help anyone? my wheel snapped off what parts do i need

jake1018291 · March 6, 2013

OK dumb move on my part but i learned my lesson DO NOT PROCRASTINATE! anyways my 97 xlt has 176k miles on it and wheeling one day i heard a grinding noise in 4x4 and no big deal the cv joint went out. so i had my buddy run me to get a new part and again no big deal so that evening it was very cold working on the x no heat in my garage, and i had the cv joint disconnected from the hub but at this point i couldnt feel my hands so my dumb ignorant self was like hey its gonna be nice out tomorrow lets just bolt it back up and leave the cv joint disconnnected from the hub, no big deal as long as my rear doesnt slip and dont go into 4x4, boy was i wrong.... so the next day im about 10 miles from my house when i heard clicking then bam the front left tire and wheel shot out from under me and went bouncing in the rearview to god knows where and it also ripped the brake cable and caliper away with the rotor wheel and tire, so it bled all the brake fluid out at 75 mph so i had to wait for it to grind to a halt, anyways i was wondering what all parts i need to buy and damage i should look for. heres what i know is gone and needs replaced i can take pictures as well.

wheel
tire
hub
brake caliper
brake rotor
brake lines
brake caliper carrier

now im thinking the cv joint was grinding the tie rod bolt away and thats what caused it because right before the wheel came off my steering had no effects on the x... hopefully you guys are more helpful than the cop, "what happened to your wheel son?" "...It came off... -.-"

Kevlar7R · March 6, 2013

your lower control arm is probably bent, possibly the steering knuckle too.
You said the steering had no effect? Is the rack still connected to the tie rods and steering knuckles?

Let's see some pics!

drdoom · March 6, 2013

Pics.

Flash · March 7, 2013

Cop: "Got any ID, son?"

jake1018291: "'Bout what?"

corkey · March 7, 2013

the wheel came off cause you didn't put the stub shaft through the bearing,and put the big nut on the outside,,
if it is not there, nothing holds the bearing together,, and you get what you have here,

the tie rod was not a part of the equation when the wheel bearing separated and the weight was down on that side more, you had no control after that,,

and i would say , no ID,, lol,,

jake1018291 · March 13, 2013

corkey said:
the wheel came off cause you didn't put the stub shaft through the bearing,and put the big nut on the outside,,
if it is not there, nothing holds the bearing together,, and you get what you have here,

the tie rod was not a part of the equation when the wheel bearing separated and the weight was down on that side more, you had no control after that,,

and i would say , no ID,, lol,,

took a closer look and im prety sure you are right no signs of any failure other than the bearing being seperated and when that happened it tore the hub out of the bearing along with the wheel rotor, caliper, and broke the caliper carrier sorry it took so long to get back with pics internet has been down but it looks like i got everything to fix it but the bottom of the control arm that skidded on the ground after the wheel came of grinded down the bolt that was underneath it any ideas on how to replace that without replacing the whole control arm? heres the pics

jake1018291 · March 13, 2013

(lost photos)

jake1018291 · March 13, 2013

(lost photos)

jake1018291 · March 13, 2013

somthing i am not getting apperently

jake1018291 · March 13, 2013

(lost photos)
the first picture is a picture of the bolt grinded away that i was talking about

koda2000 · March 13, 2013

Near as i can make out from your 1st picture, that's your lower ball joint that had its nut ground off. Not that hard to just replace it with a new lower bj for about $25-$30.

You'll also need a brake caliper mounting bracket (salvage yard), a brake caliper (reman around $30), new CV axle/half shaft (reman usually around $60), new brake flex line ($15), new hub bearing assembly ($120-$150), used wheel (salvage yard), a new tire, 5 lug nuts, new ABS sensor (assuming it got trashed) and maybe a new brake hard line. you should be able to straighten out the splash shield with a hammer and/or vise grips. Quite a mess you got going there.

Edit: New front brake rotor (around $40), front brake pads (set) around $32.

jremington59 · March 13, 2013

The bolt looks like your lower ball joint. So it seems you need that and a new hub. Does it appear the lower control arm is bent? If so, get the lower control arm with the BJ already in. Did the rotor get damaged?

ponkotsu · March 13, 2013

koda2000 said:
Quite a mess you got going there.

That's an understatement! Hope the truck is really nice, cuz that is almost enough to scrap some older vehicles. Can probably add a front end alignment to the bill also. And as long as you are putting all those nice new parts on the left side, you should probably replace the right side so they match.

Glad you didn't get hurt. That could have been a real disaster...

jake1018291 · March 25, 2013

got 90% of the parts so far, all i need now is the hub and ball joint, the control arm looks fine, not bent i got the brake caliper, lines, carrier, and pads in great shape from the junk yard for $30

the rotor was $15 just need to get it turned already had the cv joint from original repair job, im gonnna use the spare rim for now or one of my f150 rims cuz once i lift it im buying new rims and tires, also need lugs i forget about the little things like that to add to the list, already got a tire, and probably right could use an alignment and found the hub for 110 and balljoint for 20, so far only spent $45 bucks +130 for the bj and hub, battery is dead so add another 40, and lugs probably what 10? and how much is an alignment so repair total is...... around 225 not counting the alignment and i cant scrap her the engine alone is worth more than scrap its a well maintained 4.0 ohv with only 170k, already got some little mods into it and on top of that it was my first car and will just be a play toy once its lifted, and @ponkotsu yeah it could have been really bad.

jake1018291 · March 25, 2013

oh yeah and brake fluid

jhnnybgood · March 25, 2013

Holy crap I bet that was a trip! Good luck getting everything back together.

Turdle · March 25, 2013

Look at the post with links now--3 of the 4 images have opened. If you go into that post, and click edit you will see what I did to the link to make this happen, as I left one "undone" for you. While you are in the edit field, change the "url" at the front and back of the link to "img" leaving the slash on the last one. The last picture should open up.

Doing it yourself will help you learn it.

OH, and, amazingly it looks like the damage is kept to the brakes-hub-dust shield. The knuckle and lower control arm both look ok to me, unless I missed something. That is, "if" you can get the lower ball joint out of there. Might want to check the upper ball joint real well also.

Hank McGee · March 25, 2013

If I am not mistaken, the 2 wheel drive Exporers have the same wheel bearing as the 4 wheel drive Explorers, so I do not think leaving the drive axle out actually did anything to cause it to come apart. I may be mistaken, it has been awhile since I did a wheel bearing on a 2 wheel drive Explorer. With that said, I believe the main culprit of the problem was a bad wheel bearing. The axle just help the junk parts together.

Turdle · March 25, 2013

Hank McGee said:
If I am not mistaken, the 2 wheel drive Exporers have the same wheel bearing as the 4 wheel drive Explorers, so I do not think leaving the drive axle out actually did anything to cause it to come apart. I may be mistaken, it has been awhile since I did a wheel bearing on a 2 wheel drive Explorer. With that said, I believe the main culprit of the problem was a bad wheel bearing. The axle just help the junk parts together.

They are different, The torque on the 4wd axle stub nut is the key to the bearing holding together, longer.

jake1018291 · March 26, 2013

and that would definetly explain it considering it wasnt connected lol and yeah this weekend should be when i have all the parts. paychecks are screwing up left and right getting direct deposit asap, and yeah the lower ball joint if all else fails im thinking air chisel? or grinder? anything to not have to buy the whole control arm that thing is expensive

help anyone? my wheel snapped off what parts do i need

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