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Howdy

I was the unfortunate victim of a failed split pin on a dirt road at 60kmph yesterday. Result of said failure was the rattling off of the castleated nut that holds the wheel onto the control arm. End result - right front wheel bounced out of control arm after hitting a pothole and ended up embeded into the wheel well. The force of the action pulled the inner cv joint out (but the boot survived, no leaks?!?!!!) and stripped the thread of the control arm - steering knuckle bolt..

Managed to steal a nut from the rear diff hanger that rethreaded onto the bolt, and a wheel nut went onto the diff hanger. Rebuilt the CV joint and managed to get home ok - just.

When I first saw the damage the lift block and strut top where sitting straight and pretty, however the strut itself was about 30 degress forward (visible in pic).





When turning left even slightly I get monster wheel wobble and it sounds like the wheel is trying to tear itself off.

I called subaru, $165 for a new strut top! I'm hoping there is a wrecker out there willing to part with a pair of gen 2 outback strut tops...

Moral of the story - CHECK YOUR SPLIT PINS!

Cheers,
Owen.

Bugger mate! Glad to hear you're ok.

Will the lib be right for some 4wd'n after the long weekend? I'm hoping you'll be there, it'll be good to see your subi lifted and how well it goes offroad!

Cheers

Bennie

Pic added.

thanks Bennie, I'm just glad it happened AFTER the corner.

So long as there's no strut damage it should be ok. Funds are a bit short at the moment... I have a set of gen 3 struts, I'm going to see if those strut tops fit. Wednesday is my day off so I'll try and get it all done then.

I'll definately be there on that weekend, I've been looking forward to it since I got the lift in...

Cheers,
Owen.

Front strut tops between late Gen 1-2-3 should be the same - should work. also you can replace the bearing as well.
Cheers
AP

Here's a vid of the freeplay in the strut top...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIxD_bQqmRQ


I'm half way through there repair now, disassembled the strut and putting the new top on.

The driver's side driveshaft needs some attention too, looks like one of the boots has split and the inner cv popped straight out of the race when I took the strut off. The retaining ring isn't installed though - that was mangled in the original accident.

ah bugger. I've had the same problem in my L series but it was due to the balljoint sheering into two rather than the split pin and nut coming off. Same result tho. Although I was lucky enough to have the driveshaft/cv's stay intact.
Here's that story - showthread.php?t=4583

Bugger.. it arent suppose to move like that! lol
Lucky you could do outback rescue yourself! - good training for yourself if you come into trouble!
Cheers
AP

I remember that story Andy T! Good work! Hopefully we won't be doing that on any of our trips!

Owen, good to see that you're in the process of getting it all sorted. I so can't wait for the next weekend!

Cheers

Bennie

Depending on the availability of my mate and his welder I'll also hopefully have the bullbar on as a proper replacement...