ballen5150

Acura 2007 TL

Was changing driver side front tie rods and when attaching new rod to knuckle thought it would be a good idea to jack up control arm.

Bad idea. Messed up sway bar links which need to be replaced and now driver side rides 3/8" lower than other side. Car looks visibly tilted.

Going to shop this week but looking for possible idea/issues

twokexlv6coupe

Did the car slip off the jack and the jack landed on the sway bar end links?

Even though the sway bar and end links don't really support any "weight" of the car, they do link both LCA's together. If the weight of the car landed on 1 end of the sway bar and literally twisted the sway bar, I could see that leading to one corner being lower than the other. Sucks cuz in order to remove the sway bar, you gotta drop the entire sub-frame.

You can check for this by disconnecting both end links and if the ride height evens out........

ballen5150

No the car didnt slip.
I jacked up the LCA under the ball joint wrongly thinking I should attach the outer tie rod under load.

I raised the LCA maybe 5 inches. I would think the LCA/ball joint could handle 1/4 the weight of the car but now not sure.

thoiboi

You probably ripped the bushings or maybe even broke the ball joint..

zeta

iTrader: (1)

Interesting, can you get a picture of the red arrow area below?
That space appears to be around 3/8"?

ballen5150

The front compliance bushing was already cracked so Im sure I didnt do it any favors.

ballen5150

Ill need to check out later in the day, and take some pictures.

Still wondering why suspension cant be jacked from under LCA/ball joint. It seems 1/4 weight of car is always acting on that part

zeta

iTrader: (1)

Just to clarify, you placed the floor jack pad directly under the red arrow area?

Or more so in the middle purple arrow area where the shock absorber fork bolts through the lower arm?

The reason I ask is, I've used the middle shock fork / LCA area to place load pressure when tightening the inner / outer LCA bolt on my 2G CL's with no problem; however, the LCA configuration for the 3G TL's was redesigned in 2004 to incorporate the two rubber compliance bushing sub frame attachment set-up.

2G CL:


3G TL Helms states to place jack under the lower arm, I'm thinking more to the middle of the LCA rather than the outer BJ area?
Though it does state to not place at ball joint pin of the knuckle.

ballen5150

zeta Thanks for the info.
I placed the jack under the LCA near the ball joint (Purple Area)

Helms says to load it with the weight of the vehicle but maybe they dont mean all the weight to where the car starts moving higher.
Im thinking I raised the LCA too high to cause some damage

zeta

iTrader: (1)

Understood.
The good news is that, should you decide to replace the lower arm as a precursor to an ultimate sale, rock auto has complete LCA's for less than a fourth of the cost of OEM.
Good Luck.

ballen5150

ballen5150

Had a picture on my phone. Doesnt seem to be bent

zeta

iTrader: (1)

^
Nice!
So, your 3/8" tilt is due to the cracked front compliance bush?

BROlando

You won't damage anything by lifting the car there.

Is your car on flat, even ground when you are measuring? Like a concrete slab at the least? A driveway or blacktop is almost never level

ballen5150

Just got back from shop and all is good with the ride height. Measured it in the same spot I had noted the tilt ( Concrete parking garage).
Not sure what was the problem but Im pretty happy I dont have to drive around with a car looking like I weigh 400 lbs,
Thanks for all the input/help