***[WARNING] BROKEN SUSPENSION!!***
Thread Starter
Team Owner
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 29,564
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From: Nassau NP
Tropical Moderator
Cruise-In 1-5 Veteran
St. Jude Donor '03-'04-'10-'11
***[WARNING] BROKEN SUSPENSION!!***
Well, put my car up on the lift just now...immediately I could tell something was amiss...the left rear tire was MAJORLY toed out and hanging at an awkward angle...
I grabbed the wheel and shook it from side to side and the WHOLE THING MOVED!!
My brother in law got under the car while I wiggled and the forward bracket for the upper control arm broke its welds and separated from the frame!!
WTF!!
I'm downloading the pics now...
VERY scary!! Has ANYONE had this happen before? Car is 2 years old now, with 20,000 miles on the clock.
YIKES!!
Neill
***EDIT*** Added pics...
And this is a daily driver, not kept in the garage, so no cracks (hrmmmm) about the dirty wheel wells!! ;)
***EDIT***
This post was getting fairly long, and people weren't seeing the new pics...adding them here to the main post so you can see them more easily...
[Modified by BatMobile, 7:18 AM 3/27/2002]
***EDIT***
If any of you GM folks out there are reading this and wish to contact me, please use the following e-mail address
neillp@coralwave.com
[Modified by BatMobile, 5:26 PM 3/27/2002]
ADDED MORE PICS...
Please see the body of my posts on page 4 for details on this batch of pics...
[Modified by BatMobile, 11:22 AM 3/28/2002]
I grabbed the wheel and shook it from side to side and the WHOLE THING MOVED!!
My brother in law got under the car while I wiggled and the forward bracket for the upper control arm broke its welds and separated from the frame!!
WTF!!
I'm downloading the pics now...
VERY scary!! Has ANYONE had this happen before? Car is 2 years old now, with 20,000 miles on the clock.
YIKES!!
Neill
***EDIT*** Added pics...
And this is a daily driver, not kept in the garage, so no cracks (hrmmmm) about the dirty wheel wells!! ;)
***EDIT***
This post was getting fairly long, and people weren't seeing the new pics...adding them here to the main post so you can see them more easily...
Fresh pics...
[Modified by BatMobile, 7:18 AM 3/27/2002]
***EDIT***
If any of you GM folks out there are reading this and wish to contact me, please use the following e-mail address
neillp@coralwave.com
[Modified by BatMobile, 5:26 PM 3/27/2002]
ADDED MORE PICS...
Please see the body of my posts on page 4 for details on this batch of pics...
[Modified by BatMobile, 11:22 AM 3/28/2002]
Team Owner
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 58,783
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From: D*ck ina Box
CI III & IV Vote Ho
CI II, III, IV & V Vet
CI IV Bracket Champ
St. Jude Donor '03-'04
Re: ***[WARNING] BROKEN SUSPENSION!!*** (2000^C5)
damn Neil....keep us updated, like I need to say that.....good luck!!! :cheers:
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Melting Slicks
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From: Milwaukee WI
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Re: ***[WARNING] BROKEN SUSPENSION!!***
HOLY CRAP! To break a weld like that takes some major energy.. Any chance you got a little air or hit a pothole real hard?
Regarding welding method, your're gonna want to take apart most all of the suspension in there and do some very thorough grinding. Then, I would recommend an ac or dc arc welder (stick) in order to get a nice fat, deeply penetrating weld...
Of course, remember to take out all the bushings, etc. before you get the air real hot!
Best of luck on the repair.. It'll probably be stronger after you are done than it was brand new!
Regarding welding method, your're gonna want to take apart most all of the suspension in there and do some very thorough grinding. Then, I would recommend an ac or dc arc welder (stick) in order to get a nice fat, deeply penetrating weld...
Of course, remember to take out all the bushings, etc. before you get the air real hot!
Best of luck on the repair.. It'll probably be stronger after you are done than it was brand new!
Thread Starter
Team Owner
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 29,564
Likes: 0
From: Nassau NP
Tropical Moderator
Cruise-In 1-5 Veteran
St. Jude Donor '03-'04-'10-'11
Re: ***[WARNING] BROKEN SUSPENSION!!*** (nevrenuf)
Yeah...unfortunately, now that I know there is a weakness, I'll never fully trust my suspension again at 100%.
The roads are terrible here, but still, that is no excuse. Chatting with Red Gump, they endurance race these cars and have never had that particular failure...
Disturbing!!
Time to order up and start my FFR Cobra build relegate the Vette to more sane duties.
Neill
The roads are terrible here, but still, that is no excuse. Chatting with Red Gump, they endurance race these cars and have never had that particular failure...
Disturbing!!
Time to order up and start my FFR Cobra build relegate the Vette to more sane duties.
Neill
Drifting
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 1,500
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From: Holliston MA
Cruise-In VII Veteran
Re: ***[WARNING] BROKEN SUSPENSION!!*** (nevrenuf)
DO NOT STICK WELD THE BRACKET. The rear frame section on the car is a High Strength Low Alloy steel. Stick welding will put too much heat into the area weakening the steel at the intersection of the heat affected zone (red hot heat basicly turns HSLA steel into mild steel by changing the grain structure). Proper weld in the area is MIG as recommmended by GM. TIG welding would also be proper. The frame rail and the bracket are both basicly a thick guage sheet metal. A 175 amp MIG welder can blow holes in it. Clean the area throughly grind off any remaining weld on both the frame and the bracket and reweld. Then have the car realigned. Have you got a dealer there ? That should be a warranty issue.
Racer
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 415
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From: Cooleemee NC
Re: ***[WARNING] BROKEN SUSPENSION!!*** (BatMobile)
Are you sure that was a dog you ran over or a COW? Man if I had that much
bad luck with that car it would be D B R (Down the Big Road) I think you need
a new car and start over.
Sorry you have so much bad luck.
bad luck with that car it would be D B R (Down the Big Road) I think you need
a new car and start over.
Sorry you have so much bad luck.
