Slammed a rock, nothing bent

Pitch dark in the campground, new moon, park lights only (didn't want to bother anyone), slammed a rock w/left front, threw me into steering wheel, horn blew, wheel spun from my hands. I was convinced I had bent something. Got under it the next morning, nothing looks amiss, 30 degree wheel angle but vehicle tracks in lane, nearest two dealers couldn't see me, wound up driving 850 miles home. Took to the tire shop today for alignment, nothing was bent, they said the rack mounts on elongated holes and it just moved the rack in the slots. Relief! It's back as good as new, you can see from pic how much wheel was yuxxed. I think that's a great design.

 

K

 

I agree that is great design, esp for how hard you hit it.

 

I did that exact same thing leaving a camp site with our crew.

Scared me more than anything ​

 

Can you show me a pic of the steering rack? My wheel is like half a degree off and its driving me nuts. The alignment is dead on.

 

I'm not understanding how the steering column is on elongated holes.

 

Not the column. The steering rack under the vehicle. It's a 2+ft tube where tie rods exit it to attach to the steering knuckles on the spindles. Elongated holes are probably ovals that are long from side to side. This allows for a hard hit at the wheels to transfer energy to the rack and cause it to slide side to side in the clamps. Otherwise, you'd bend tierods or other steering parts.

J

 

He said the rack itself is mounted in elongated holes, not the column.

 

ironic

doesn't want to disturb people with lights, hits a rock and honks horn lol

Good to hear it's all good though

 

Glad to hear nothing was too damaged.

 

Back in high school my buddy had a 90s F250 we called the farm truck as it wasn't in the best shape. Straight up ran over a boulder in a Walmart parking lot. Think it actually fixed his steering though.
This was in the middle of the day in a packed parking lot btw...

 

So your explanations make sense and I understand what the rack is.

I've replaced the rubber bushings on the rack and it had two or three
bolts that attached to the frame what were torqued to 150 lbs.
(I had to lube them a day before and had to use a 4 foot pipe to unbolt them.)
This was my old 98 4Runner.

So I don't understand how they have changed the design.
There is no way the rack was adjustable in the 4Runner.

I'm interested in this new design and hopefully I can push it back to center the steering wheel.

 

NVM, I understand your answer after reading it a million times.

 

So much for not bothering anybody.

 

fvck me, hilarious. well done.

OP, glad everything worked out.

 

You had me at “Walmart”!