Snow fun, and fubar'd rear something

[MoscowSubaruDude]

Ok so here's the deal. I was enjoying the half inch of snow we had recently here in Spokane, and was doin some brodies and huge powerdrifts on the neighborhood streets. Wound up going a wee bit too fast, full sideways motion, down the street. Straight into a curb, mashed the rear passenger wheel up a good bit. Moment of impact, estimated speed by several observers was upwards of 20 mph. Almost tipped the hatch over on the side, both drivers side wheels were, quote 'three feet in the f-in air, man!' Now, onto my problem. After limping to a gas station, changing out the wheel for my spare, and getting back on the road, I have discovered that I seriously fubar'd something up back there. The passenger rear wheel is currently sitting (forgive the crude terms, I don't know all the camber and caster crap) at a minor angle, the upper part of the tire is outboard of the lower. aka like so, looking at it from the rear

 

/

 

And looking at it from the top, it is also steered outward in a funny fashion, if you eyeball it from the top, it looks like this as well

 

/

 

so basically the damn thing is sitting kitty-wompas and causing my car to crabwalk down the street, passenger door first. Not bad, I can still drive it on the freeway, but it's very dangerous on any major cornering, as the crabbing effect is not constant, leading me to believe that something is loose, wobbling, rather than just bent and still solid.

 

Sooo... due to my idiotic love of massive powerslides, I need to know what I need to pull off a junkyard wagon to fix this beast. So here goes the questions.

 

First... what's the most likely thing to have gotten damaged? I have jacked it up, can't really find anything bent, like the swingarm, it looks fine, the axles look fine, altho I do believe the shock compressed them somehow, because a formerly unripped boot was shredded (although it's more likely that's from the extensive visits to 7-mile:P) I haven't been able to do any comparisons from one side to the other, so I really, in all honestly haven't the foggiest notion as to what I did. I just know I fubar'd it.

 

So if anyone wants to hazard a guess, or give me things to look for that can alert me to a problem that can be more easily diagnosed, I'd greatly appreciate it. I'll be checking this daily, so I'll give feedback and whatnot. Thanks a ton in advance, you guys are always great.

 

Chris

[Jerry DeMoss]

Bent the trailing arm or the shock?

[idosubaru]

rear strut could easily be bent, that's my first guess.

 

if not, i'd get an entire rear hub assembly and swap it in, not that big of a job and someone on the board probably has one they can send you for not much $.

[zyewdall]

Sounds like both the strut and the swing arm got bent. They are fairly easy to replace as an entire swing arm/rear hub unit if you can find a used one. I did that when I burned out a rear bearing as it was the cheapest fix.

 

You finally got snow down in Spokane huh. I was up north of town last week, and we had about 18" of really soggy slushy snow, and lots of rain on top. (3,400 feet).

[monstaru]

7 mile huh....is it open right now?i haven't had time to get out there.maybe this weekend?

[ballitch]

from the sounds of it you twisted your swingarm. when your wheel hit the curb it not only bent the rim, it could have twisted either the swing arm mounting bolt, or the swing arm itself. is anything loose? does your wheel wobble like it has a wornout bearing?

 

 

 

~Josh~

[MoscowSubaruDude]

Yes it does indeed wobble a bit, driving it home in the slushy snow was a cast-iron ***************, going around several higher-speed corners proved more than it could handle. The car will do 60, easily, and isn't too bad on the freeway, but it can be a royal *************** at time, aka when I forget the I'm driving a cripplecar, and revert back to my pedal-to-the-metal driving routine, corners get a bit weird.

 

New question... are there any special tools needed to remove the whole swingarm/strut/torsion bar/etc besides my usual 10-16mm wrench, pliers, and assorted socket set? If so, what? I have a friend who has an uncanny ability to find the right tools, so if I know what it is, I can get it.

 

Thanks again

 

Chris

[operose]

previous owner of my xt6 did the same thing.. but with the front wheel.. ended up driving the front axle right into the front diff and breaking a bunch of ************. took the transmission out, front stubs will spin, and the CATCH all of the sudden, really hard, and won't turn anymore.. put a wrench or whatever on it and give it some torque and it will turn... I know this is unrelated, just saying watch out for the curbs my man!!!!

[4x4moose]

yeah like most of the people say a bent swing are. i did somthing of the same in my hatch. it was on a mountain road 30 or so miles from my house and put it in the ditch and bent the rear swing are good. junkyard had one for $45. its kind of an easy fix, there being like 4 bolts, brake line, then swap over your brake shoe assembly witch is 3 more bolts. it took my like an hour or so laying on the frozen ground.

[Mr. Carb]

I don't know if anyone's thought of this yet, But I remember when austin had a simular accident in his first subaru, it would bend the rear wheel the same way, and the cause of it was the mustache bar, wich is the bar that mounts both sides and the rear diff I believe. Anyway he managed to bend it twice before he decided to sell that car. It would do the same thing, make the rear wheel sit in crooked maner. And make the car crab drive.