Possible suspension issue?

[Hookie]

Right now I've put the wheel back on and it's sitting in the driveway, there's nothing more I can do. Next week I'll try to chase up someone who's capable of fixing it. My estimate for cost is somewhere between several thousand and more than it's worth. If it's the latter, hopefully it's worth something to a wrecker.

Thanks for the advice.

[drover]

The bushing is about $109AUD at Rockauto, the body work really depends how much work is needed, I know I once had the chassis rebuilt at the rear when a tow bar tried to tear itself off, well it very nearly did actually because the fitters never torqued the bolts up properly anyway that was just on a grand to rebuild so imagine a tad more nowadays.......... but you never know until you get a quote...... tried looking for what is under that skin but no luck to date......

It seems to be the product of flogged out bushes finally letting go from what I could see online, so mine have all had a very close inspection since I tow quite a bit... not even any age cracks in the rubber..............

[Hookie]

Originally Posted by drover

It seems to be the product of flogged out bushes finally letting go from what I could see online,

Yeah, I kinda suspect that this might have started before I owned the car, I've only had it 2 years (still got a year's worth of payments on the f*%king thing). Even now it still feels fine to drive because those two rear mounts are doing all the work.

I hope I get lucky and someone can do the fabricating cheap, but I'm mentally preparing for the worst.

[Grippy]

So in that hole, there's meanto be a bushing and it's pushed inside the wheel arch? Is that what we're looking at?

[drover]

Nah the bush sits in the frame, looks like the mount the bush bolts onto has let go and tore away the body..... That shaft I think is what the bushing bolt screws into and should be hidden in the body...............

@Hookie see if you can get a photo of the bush in the subframe should be mostly rubber with a H sort of shaped bit of metal with a bolt head...

I really wouldn't drive it very much as it would only be the rear mounts thats holding the sub frame to the vehicle, lucky the diff isn't leaking as that would show up things are moving out of line.... might be a good idea to look at the rear ones and make sure not cracks are appearing in the body work as well... stay well away froom speed bumps.

[Hookie]

Originally Posted by drover

@Hookie see if you can get a photo of the bush in the subframe should be mostly rubber with a H sort of shaped bit of metal with a bolt head...

I really wouldn't drive it very much

I'll see what I can see up in there tomorrow, but the sheet metal has definitely torn outwards, which seems odd if the bush pushed through.

And yeah, next time this thing moves it's going on a tilt tray.

[Classic Boy]

The metal fab and reinforcing is not that big or difficult but what will be exy is the labor to disassemble all the local trim and furnishings to access both sides and prevent heat or fire damage.