60 MPH smash against 9 inch curb. Need help with hard steering

Hello to all, first post here.


Need advice/feedback from you, I will greatly appreciate it.

So my 2016 4x2 Tacoma skid and hit a 9 inch high curb dead flat sideways on both driver front and back tires and came to a stop. I was trying to evade 4 thugs that were following in a Tahoe with intentions to steal my truck. Speed was at least 60 mph at the moment of impact.
I managed to lose them in a neighborhood after gaining a good distance over them. Impact was brutal as you may expect, but no airbags were deployed nor dash warning lights and I made it uninjured. Thankfully wheels and side step bar absorbed some of the impact. Other than a few rim scrapes, bumper scratches and a flat tire, suspension parts seemed OK and didn't notice any visual damage at the time.

After replacing flat tire, I wasn't surprised (knowing that they are pretty tough trucks) that the truck was still in good shape to get me back home safely. While parking I did notice hard steering which was the main issue that was reported afterwards to my insurance company.

After they took it to a non Toyota unprofessional shop, all they claimed was needed was an alignment and that suspension parts were fine. I totally disagreed with them and after days of trying to convince them that not because parts visually "look OK" means they' re not bent. I decided to take it to a Toyota body shop. There they made a more thorough inspection and suggested changing LCA, UCA, steering knuckle, tie rods, stabilizer, wheel bearing assy, strut and perform a possible chassis alignment to name a few. Long story short, I terminated relation with insurance company and haven't decided to proceed legally against them until now.

So now I am on my own and any repair costs will be covered by me. Because of this, I have taken it to several shops to listen for their different opinions, mainly so I can pinpoint exactly what needs to be replaced, save money and not be a parts changer. Most shops did not find any necessary parts to replace cause they all "looked OK" to them. The following days I took it for manual alignment and it did not come out well. A second alignment was attempted, this time with laser, but unfortunately it was denied until I fix possible suspension problems( guy pointed out hard steering and slanted to the left).

Above incident all occurred in Mexico, so you would expect some insurance procedures to be handled differently. Truck was bought new. All parts are stock. Truck has never done off-roading. It has 52k miles. Truck has never been in any past incidents.

The following are issues and key points that have been discovered by shops and by myself:


1. Hard steering only when parking (this is my highest concern). Steering does feel hard in normal driving or at highway speeds.
2. 3/4 of an inch lower from ground to top of tire well on driver side compared to the passenger side. If you stand in front of truck, you'll notice lean towards the driver side.
3. steering wheel slightly steers to the left (pretty sure this can be fixed with alignment)
4. low humming sound at highway speed when steering to the right
5. caster/cam indicator tab bent (SEE PIC)
6. front driver wheel 2.5 cm moved closer to tire well compared to front passenger wheel (I suspect this is caused by bent LCA) (SEE PIC)
7. No rack leaks or sounds at any RPM
8. Steering feels normal at medium and high speeds
9. No abnormal noises from suspension or while I steer.
10. Steering fluid has been within level ever since.


A. Can a bent LCA be the main reason I'm experiencing hard steering while parking? Can changing the LCA guarantee fixing this steering issue?
B. What other suspension parts would be worthy to replace?
C. Based on the previous rack and pinion observations, is it safe to say that rack or pump does not need replacement?
D. Trucks' barely been driven after accident, not because its undriveable, but because I'm concerned other parts could get damaged
E. I'm aware that tacomas are usually slightly slanted towards the driver's side, but 3/4 of an inch is a little too much, what part could be causing this? strut or coil?


My plan is to start with replacing lower control arm and go from there. Any additional recommendations are welcomed.

Thanks and be safe

 

How do you know someone wanted to steal your truck?

 

I was thinking the same exact thing?

 

How do you know they were thugs?

 

This was the giveaway.. Tacos are hot items down south

 

If you need oem parts like control arms, rims, etc, just go over to the 3rd gen marketplace, lots of members take off parts even when new. New oem tie rod ends are cheap, too. Steering rack not so much.

 

I'll try and actually be helpful.

I would start by jacking up the front end. Spin the tires by hand, move the steering back and forth while visually inspecting it, etc. See if there's anything glaringly obvious.

It's hard to not recommend just throwing parts at it because that is the easiest internet diagnosis. Did you ever get it aligned like they suggested?

 

Any new looking trucks are potential targets down south. Especially in border cities. They tried cutting me off several times. Without a doubt they were aiming for the truck.

 

4 guys in a old tahoe sticking out the windows, tailgating with headlights off and cutting you off several times, definitely bad guys.

 

I missed the part about why you cut ties with your insurance company. This whole deal sounds like a nightmare though.

 

If you hit a curb sliding at 60 mph, the truck’s suspension would rip off and the truck would roll several times. But, hitting a curb like that will smash the wheel bearings, rip the tie rods apart, bend upper and lower a arms and brackets. So, what really happened.....‍?

 

I would have a body shop take a look at it. I did something similar in a GTI I had and ended up needing a bunch of frame work. I later got rid of it.

 

Thieves look for tourists in vehicles that have been driven over the border with their US plates and Toyota Tacomas are their #1 target for obvious reasons. The thieves also know a car theft will NEVER be investigated in Mexico for reasons including not being properly insured while visiting Mexico. Glad you got away OP or you would have never seen that truck again.

Just saying its more that conceivable this was an attempted car jacking.

 

Do you live in the USA? If so it would be rare if your insurance covered you in Mexico anyway. Any quality body shop will be able to bring the truck back to spec, easily. How many opinions are actually needed? This is not rocket surgery. "THUGS", lol, too much drama.

 

OP, i saw you made a mention of a laser alignment that didn't happen, but have you planned to do a laser assessment of the frame?

any front end parts could bend and be difficult, very difficult, to identify if they did. but your LCA pivots (attachment blades) are softer than the LCAs themselves, and they may have lost spec. if this was me at your stage of assessing, i would get a laser assessment of the frame and particularly of the LCA pivots, which may require some disassembly and hand measuring.

 

This thread is a wild ride. Heckuva first post. Welcome. Hope it works out.