POP and Wiggle

[MrQ]

Interesting whoops from last night. I was on my way back from Fry's after picking up some stuff for my brother's birthday, when I started hearing a clunking sound. I figured the radius arm was a little loose and didn't think too much about it. As I took the hard right off of Hwy 99 and on to New Territory, I heard, and felt, a loud POP! Confused and very worried I continued on down the road, carefully, since I was less than a mile from my house. (Fortunately, the speed limit was only 35) I then noticed how far to the left the steering wheel was to track straight. Normally the wheel is off to the right by about 10deg, so I knew something was terribly wrong. Then the wiggle started. The whole truck nearly fell apart. It took all my strength to hold the steering and pull over to the side of the road. Freaked out and worrying over whether I had seriously broken something, I grabbed my flashlight, popped my head underneath the truck and saw this:

WTH??!!? Somehow the tie rod end had lost both the cotter pin AND the castle nut on the stud, then managed to pop itself out of the arm. Fortunately, I was about 500ft from my house and once called, my dad and bro arrived shortly with some tools and a replacement cotter pin. Before they got there though, I used the ex's bottle jack and raised up the right side "I" beam enough to unjam the tie rod end from the wheel and re-seat it in the arm. With the replacement cotter pin in, I drove VERY carefully back to the house. Tomorrow, I'll swipe a castle nut from my spare steering rack and fix it permanently. What a night!

 

[storlied]

Might want to check alignment just in case. It's always scary having something happen to the front end that just makes driving difficult to control. This reminds me when one of my front wheels locked up.. good thing I was on ice... [idk how I'm saying its a good thing...as I slid through a red light with a wheel locked up...] Lol... anyways.. good to know you're okay.. some people I'm sure would have lost control.

 

[Sams01XplrSprt]

yikes

 

[MrQ]

Thanks, storlied and yes it was kinda scary sam. But, its fixed now and in good order,*cold shiver* don't want to repeat that again. If that cotter pin somehow breaks off...I'll...I'll...I dunno what I'll do, but it won't be pretty. :

 

[gmanpaint]

Wow, that's some pucker factor right there! Glad you were on a low speed limit street close to home. If that was the hwy, oh man, bad news!

Did you clean the seat from all the pencil shavings afterward?

 

[MrQ]

Haha, I was in a huge adrenalin rush, I had a thousand thoughts in my mind, but all I did was react with what I knew: steer in a straight line and slowly apply pressure to the brake. Fortunately, no involuntary bowel movement occurred. If it was on the highway, though, I would have freaked out, done a major faceplant in the steering wheel screaming and holding on for dear life. I just thank God that that was not the case.

 

[gmanpaint]

LOL..yeah I can see you reciting the 12 steps to recovery as you fought it to stay on all 4 wheels and on the road!

 

[Hitchhikingmike]

Yikes! good thing that didn't happen on an entrance/exit ramp on a highway. Glad your okay.

I think I can envision what happened now. The ball joint on the tie rod froze, causing the stud to pivot in he knuckle when turning, turning the castle nut on the stud, sheering off the cotter pin.

Have you checked to see if the ball joint is frozen?

 

[MrQ]

Thanks. The ball joint is brand new and was liberally greased during install. After I installed the castle nut yesterday I drove it for about 20 miles on the highway with every seat filled. If the tie rod was going to freeze up and snap the cotter pin it would have been then. But I checked it when I got home and everything was ship shape.