Rear Suspension, help?

[welcome2daSHO]

Ok, so not too good of weather here in WI, i have all seasons on the front and street tires on the back. went around a corner and the backend slid out on me, was so slick nothing i could do, :snap: the driverside rear tire hit a curb, and not just a tap. Hit it hard enough to throw something off and it turns out my rear wheel is now pulling the car to the left.

This happened about a month ago and its been so cold i haven't been able to do much about it, so today i pulled the wheel off and everything seems to be pretty straight except on main suspension component, i can't really figure out what it is, it might be the hub knuckle or something like that.

I searched throw rockauto, and all the close autoparts stores and i haven't gotten anything. it looks like the shock it mounted to it. any info on what any of you might know what this is would be GREAT! i shot a couple pics.

this one is looking from under the rear suspension, the rotor is on the bottom of the pic and looking close enough you can see the square rod that used to be straight which is now bent and threw everything off quite a bit:
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j38/dust75L/IMG_0388.jpg


this pic is from behind and a bit under, the rotor is on the left and you again can see the rust that got peeled away from the bend in the suspension:
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j38/dust75L/IMG_0386.jpg

Kinda off topic but i also shot a pic of something thats on my spring, im not sure what it is or what its purpose is. Looks like it adjusts the height of the car in a manual way but i don't know if this was stock or not.
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j38/dust75L/IMG_0385.jpg


Sorry im not too good and haven't had a lotta experiance with suspensions, which is probably pretty obvious by now. after i replace this part ill be taking the car in for an alignment. :thankyou:

 

[SHOZ123]

If the knuckle is bent it will throw the car out of alignment. Easy enough to replace. Those spring jacker uppers will just cause the spring to break sooner. And also affect the alignment too.

 

[welcome2daSHO]

so ur saying that i bent my knuckle? it looks like its connected to the shock, won't that be a piece to get out? and then should i remove my spring jacker uppers to prevent from breaking my springs?

 

[SHOZ123]

I bent my knuckle on where the tension rod attaches. This was very hard to see but if you carefully measured things you could tell.

The strut is attached to the knuckle. But the knuckle is pretty easy to change. The worst would be the strut pinch bolt which likes to break but if you are putting in a new knuckle it's no big deal.

 

[welcome2daSHO]

ok, so do i need a spring compressor for my strut to put it back together? and where can i find a rear knuckle? thank you so much. should i get rid of my spring jackers too? they were in before this happened and everything was in perfect alignment then.

 

[SHOZ123]

The knuckle is common for all Taurus/Sable with rear disc brakes from '93 on. Almost any parts store would have it. I would look into getting new springs because the back ones tend to break anyway. OEM or after market your choice.

Personally I don't mess with springs and take them to a shop. Too many close calls.

For the rear I would consider something in a quick strut already assembled product. If not you will need new strut mounts too.

 

[welcome2daSHO]

i think they already are after market, i was told by the buyer that they were ford racing springs and the car was lowered, they put that in there to make the car level for aerodynamics. I don't know how much of that is true though because they had nothing to back it up.

then do i have to get a spring compressor to be able top put the stuff back together or will the strut not get any longer when i take the stuff apart?

 

[SHOZ123]

Compressed springs can be very dangerous.

 

[welcome2daSHO]

alright ill keep that in mind, i checked all the auto parts stores and no one has it, its a dealer part. so i found a guy not too far from me on craigslist parting out a red gen 3 and he's gonna sell me that part, once i get a price for him ill go and pick it up. i think this car has some decent parts it in right now and he asked me how much i wanted to spend on this part so i think he'll be pretty easy to deal with. Any tips on parts i should grab that might come in handy someday or anything that would just be smart to grab?

 

[1995mtxsho]

Those coils are stock. Looks like someone cut too much off and had to rig it.

 

[welcome2daSHO]

dang! :banghd: maybe thats why its so stiff even with the sarc on, the ends of the spring that can actually flex are probably maxed out! so whats turned into fixing the effed up knuckle is getting pretty expensive...

 

[welcome2daSHO]

so i have two choices, either leave it and just fix the knuckle chancing more problems in the future. or replace the springs and the strut mounts, idk what other springs to use than the eibachs off of shosource, and if use those will i have to get new control arms to get the suspension aligned and will i need other various parts to get everything in check?! i barely have enough to pay for all of this, in which i really need the money for other stuff, im still trying to fix the running lean on the engine and who knows when the tranny will go on this thing. any input?

 

[welcome2daSHO]

paul; when you put the eibachs on your car what did you have to do in terms of getting the suspension aligned? im thinking of going that route sometime in the near future but i wanna know what kinda can of worms im opening before i do so...

thanks

 

[SHOZ123]

I have the adjustable GM arms on the back.

 

[welcome2daSHO]

ok thanks, and them im assuming you drilled out the spot welds on the front to be able to adjust that better. thanks!

 

[SHOZ123]

Drilled out the spot welds, threw the plates away and then slotted the towers at a 45 degree angle back as far as I could go. I have a FSTB that keeps the top of the struts in place.

 

[stephen newberg]

I did the same things as Paul. Its the best way to go.

pax, smn

 

[NebraskaSHO]

I really need to make a run of FSTB plates. I've got access to a computer operated plasma cutter.

Anyone have it in a CAD file? Or a .jpg of it? It will do either.

 

[welcome2daSHO]

ok so i replaced my knuckle got everything together beautiful and it look straight again. The Old one was obviously bent. Should i worry about taking it to get the rear suspension aligned? It seems to be tracking really straight meaning the sidewalls don't flex any differently when im driving in reverse and forward.

 

[Silvapain]

I really need to make a run of FSTB plates. I've got access to a computer operated plasma cutter.

Anyone have it in a CAD file? Or a .jpg of it? It will do either.

I do have a .jpg as a matter of fact. Can't say it's life size, but all you need to do is measure the diameter of yours and use that as a reference to scale the picture.