LF suspension problem

[nuclearpenguin]

I replaced my outer tie rod ends about a week ago (and counted the rotations on/off when I did it) so my alignment has been off because I'm waiting to get in a LR upper control arm to replace my bent one and wanted to get that before I got the car realigned. Well today I was driving home and the suspension on the LF seemed to go bonkers. It acted like there wasnt much of a suspension and kept bottoming out on the smallest possible bumps. The steering seemed kind of strange too. Once I got it home I noticed there was a pretty good amount of negative camber.

Any guesses what broke or what pieces I should look at under there? Suspensions aren't hardly my thing so I'll crawl under there tonight but I barely know what I'm looking at. I'd like to figure out whats broke and get it replaced before I take the car to get it aligned because I don't wanna have to replace a part and go back again (or pay them to replace it).

 

[mhuffman]

I replaced my outer tie rod ends about a week ago (and counted the rotations on/off when I did it) so my alignment has been off because I'm waiting to get in a LR upper control arm to replace my bent one and wanted to get that before I got the car realigned. Well today I was driving home and the suspension on the LF seemed to go bonkers. It acted like there wasnt much of a suspension and kept bottoming out on the smallest possible bumps. The steering seemed kind of strange too. Once I got it home I noticed there was a pretty good amount of negative camber.

Any guesses what broke or what pieces I should look at under there? Suspensions aren't hardly my thing so I'll crawl under there tonight but I barely know what I'm looking at. I'd like to figure out whats broke and get it replaced before I take the car to get it aligned because I don't wanna have to replace a part and go back again (or pay them to replace it).

You should be able to press on the strut tower and bounce the car up and down. If not, check for mechanical binding in the suspension. When you jack the car up, the suspension should travel to full extension. Look for any evidence of binding or damage.

 

[nuclearpenguin]

That was the first thing I did when I got out there to check it out, after pulling off the tire heres what we found:

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Easily diagnosed, not quite as easily fixed At least now I can start ordering.

 

[StR8sPo0Ln]

Yea, i would say thats your problem right there.

 

[nuclearpenguin]

Wisemen please help. Based on that pic is it more likely I need to replace my strut or just my strut mounts? I pretty much took the assumption my struts were gone but my buddy said that most likely just the strut mount needs to be replaced. What's the deal? Anything else I should check?