Damned Pot Hole!

Just got truck back from Toytec. All I needed was an alignment. It seems the impact bent the spindle (a metal thingy in front) and not the tie rod end. Apparently, this item is designed to absorb energy of impacts rather than send that force deeper into the truck. Meaning, it's somewhat expendable and acts as a cushion. Upshot is they could adjust the alignment around the "bend" and accommodate it without replacement. That wouldn't have happened with a tie rod end.

A note about Toytec BTW; I called them yesterday and they got me in next day.
Further, misalignment was yielding of OEM part and not any Toytec component.
Nor was it a failure from improper torquing of parts in the suspension upgrade.
So...big props to Anthony for getting me in and to Mike for knowing his shit!

Pic of the evil Dr. Pothole below, notice the "blunt" exit angle!

 

You would want a tie rod end bent before a spindle. Unless of course it bent the rack and pinion. Spindle is a major component of the front end. Would love to see your print out. Bet your Included angle or SAI are out of spec.

 

Sounds like good luck. You may be describing it a bit wrong though. The spindles are usually cast and rarely bend, they break or snap. It must have been something minor if the could compensate for it with an alignment. I still may have opted to replace the bent part if not too expensive. If it is designed to do that, next time it will fail and may leave you stranded.

Just a thought. (I don’t have many of those)

 

They guy said spindle, WTF do I know? And, it's not like I had I choice on what took the brunt of the impact anyway!
Here are the before specs, as it was delivered today:

 

Here are the new specs as it was delivered after re-alignment:

 

Looks good as it gets. Something jacked up the steering to affect toe on the left wheel, but they got it fixed. So like you said, it’s fixed.

 

Nasty hole, unlike the trail, hard surface holes have no give, sorry op, however, the good news is:
As long as it steers right, turns left, handle and feels right, you should be GTG.

 

yeah, it feels right. Surface streets and highway both today after repair; no wobble, shake, shimmy, or veering one way or the other. Sorry to harp on it, but the Toytec guys have treated me very well. They know their shit! I'm lucky and grateful!

 

Nice caster. What size lift? Do you have after market UCA?

 

Looks good

 

I believe spindles were forged... Thus the multitudes of spindle gussets on the market and they weld on fine. Cast is very difficult to weld.

I'm just shocked that a parking lot bent the spindle. People abuse these trucks off road at speed and they seem to hold up.

 

I’m surprised that modest hole bent anything or knocked the truck out of alignment. I drive over bigger stuff than that all the time. Curbs for example.

 

I agree, I spent most of my life in Michigan... that's not a pothole, that's a recently repaired road You'd hit 6 of those a day on the way to work.. Its concerning that little thing was able to throw your alignment out of whack. How fast were you actually driving OP?

 

That knocked your alignment out?

Did the shop find the rack to be loose to start with? Did you ever have an alignment done prior to?


I typically run 35psi and have hit stuff wayy worse than that at parking lot speeds, on road and off, including stupidly bumping over a full size curb at full lock when doing a u-turn. Zero noticeable alignment issues in 53k / factory alignment.

 

A lot to answer here...

It was a 2.5" Boss 2.0 lift and yes, I have SPC upper control arms just have margin on caster.
Spindle (the metal thingy) is forged and completely weldable. Yes, castings break, forgings are tough, ductile and will bend.
Nothing was loose to start with. It was relatively new install maybe 2-3 months and alignment was done with it. Nothing else came lose, un-torqued, slipped, whatever.
These are very new tires and set at 36psi.
Surprised that one little pot hole did this? Me too!

I had the truck new only a few months and did some challenging trails when bone stock. Went through a boulder field that was pretty intense and even beat up my skid plate pretty good. But no alignment damage. There are possibly 2 things at work here. (1) the nature of the pothole if you'll notice is sloping in on entry and dead square on exit. It was deep enough that it was like running up onto concrete curb/sidewalk. (2) the diameter of the tire is greater than stock and so the load on the spindle and suspension is greater just through leverage.

How fast? I don't know, I was in a parking lot looking for a storefront and not paying attention (duh). I had just turned off the main street so, and I was accelerating and down hill, too. But I wasn't going real fast...maybe 10mph???

I have to say I feel a lot like "tonered" said just above, I've done way worse on the street, off-roading, and in parking lots and nothing like this has ever happened. I've heard stories about cracked rims, flattened tires, etc from pot holes so apparently, it happens. Hopefully just a one-off fluke incident? But I have to say I'm a little worried, too. The guy at the shop said this was not uncommon and that bent tie rod ends are not uncommon either (they keep them in stock!!!). Wait and see?

 

you can reinforce the craziness out of your front end to the point that it more or less isolates this kind of damage to find the tie rod ends, which as mentioned before is generally the preferred failure point. there are guys here on TW who weld gussets on the spindles (or sell gusseted ones and take yours in exchange), and of course there are a/m spindles available (camburg), but that would be total overkill for you. gusseted spindles? well, after this, maybe not overkill.

 

"gusseted spindles? well, after this, maybe not overkill."

Yeah, maybe not!I don't ever do anything beyond "moderate" trails and to be honest, I drive slow, too. This is the most heavily modified truck I've ever had. If I have to gusset spindles just for that I'll just likely stay home and be real disappointed in my Toyota.

 

BTW, every time I see the thread title, I read it as "damn plot holes." The internet seems to be obsessed with them.

 

Thank God I invested in Firestone alignment for life program for just one cost. Anytime I'm going on a long road trip, I'm on the rack and aligning the truck and I only paid once. I've already done it a dozen times just to be sure I'm good.

 

Nah, taco spindles are well known and well documented for bending

< guy with bent spindle