Left Tire collided with a skidplate tonight

so I have no idea if this is something I just hadn't noticed, or if the shop that I just went to on Friday accidentally bent the plate and then either didn't notice or didn't tell me. Was out antiquing with the girlfriend and then met up with other friends to go eat at this nice Thai restaurant in town. we're just talking and stuff as we pull in and I turn all the way to the right to pull into a spot, suddenly there's just a loud gouging sound and I quickly stopped.

Thinking to myself, what on Earth... I get out to look and somehow the left tire was able to come into contact with the skid plate and I'm assuming because of the force of its spinning it bent the shit out of it even more.

I bent it back up as well as I could with my bare hands and we went on to eat and now I've just gotten home and I'm going to see if I can but this bitch back where it belongs.

Has anyone ever had this happen before? Also can anyone post a picture of their left tire and the skid plate so I can see how far up its supposed to be?

I'll post some pictures as soon as I get under the truck.

 

Photos up.

Yeah I have no idea how this happened

 

So after messing around so more and doing some gentle driving over bumps in the truck court of my office I think the sway bar may be hitting the plate?
Once I am home I will jack the front up and see if the sway bar touches the plate.

More to come.

 

its your steering stop on your knuckle / spindle where it meets the LCA. common thing, put a lil grease on it or just dont crank the wheel full lock (hit full lock then back off a smidge)

 

Do you have a photo to better explain what you mean? At full lock , in park, the tire is pressing into the skid plate..haha. it doesn't have to go to full lock, maybe 85% of the way?

 

thats not a skid plate, rather a 'splash pan' in Toyota speak. Just give it a push in with your hand on the side, it'll bend back over about as easy as tin foil.

 

Really? I mean it looks like a skid plate to me haha. Anyway after doing some further testing during lunch today I realize that there's just no way to bend it back without taking it off.

it's one of those situations where you need to bend it further than the point that you want it to rest at. but unfortunately with everything behind it I can't do that, so all I can do is flex it I can't bend it back.

When I get home and take it off I'll take some pictures

 

Hit it with a block of wood and a 5 lb hammer

 

Just push on it with your foot

 

I actually tried something similar to both of this, but it just flexes and bounces. Need more distance to bend it.

 

Is it actually bent though? Can you loosen the bolts and shift it over a little?

 

Yeah, if I can get a better photo I will. From the front of the truck, the right side sticks out like... 5-6 inches more than the left which is almost vertical.

 

You can bend it back in with your hand.

 

Well yes I physically have the strength too but it needs to bend back further than there is room to do.

You know how if you don't push something enough it flexes vs bending? It's that issue.

I'm pretty sure if I take it off I should be able to stand on it and just pull it up

 

Go curb stop it.

 

Wow yeah that's so much higher up than mine. Haha

I'm still unsure how it came down far enough for the tire to hit it. :/

 

just pull it off, its 4 bolts. 12mm heads i think.

 

Yes it does, it's just bentsomething cause it to bend out enough that the tire was able to make contact, once the tire was able to make contact as I was moving forward even though it was kind of slowly it bent the shit out of it even more.

the extreme Bend I was able to push back into place in the parking lot, but as I've said above unfortunately I can't bend it back into place so as soon as I get home today I'm going to take it off and try to bend it back.

 

That is on my list of mods, however the next thing that I'm budgeting for is the right lower control arm as the ball joint is getting near the end of its life.

So I'll probably been this one enough for the moment and then once the crucial components are repaired or replaced then I'll focus on the fun stuff

 

That's the plan on the next pay check