Front Suspension Damage - This needs To Be Fixed

Those of you that follow our blog and adventures know that we frequent rough backroads. We drive slow and carefully, but we are often crawling along in 4 low.

Memorial Day Weekend is used for annual truck and camper chores. The camper comes off and both the truck and camper are thoroughly washed, detailed and waxed. Also, the truck gets its annual lube job - u-joints, ball joints, tie rod ends, etc.

As I pulled the truck into the garage for detailing after washing, Julie noticed that the truck was tilting - lower on the passenger side. This is what we found -









That split is not normal on the lower control arm (how's that for an understatement?). The last rock we bumped was crawling down a steep two track in southeastern Oregon, north of highway 140 east of Adel last week.

New parts are already on order. We'll fix it next weekend. Julie and I rebuilt the front end in May 2018 - 93,000 miles ago. We'll also install a new set of shocks, a convenient time to do it.

Good to find that in the garage and not as a break down in the back of beyond. Best wishes for a speedy and successful repair!

Yikes! Is that a common failure point in those trucks?

Yikes!! - That is always one of my worries as I've got 200K on my Tacoma and many miles on those same rocky roads you were just on. Like y'all we just crawl along but it has to take a toll over time. Glad to hear you have an experienced shop with no wait....

WOW! That was close and the “high speed” comment sent shivers up my spine. Just another example that stuff happens. I think I need to go spend some time under my truck!

All of the sudden, today sounds like a great day to spend some time crawling around under my truck!

Nto my area of expertise, but that looks like a fatigue crack. The bottom of it has some corrosion and may be from some time ago, but the upper looks freshly cracked. Anyway, we hope your repairs go smoothly!

Yikes! I've also been very lucky finding problems at home and thankfully not on the road.

You are very fortunate to have found the failure at home in your garage where you can deal with it conveniently.

You sure did not need that to fail out on the road with the added stress. Not to mention 10 miles in the back country, no cell service,, etc.

Glad Julie noticed the sagging front.

Thank you for all the "Yikes!" and please be assured my word choice was a bit stronger when I got down and looked under the truck.

rubberlegs, I'm seeing it the same as you - an initial crack that subsequently opened up. I will investigate further today.

When was the initial damage done? I rotated the tires 3 weeks ago - I do it so I can inspect the suspension, brakes, tire wear, etc., myself and did not see a crack in the control arm. Did I miss it? Possible, but that is near my jacking point and in my line of sight as I raise the truck, so I believe I would have noticed it. Also, 3 weeks ago I had an alignment done. The tech did not report any damage or issues. But, that's why I like to do my own inspections.

But believe me I'm taking a bright light under and looking at everything again, maybe two or three times! Yikes!

I also believe the crack opened up here at home. It is scary being in the driver's seat with the lean down to the right. I just moved the vehicle over into its place in the garage. There was nothing like this on the drive back from Oregon.

oh crap. glad u guys found that problem - IN THE DRIVEWAY !! . i was just reading a post in a sprinter forum, from a local guy who broke a tie rod up on a 4x4 trail somewhere around mt. adams in Wa. they are at least 10 miles up a rough road/trail.
anyways, good luck with the fixing. u seem to have some skills in this area. since i am a 10 hr drive away, i will just send some good vibes. i wonder what the opposite side of the vehicle looks like?

This is the kind of thing that will have me going underneath all my vehicles with a flashlight.

Yes very lucky to have discovered that split at home and not
somewhere in the DV outback.
Frank

Ok Ski, no more jumping the Ranger

A productive Saturday morning. The new lower control arm is installed along with 4 new shocks.






The project grew arms and legs as I decided to find a set of torsion bars with much less miles on them - new torsion bars are no longer available from Ford. I located a 2007 FX4 Level II at a recycle yard in Missouri for $105 each that included UPS shipping. They'll be here next Tuesday. I also bought new torsion bar insulator blocks OEM from Ford and (shop manual required) new adjusting bolts. Putting it all together will be well less than two hours.

Here's 4 photos of the cracked lower control arm.

























It appears the control took a hit and cracked and later the crack opened up. That's the story the minor rust in the crack tells me.

glad to see u are making progress. i have been wondering what was going on with the truck. i thought i had heard some rumors that you two had been seen in sacramento auto showrooms.....

goinoregon said:

glad to see u are making progress. i have been wondering what was going on with the truck. i thought i had heard some rumors that you two had been seen in sacramento auto showrooms.....

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Now that one had me laughing out loud.

Wow. Inspired me take a look and found a broken leaf spring on the 05 Tundra! Good reminder to check things over every once in a while,