[toma nova]

My 17 y.o. daughter hit a fire hydrant (!) in our stock 01 TJ - fortunately, no damage to the hydrant.

She hit on the right front wheel, a few gouges but still holding air. Underneath, the right lower control arm is twisted a bit and the lower mount on the axle is tweaked. Track bar, drag link, etc. look OK. The front axle is shifted about 3/4" to the left as evidenced by the left tire sticking farther out from the flare.

I found a local Jeep builder and plan to have him replace lower control arms and mounts on both sides, likely with OE arms and thicker mounts. If nothing else is bent, is there any benefit to replacing other steering or suspension parts while the shop is in there? Upper control arms, bushings, track bar? Jeep tracks straight and otherwise drives perfectly, 135k miles, daily driver, no off road (yet).

TIA,
Tom

 

[Water Dog]

The track bar is what centers your axle, so if your axle is offset now and it wasn't before, you either bent the track bar or one of the mounts is tore up. More likely that the track bar is bent.

 

[toma nova]

The track bar is what centers your axle, so if your axle is offset now and it wasn't before, you either bent the track bar or one of the mounts is tore up. More likely that the track bar is bent.

So the control arms don't center at all and only maintain up / down movement? Is the track bar also called a panhard bar?

I'm looking at Artec replacement mounts and OE LCAs. Any recommendations on a replacement track bar / mounts? What about replacing the upper control arms while we're in there? Steering components to upgrade also?

Thanks,
Tom

 

[BmbleJeep]

Those fire hydrants man, they really jump out at you sometimes haha. Hope your kid is not hurt!

 

[Dsallows]

The track bar is what centers your axle, so if your axle is offset now and it wasn't before, you either bent the track bar or one of the mounts is tore up. More likely that the track bar is bent.

I disagree I've seen the same situation 2 times. Someone hit a huge bump or something in the road and the control arm mount on the axle side bent up and set the axle and the steering off by a fairly large amount also bent up a shock, the track bars where fine in both situations

 

[Hexxum]

When my wife and I first got married, she ran into a fire hydrant and totalled her Honda Accord. After she called me, I was expecting to pull up to the accident with water shooting up 20 feet in the air like you see in the movies. To my dismay, the fire hydrant stood firm (spun around 180 degrees), but her car definitely did not. It was deemed a total. They sure do have that figured out. I was also told by the local fire fighters that even if a hydrant did fly off, there is an emergency shutoff underground. How boring!

 

[toma nova]

Those fire hydrants man, they really jump out at you sometimes haha. Hope your kid is not hurt!

Daughter is fine and the TJ really is too. That's why she drive a Jeep (and I've always wanted one). Black spray paint to touch up a bumper, a little welding to fix a fire hydrant run in. Easy