MAJOR SUSPENSION FAIL !! Now what? (old aftermarket)

[Shran]

Do not just start unbolting stuff. You need the frame supported on jack stands, wheels/tires removed and spring tension relieved. Those drop brackets should be the last thing you remove.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

We’re his brackets basically just Ranger STX High Rider brackets?

Iirc they allowed both d-35 and d-44 axles to be used. Not sure of exact lift but 2" sounds right.

 

[eightynine4x4]

I guess this is the appropriate time to see about confirming my suspension lift height.
Any official way to determine? Some bars will measure a certain height/length?
Poke around for a serial / tag? Paint is half gone so that doesn’t sound promising..

 

[eightynine4x4]

More important concern..
Can a tow truck tow this as it is? Or would it need to be flatbedded? Just wondering about the axle situation

 

[sgtsandman]

I would flat bed any AWD or 4X4 vehicle.

 

[scotts90ranger]

Borg warner transfer cases have a pump on the rear output for fluid, so if manual transfer case put it in neutral and the transmission in gear or park it's fine to flat tow.

But with that bracket broken a flat bed would be safer, flat bed tow trucks are more common anymore anyway since AWD is more common...

 

[bobbywalter]

We’re his brackets basically just Ranger STX High Rider brackets?

Aww hell no.


Ford would never make anything like those.

There were a few iterations...they were built with v8 engines in mind to clear oil pans.

And you can drill them for Dana 44 or 35.

Nice.

 

[bobbywalter]

I would have bolted up some angle iron and drove home.

 

[eightynine4x4]

I’ll either flat bed it to where it needs to go or I’ll do the work (carefully and properly) myself with some assistance where it is currently parked. Won’t be the easiest though since it’s not perfectly flat ground and I don’t have any of that right near my property. How crucial will perfectly level ground be for this repair?

Given the fact that I drove it a number of miles at 45 mph in this condition just after the incident, both without dying and without anything additional happening, I am quite tempted to just carefully drive it to where it is best to work on it.

Anyone able to shed some light on the way this damage makes the passenger work wheel vulnerable to further damage or just plain flying off? The passenger wheel was pretty tilted at one point but it straightened itself back up after moving around some. All of this felt smooth to drive, mind you. Pretty bizzaro to think about how it wasn’t a noticeable change in feel, just appearances (tilted wheel).
My educated guess is that effectively the alignment is horrendous and fluctuating but that the wheel won’t just pop off. I’m also guessing that driving it like this puts extra stress on something within the wheel mechanisms that i could then break.

 

[bobbywalter]

I am the wrong guy to ask.... Because I was serious about the angle iron...BTDT.

And ..I usually have everything with me to do that ...



I would swap it out with a jack and some ratchet straps.

 

[scotts90ranger]

flat ground is not necessary, it's suspension, it moves... you just need it flat enough to get it supported by the frame with the tire off (not necessary but will make it easier and with less height) and the suspension unloaded. Heck, you only even need to get the passenger side frame rail supported for now... It could be rednecked and being the guy that drove home 50 miles with a munched radius arm bracket after running into a log lengthwise in a ditch with just the passenger side front tire at 15mph, it was rubbing driving straight so the friend that was with me strapped to a tree and winched that suspension beam forward as much as we could... took it home and straightened everything out in the press and it's still going... when your radius arm washer looks like this, something happened:

I have a picture of the winching, but I'm not finding it right now... the dumb thing is I think I'm still running that washer after I flattened it in the press... I could be wrong, that was like 7 years ago...

 

[eightynine4x4]

Spoke with one shop on the phone and we're having trouble even confirming that Tuff Country Part# 20816 fits with the suspension i have.
Note that in the product photos there is nothing there that looks similar to the large main 90 degree angled piece in my suspension piece. In that piece there is that one large vertical flat face (with a bar bolted straight into its center) and then one large horizontal flat face that reaches forward several inches towards engine.
How does that compare to the Tuff #20816 photos? Not seeing either of those dimensions/reach in Tuff product parts.
Or is it a completely different design that happens to bolt up to the same components and accomplish the same job?
Or is that bar that's bolted in some kind of DIY extra

 

[scotts90ranger]

It's just a different design, the right piece in the top picture above is what would replace the broken part on yours, you would ditch the crossmember and that link going to it (unless the crossmember is the radius arm crossmember, I'm not that familiar with what you have).

 

[eightynine4x4]

Here’s some more pics I just took now to reveal the design of that center bar piece and its related crossmember that it’s attached to. That crossmember mounts to the frame on either side. Seems not connected to the radius arms.
It seems like that center bar pivots up and down via that bushing point in middle of crossmember. In any case, what is the purpose of the center forward directed bar to bracket? And if I delete it somehow along with the bracket it connects to, what is sacrificed in the lift’s structural performance? To be clear, Im talking about leaving the crossmember in tact other than deleting the center bar.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Here’s some more pics I just took now to reveal the design of that center bar piece and its related crossmember that it’s attached to. That crossmember mounts to the frame on either side. Seems not connected to the radius arms.
It seems like that center bar pivots up and down via that bushing point in middle of crossmember. In any case, what is the purpose of the center forward directed bar to bracket? And if I delete it somehow along with the bracket it connects to, what is sacrificed in the lift’s structural performance? To be clear, Im talking about leaving the crossmember in tact other than deleting the center bar.

View attachment 70961

View attachment 70962

That center bar to the bracket makes no sense to me. Especially with a pivot. That bracket should not be moving fore and aft or up and down. Its bolts to the engine crossmember.