that any control arm off an EJ Subaru built before 2002 will work. I know the 1st and 2nd gen Legacies and 1st gen Impreza control arm part numbers all supercede to the same part number.

I would strongly recommend keeping your swaybar. Not only will you sorely miss it if you remove it, but it's a little involved to remove it (requires dropping the exhaust).

[Kowalski]

eh, as long as the car is still safe to drive i'm just gonna leave it off...money is a big issue right now, and i just need to be able to get around

i managed to fanagle the sway bar out w/o dropping the exhaust though. i just wiggled it around angrily for a while and managed to pull it out through the wheel well. i took the jack up plate off but i think it might have come out without it?

good to know about the control arm though. if it doesnt rain tomorrow, and maybe even if it does, i should have a car to drive on monday!!

[dropdfocus]

How close are you to Harry's?
If there's any LSS models there with engines, let me know. I'm willing to drive out there if they do.

[Kowalski]

I'm about 45 seconds from the Allentown harry's. This lot isn't so big though, compared to the hazleton one. i doubt they'd have one. if they do, I'll make sure to msg you though, if i don't take it for myself first

[dropdfocus]

Oh, see I go to the Hazelton one. That place is soooo DAMN large!!! Problem is, the drive takes about 1.25hrs (78 miles) from Williamsport to W. Hazelton. So just driving there to look around becomes a waste of fuel. But well worth it if you come home with a kick ass find for cheap.

[Kowalski]

i've never had a chance to go down there, but i have wanted to for a while

btw: there is a few legacies at the harry's here if anyone's looking for anything weird on the cheap

[dropdfocus]

Well, the luck thing on my side is I have 2 independent Subaru garages that buy '90-'94 Legacy's at auction as parts cars or for resale. So I can drive 10 miles have a pretty good pick of parts. Plus I have 3 salvage yards within 15 miles too. 2 are U-Pull it style, but only one is decent on prices (the other gouges you hard even for small shit).

[tris91ricer]

Hahah, the last time I hit a curb and bent my control arm, I sprung for a new car instead. 200bucks and an engine swap vs 125ish for new control arms and whatnot.

To be fair, I kicked the wheel back into place and threw my non-donut steelie back on it and drove it until the swap was ready to be done. It wasn't fun driving it like that (steered and swayed like hell) but I made it work. Just be careful . . .

[G-reg]

I've also been there, check out your wheel bearing too. A hit like that can damage the bearing pretty easily, and if you replace it now you'll only have to tear the front end apart once.

[evolutionmovement]

Hand brake. I nailed a couple curbs with my rear wheel like that and sustained nothing more than curb rash and a driveable bent alloy wheel (shimmied a little like a slight imbalance when rotated to the front. Drove it for a couple years). When you've got too much forward push, the hand brake won't do much, but that's why you need to set up the turn.

If you're doing the swap yourself and replacing the ball joint (which I'd recommend unless it was new and looked and felt good), watch that the ball joint comes out - if not, you'd be better off having a shop muscle it out. I know up here they can get pretty stubborn. I replaced a spindle once because of it.

[jamal]

Just take the control arm, spindle, wheel bearing, and hub all as one piece. Chances are you'll need it all.

[Kowalski]

well, all done. i just replaced the control arm, the ball joint is only like a month old and seemed to be ok, and the wheel bearings didn't seem to be damaged.
the chassis mounts for the control arm were pretty fucking hard to line up though, and the bolt closest to the center of the car on the rearmost mount siezed up as i was tightening it on and would not go any further, so i just tightened the other bolt extra. and i'll re-tap the hole and use a different bolt tomorrow when i have acess to a lift and air tools tomorrow at school. looking at the way everything's set up i think as long as this bolt is atleast in there keeping the mount from rotating i should be able to drive thecar for a day or two before i can get it done right.
car feels a little more boaty without the sway bar but everything seems to be a-ok at the moment. i'm using the spare for now on that side so i dont chew up that tire any more until i can get it on a new rim and align the car. car isnt pulling either way right now but i have a suspicion it may be scrubbing the tire a bit but its too early for me to tell


total cost of repair: 19.40


BTW: i didnt see any lss's, just a 93 blue L 4door with some nice seats that i thnk i'm going to get tomorrow.


that bolt was a biiiitch to line up

[entirelyturbo]

Yeah, I hate those bolts.

I, being the weirdo I am, replaced my control arms with brand-new ones (new ones for these cars don't come with the hurricane bushing), so I halfway bolted the bushing to the body and worked the front bushing into the crossmember and the hurricane bushing until everything was somewhat assembled, then just tightened everything down.

It's a lot easier that way because you have slack to work with.

[legacy92ej22t]

I had almost the exact same damage when I smacked a rock in a ditch trying not to die when bombing the RoseValley Hill Climb downhill, at night. It's along story.....

Anyways, I had to replace the control arm and ball joint and completely toasted my rex 16" wheels. Wheel bearing and sway bar were ok.

[Kowalski]

so i got that last bolt all tightened now, it was a bitch. i cross threaded the hell out of it when i was doing it with just jack stands and now that i had access to a lift i re-tapped the beginning of the hole and ground grooves into a fresh bolt from harry's to make a ghetto self-tapping bolt and ran it in with an impact socket... worked perfactly. life is good.

BTW: anyone near the lehigh valley have a spare steel rim for lke 30-50$? i couldnt find any subarus with rims at harry's and i currently have like 140 miles on my spare

[91legacyawdturbo]

I had that happen to mine, less then 5 miles per hour into a curb, after I hit a patch of black ice. alignment is still off.

[Kowalski]

oh yeah, forgot to update. found a rim at wedde subaru for 35... it even matches! everything's alllll good now. driven the car around 600-ishmiles since and no abnormal tire wear, and it pulls just about the same amount to the left as it used to. i'll probably get it aligned at school after thanksgiving sometime

also: 180K miles! woop woop!!