Can you ID this problem?

[CLudwig]

Everytime I fix something, I break something…
First, It may be important to note that the steering alignment was off before I did anything. The steering wheel centered properly, and tracked properly, right turns were instant and tight, to turn left however there was a considerable amount of “slack” before the wheel engaged the tires and moved them.

Also, one of my wheels was warped causing obvious problems that went away immediately when I mounted the spare.
So, I put new wheels and tires on the car.

It was handling great.
Then I was driving along at about 50mph on a gradual curve in the road when the car went all “loose”.
The car began wobbling from left to right; darting a bit from side to side on its own. The steering became soft and felt very disconnected from the car as if my steering input was just a suggestion. The whole car is extremely unstable and unsafe to drive.

Any idea what broke?
I’m trying to sell this car and I just want to get it safe again before I do.
I already have too much money in it so every dollar I spend is a total loss.
Any help would be appreciated.

[narfire]

I had a similar problem after bleeding the brakes and had the wheels off. I did not tighten the rear wheel bolts when put it back together and when I went about 300 yards I really noticed the tracking was not on.
Chris

[124JOE]

it will take about an hour to jack it up and look at the stering components
i think its your idler "it should be stable"grab the arm ans wiggle up and down

if its all good look at the tierodends to see if there tight or loose

[kmead]

Have a look at your idler which is mounted to the right frame rail, they can break the casting where it mounts to the frame.

I would also look to the rear, having a rear trailing arm fail will cause a similar issue. Look at the bushings, the arms themselves and the mounts to the rear axle and the body of the car.

Additionally have a look at the Panhard rod which runs effectively parallel with the rear axle, attaching to the axle on one end and the body on the other. If it fails due to someone jacking on it or it being rusty you will also get these same symptoms.

Karl

[CLudwig]

Not sure if it’s the entire problem, but the back end is really quite broken.
The panhard rod is broken in two and one of the short trailing arms has broken off. I'll start by fixing this.

Thanks for the tips.

[kmead]

Fixing those should take care of most of the issues. I would look carefully at the remaining trailing arms, all of them have seen abnormal stress from the broken Panhard rod and the broken trailing arm.

If you see any distortion or rust through on any of the other parts they should be replaced. You don't want things like this failing at speed...

Good luck and glad we could all assist.

Karl