[Vicinity]

First rain in months. I've never spun out like this.. One shop already rejected the repair. That control arm is snapped. How fucked am I, whats the road forward

 

[supergordo]

If you have no body damage go grab the suspension from the junkyard and start swapping.

 

[supergordo]

The piece that it snapped is called the Knuckle or rear spindle. Kinda looks like you can just replace that. Wheel is likely bent if you hit a curb.

 

[Vicinity]

Thanks man. Glad it only affected me. If by luck, it was the knuckle and maybe a few other items - is there new part availability or is it a surefire boneyard visit?

 

[Grog6]

There are no new parts, that's jy only.

 

[1997ThunderbirdLXV6]

I'm curious, what kind of tires are you on?
This will be my first fall/winter with the Thunderbird (on all-seasons). Do I need to be super cautious? Car doesn't have traction control.

 

[Vicinity]

Toyos, installed about a year ago. We get rain nearly all year, I have done country roads just fine. This was just a stop light. We haven't had rain since June. I think the roads are just glittered with oil, and I completely underestimated it. Of course, anyone should have better grip tires. I just upgraded the front control arms last week, and it handles different but thats no excuse. I shouldn't have been confident.

 

[XR7-4.6]

Halfshaft is probably busted too, I’d just yank the whole knuckle and halfshaft as an assembly and send it. Guarantee that wheel is bent too.


And to the people who say the UCA is flimsy and needs reenforcement, there’s your evidence to the contrary 😁

 

[97 Teebs]

those control arms and spindals are the same in all 89-97 tbirds so you should be able to find another in a junk yard and swap out the parts not really all that hard to do you'll need an alignment afterwards and if you take it in to do the alginment and they say it doesn't have rear wheel alignment leave and take it elsewhere cause they are clueless. Just make sure when you get another spindel you have a new wheel bearing pressed in

 

[Zep5.0]

I'd get the upper and lower control arms. That's a big impact and although this one photo makes them look good, we can't visually see them on a work bench. If you find a donor car, get all of it.

Oh and the knuckle is specific to disk brake cars. Although, if you get a drum brake car, it has been said you can drill out the caliper mounting holes

 

[Kidd-7]

Since you're going to tear it all apart, pick up some new bushings also.

 

[r429460]

Looks like some of the Cup cars after they brush the wall.

I've changed those parts with the axle in 20 minutes at Route 66 speedway.

 

[Grog6]

You'll want to replace the whole wheel assembly. I brought Lazarus back from a direct impact on the passenger wheel. Upper and lower control arms, axle, knuckle, and new alignment. You can change those parts in an hour, there's only three bolts. The alignment is the biggest delay.
The aluminum Mark Viii arms are a nice upgrade...

 

[dDUBb]

And to the people who say the UCA is flimsy and needs reenforcement, there’s your evidence to the contrary 😁

I'd still replace the UCA after an impact like this. My mother did the same thing in her Mark and the UCA folded. Tbird UCA > Mark UCA

 

[Grog6]

The uca is designed to fold up gracefully, to absorb impact; I didn't even bend the wheel, lol. Why do you say the stock arm is better, Dan?

 

[theterminator93]

I agree with the guys saying to replace as much as you can get your hands on for the LR. Metal fatigue is invisible to the naked eye and after a shock impact like that, there's guaranteed to be lots of it throughout the area.

 

[dDUBb]

The UCA is not an impact absorber. It is designed to fit within the constraints of the chassis and half shaft. The Mark has additional holes for weight savings which reduces its structural integrity.

 

[Grog6]

The one I trashed folded nicely into a compact mass; it was obviously designed to do that. The ones I had stiffened as per the article probably won't do that anymore.

 

[XR7-4.6]

I'd still replace the UCA after an impact like this. My mother did the same thing in her Mark and the UCA folded. Tbird UCA > Mark UCA

In all seriousness I would too, I wouldn.t be surprised if it stretched a bit as it snapped the knuckle. I'd bet the LCA is ok though

 

[dDUBb]

Here are two examples of an IRS ( the first one is what I have on the SS .. the second one is an aftermarket Art Morrison IRS kit. Notice the Upper control arms are not designed to be an "impact absorber" .. what you gain in stiffness by re-enforcing the Tbird UCA is to improve ridigity for hard driving situations. 🤔