Axle skew after crash issue, or is it?

[Lorin]

Had a slight offside front bump a month or two ago. Not a big impact by any means. A van pulled out in front of me and I drove into the side of it. Damage to the truck was a broken headlight washer (probably secured by rust anyway) and the front bumper was noticably knocked back. No body damage at all. It would appear the bumper took most of the impact and due to the angle of impact I think the offside front wheel also took a bit.

I have taken the truck to a local 4x4 garage who did the assessment for repairs. They have now come back to me and said they are concerned that the offside front wheel is 1 inch further back than the nearside front wheel . By further back I mean toward the rear. They cannot find any obvious reason why and have now suggested it may be due to the radius arm bushings having moved due to the impact. The bushings are castor corrected so I assume if they had twisted somehow it could cause what is being observed...

They may well be right and they are going to remove the radius arms to check. However, before they do I wondered whether anyone has any other thoughts as to what I could or should check. In truth, I cannot say for certain that it wasn't already like it before the accident. The truck still drives perfectly with no noticable pull to either side and tracks perfectly straight. There is however an annoyingly inconsistant knocking sound that appears to come from the offside front which started after the accident.

Any pointers would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

it could be a bent axle casing, but a bent radius arm is probably more likely, or it could be a rotated bush like you say, unlikely to be the chassis imo.

 

[clivehorridge]

I'm not knowledgable on these things, but a common sense approach may give you a guide. I would try measuring diagonals from mid chassis working forwards. If you choose similar points on each side of he car and measure the diagonal in both directions, it should indicate where the discrepancy in the measurements is. It may be chassis (unlikely) it may be either of the radius arms or it may be a bent casing. All these components are super hefty on the 80 so all are unlikely.

A bush is surely unlikely to rotate, they're always such a tight fit, but the rubber may torn allowing the inner bolt tube to shift backwards. I think this may depend on the type of bushes fitted. It's a while since I changed mine, but I have the feeling that the originals had bigger voids in them compared with the heavier duty OME bushes fitted now.

I can't imagine the cause of the noise, other than damage to the cv or the wheel bearing, which could be possible.

I have a similar problem, but I'm fairly certain mine's a bent casing. That reminds me to do some measuring myself, maybe I have your 1" problem too!