Driveway Injury

Good Morning and HAPPY LABOR DAY to ALL

The following happened yesterday while taking my 75 coupe out of the garage.I backed out and proceeded to only turn the car around in the driveway, while starting to back up from the street I heard this LOUD snapping sound like metal snapping. When I got back up the driveway I noticed my passenger side front wheel was bent in.HOLY SHIT!!!!. I immediately openned the hood to see what could have broke could not find anything, got a quilt and looked under the car could not find or see anything.
This does not look good for me any help or guesses as to what broke are greatly appreciated.

Could be a lot of things but all of these will be very obvious once you got the front supported on jackstands and once you removed the wheel.

- The upper control arm bolts (or one of them) could have snapped.
- The upper control arm bushings (or one of them) could have popped out.
- The upper ball joint could have failed - unlikely but a possibility.
- the bracket that the upper control arm cross shaft is bolted to could have cracked, if this happens it looks like the two bolts are still tight.

Get the car safely supported, remove the front wheels and if you need help finding the problem post some pictures. Good luck, hopefully it's only a broken bolt.

#1. Your a lucky man it happened in the driveway, not on the freeway.
#2 Jack it up, pull the wheel, and you'll see it right off. My best guess is the upper cross shaft bolt nuts came off, or the lower shaft tore off the frame.

big2bird said:

or the lower shaft tore off the frame.

Click to expand...

if that's the case be careful with the coil spring. If it's the stock spring, it is compressed quiet a bit....

Maybe the alignment shims came out? Hopefully it's that simple.

SmokinBBC said:

Maybe the alignment shims came out? Hopefully it's that simple.

Click to expand...

Could be. I have seen that, but the wheel leans out.

I had the same thing happen to me, the lower control arm mounting bracket broke away from the cross member. It's a pretty straight forward repair if that's what it is. Just be careful removing the spring. The rest is welding and re-assembly. If your bracket is not usable like mine was then you can purchase a replacement. I bought mine from Zip for $90.00 plus shipping. I would also check the other side while your at it.

carlthecopyking
| n00b Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Vernon NJ
Posts: 2
My Photos: (0)

1975 steering problem

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Quote
Mornin,

My 75 coupe has had the entire front end rebuilt,however I still have a problem with the car pulling to the right when ever I let go of the steering wheel. The car did have a 4 wheel alignment.Any help much appreciated.

Carl, reading an early post by you. I guess the pulling problem has come to a head. Glad to hear that you are OK! Bring it back to that front end rebuilter and have him check everything, including your trailing arms. Have him torque all the bolts to spec. If you need the torque spec I can give them to you. If I remember correct, this is the second time you lost a front end part (both in your driveway) which I would say is very lucky in my book. Want to buy me a lottery ticket? Anyway put your mind at ease and have the system checked.

Your Buddy,
Danny

I've had that same problem with it pulling to the right or left. It was a tire that was coming apart inside. Try putting the front tires on the back and see if it still pulls