Anyone had experience with the loss of steering suddenly? Partner was on her way to work this arvo in her 96 rav4. Driving along a straight at about 60-70kmh when she lost steering to the right wheel so instantly sent it into a spin and the into a bank. Will be written off but keen on knowing if anyone has had this happen before. Both cv boots were replaced on last wof , that was done nearly 6 months ago so was due again In 2 days time. Would I be right thinking that the steering ball joints would have been pulled off to do the boots? Can’t get in close enough to see what’s failed as the wheel has ripped mostly off so will have to wait until it can be lefted up
strobo,
Apr 28, 6:53pm
While driving along a straight piece of road ! and lost steering to the right wheel? or you meaning as going into a right hand corner and vehicle veered off the road for some unknown reason?
franc123,
Apr 28, 7:03pm
The strut to knuckle bolts have to be removed yes, or sometimes the bottom balljoint is disconnected and the strut/knuckle pulled out as far as it will go, the tie road joint generally doesn't have to be unless the CV shaft that fits through the wheel bearing is a long one and can't be manoevred out. Depends entirely on what method got used
wind.turbine,
Apr 28, 7:04pm
No was straight part of rd and steering suddenly felt odd through steering wheel then it took off to right so tried correcting it by turning left but it went into a spin
wind.turbine,
Apr 28, 7:07pm
yea I did wonder as when I did the boots on my triton I had to disconnect the tie rod to get the shaft out, but was not sure if they all need that.
strobo,
Apr 28, 7:13pm
Even if the shaft departed from the hub spline you would still have steering though! But 3 points to loose steering are the top and bottom mounts or the tie rod end.which would've had a locking device anyways? or the inner rack come loose.within the steering rack ,that has a locker tab on it as well , incorrect fitting of any one of those loose will fail steering at some stage.
snoopy221,
Apr 28, 7:17pm
mmmmmm Incedentaly in the pre google days so cannae give ya a link. But trust me an incident in Rotorua involved an apprentice being fired and at that hour of the day the apprentice was involved in a clutch job on a diahatsu charade. The mechanic who took over the job issued a warrant.
When the car was in a fatal accident in the Mamakus. It was evident that the apprentice had removed the tie rod end and refitted it finger tight. The mechanic was charged with manslaughter. As he issued a warrant with a steering joint not positive locking-(and clearly no split pin in the castelated nut)
So it might pay to check the outer tie rod end is split pinned and nutted up tight.
wind.turbine,
Apr 28, 7:18pm
I’m not talking anything about the shaft, I’m talking about the loss of steering from a possible failure with tie rod end causing the wheel to suddenly stare where ever it wants
strobo,
Apr 28, 7:43pm
And there have been other road fatals where so called "mechanics" have been through court and charged over shoddy workmanship.This is the calibre we have in the trade that joe public believe are the real deal and really they are not "mechanics" at all .The new wave of evil are the google meister mechanics "intrade"! who claim to be blardy accomplished experts on everything from water to kyjelly. ,Those sorts of "handy men" are the most concerning.The younger trainees come under an umbrella of bonifide trades people are the least concerning. An apprentices work should have and is usually followed up and inspected by a second person and thirdly a wof inspector who also is qualified to do so.
m16d,
Apr 28, 7:51pm
My step son broke a "stabilizer arm"on his Honda . that made it steer funny. . ?
ianab,
Apr 28, 8:01pm
Thing is, who knows what actually failed until it looked at closely. Picking accident damage vs metal fatigue means looking close at the broken bits. Stress cracks will often show some corrosion in the break as the crack has been opening up for months, then eventually comes apart and the suspension / steering collapses.
Basically all sorts of things could have gone wrong. Some might be due to a mechanic error, others are metal fatigue that no one could have spotted without magnetic crack testing the parts.
tweake,
Apr 28, 8:06pm
the other possibility is tire or rim failure. plenty of damaged tires and rims caused by potholes on the highways. a damaged tire or wheel may go unnoticed until it lets go.
ladatrouble,
Apr 28, 8:25pm
Something left loose taking 6 months to fail ?
wind.turbine,
Apr 28, 8:34pm
it’s not really used that much and does very short drives
daves01,
Apr 28, 8:39pm
So your partner was ok?
wind.turbine,
Apr 28, 8:40pm
I too thought it could be rim failure or tire blowout but the rim is fine and tyre still inflated. Guess we’ll have to wait and see this week what went wrong once lifted up
wind.turbine,
Apr 28, 8:45pm
yea shaken up and sore nose from the airbag but other wise ok, if it wasn’t for the wet rd she would likely have flipped it rather than spinning
ianab,
Apr 28, 9:16pm
Yup. Until you can actually look at what failed we are only guessing. If you find something where the nut has come off, that's different to a metal fatigue crack that no one would have noticed.
kazbanz,
Apr 28, 9:24pm
Wind turbine -sorry dude IMO there was nothing wrong with the car pre crash. Put simpy the weather conditions today were/are truly horrible needing exceptional care. Happy to be proven wrong but I was out n about in it
jmma,
Apr 28, 9:28pm
Its called aquaplaning maybe?
tweake,
Apr 28, 9:38pm
thats a possibility. hitting a deep puddle will pull the steering over hard. easy enough to over correct. waipu straights was/is really bad for it. it also can be why a loose part gets pulled off. should be able to see once its on the hoist.
yz490,
Apr 28, 10:00pm
Realy hanging out to hear the cause--because it's a worry if mechanical failure [or mechanic failure] & something that could happen to any car. Wonder if tie-rod end popped off due to wear but unlikely [except on my sisters cub cadet mower]. Good though that your wife came out of it relatively ok. Not sure how i'd handle a situation like that on or in the spur of the moment but no doubt it's over in a flash.
socram,
Apr 28, 10:10pm
As #22. Guessing is rather pointless, but always interested to hear the outcome. Glad she is OK. Good cars are easily replaced. Not so easy to replace a good wife.
This is why insurance is so important. She may have done nothing wrong, may be a brilliant driver, but.
snoopy221,
Apr 28, 10:13pm
Yeah where suspension design denotes the tie rod end is weight on and taper down and nut at the bottom-these things as the one i posted prior can be the old TTB(Ticking Time Bomb) in the time factor-and as ya state tyre and rim intact and folded back we await the FULL inspection.-And castelated nuts and split pins are either present in the full inspection -or ya good lady is safe and lucky.
the-lada-dude,
Apr 29, 9:41am
So the story is to insure both, . and I bet the valuation fluctuates from time to time . lol is there a 'no claims ' bonus ?
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