Pothole, now right only!?!

2

29leatherbackA

Junior Member
Had to take the A out for a drive on this nice spring day. I hit a rather large pothole that was obscured by water. The car jumped nearly off the road and now it is nearly impossible to turn the wheels to the left. Right is normal and easy as it was before. Where should I start?
 
Sure sounds like something got bent. Check your tie rod.

Check your toein. Do a search on toein, there is a lot out there on the subject.

Get underneath and just look around to see if something jumps out at you as far as being bent, or missing.
 
I'd start by putting the front axle on a pair of stands so the wheels are just off the ground and run an eye around everything looking for something bent. If nothing is obvious. If nothing seen, then I'd have someone turn the steering wheel while you watched what happens, especially on the side that hit the hole. I suspect something is bent and fouling something else in the steering. That should be easy to spot and will give us a way to offer more advice.
 
Thanks for the replies, doing a quick visual, I think the mount on the steering stabilizer kit installed by the previous owner got bumped out of place and is catching on the engine mount. I will dig deeper when time permits.
 
If you're into a steering stabilizer I might venture the opinion that something was "not quite right" for the previous owner?

Maybe now is the time to MAKE IT RIGHT?

5 out of 5 front axles of my ownership require (or required) straightening.

Joe K
 
Joe K said:
If you're into a steering stabilizer I might venture the opinion that something was "not quite right" for the previous owner?

Maybe now is the time to MAKE IT RIGHT?

Joe K
Click to expand...

I was thinking that very same thing, somebody did a band aid repair and didn't fix the problem.
 
I got the chance to work on my A this weekend, started out by removing the steering stabilizer and tried to go for a drive, the car shook so hard I thought I’d break all my teeth. Next I replaced all the tie rod and drag link springs and cups. The handling improved immensely with that, but still too much slop so I adjusted the steering box using the steps in the Les Andrews book. I still need to set my toe in, but I had prior plans to replace the front spring shackles so I did that and will come back to setting the tie in another day. The car already handles better than i thought was possible. Thanks for all the help and suggestions here.
 
Just for grins I would take a look at the ball and socket where the wishbone connects. All that force was directed there. When I bought my 31 ccpu, it had a slight bend on the axle but the flywheel housing was broken to the point of needing replacement.
 
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