Steering upside down...almost?!

[tiger]

Have an 02 & my VSC/TRAC lights came on the other day...but mine was having terrible alignment issues about 1,000 miles ago. So i get in my wifes Sequoia & the sterring wheel is turned WAY to the right just to keep the vehicle moving straight! They say something is bent & needs to be replaced, thus explaining the constant outta alignment! I would barley turn on a slight curve & you could hear my tires squeal. Had the TSB brake done & the upper control arm was beat to hell on both sides I just wonder if all is connected. It felt like the front wheels were going to fall off at any second! Around $500 to fix, have 66K & have never been off road. What the heck is this and how could it have gotten bent? The dealer said it was not driveable, no kiddin! They said we could have ran into something or hit a pothole. Now we have had this rig since day 1 have excellent roads & yes hit the occasional pothole but geez.

[tiger]

Lower Control Arm was bent! Had to be replaced!

[Picasso]

Lower Control Arm was bent! Had to be replaced!

Did you get a look at the bent control arm? Was the bend visually noticeable?


Paul

[tiger]

I got to look at it but couldnt really tell but I didnt have it next to the other lower control arm either. I hope to pick her up today and really get to look at it good & the master tech can show me excatly what was bent.

[tiger]

Yea it was definitely bent compared to the new one Feels much better now. Now to see if we can get those troublesome VSC/TRAC lights to go off

[apimpdad]

my steering wheel has been upside down for a while, no bent drag links or tie rods, and it still goes down the road great, and not to mention, im too lazy to fix it.

[DevinSixtySeven]

You also have 38" tires and a solid front axle .

Tiger, you sure it was the lower control arm and not a tie rod?

I'd frankly be amazed if somebody bent a lower control arm. Tie rods can bend if you hit a pothole, curb, rock, chunk of ice at 60mph, that sort of thing. Our lower control arms have been drug bodily across some of the worst terrain the States have to offer and yours (if the LCA) would be the first I've ever heard bent! I'd love to see the boulder you hit, or at least a pic of the old part or something.

Any possibility somebody tagged the truck in a parking lot, or you hit a curb at speed?

The upper control arms being beat to hell doesn't have anything to do with it, but it does show the guy who did the TSB work was lazy. The UCA and UBJ are supposed to be separated with a press tool that you can find for 10$ at most auto parts stores, or make yourself if you're clever.

-Sean

[apimpdad]

You also have 38" tires and a solid front axle .

-Sean

haha that is true, but i did find out what made it happen, the track bar bracket on the axle is bent, and the metal is cracked in 3 places, which made the axle shift to the drivers side. i was at the mudhole last night and when i left there (after some hard wheeling of course(, the steering wheel went way crooked again, time to bust out the welder and a big hammer!

[tiger]

DevinSixtySeven Nice name Thats mine too! My wife drives it so her hitting a curb or something at hi speed is possible b/c she has terrible depth perception on both sides & is always scratching the right front tires upagainst a drive through and thats the one that was replaced so I could see how she could have done it. They showed me the lower control arm and it looked bent but I'm no mechanic. Needless to say she got a nice butt chewing