What is this bent bar called? As you can tell its pretty bad. Its too close to the tire and will need to get it replace. I cannot recall hitting anything hard to cause this damage. Is this piece straight forward to replace at home?

 

That bent arm is part of the hub carrier. Not terrible to replace if you have it on a lift. It takes a little time because all your suspension parts,brakes, bearing and axle shaft are attached to it. and depending on your mileage and regional location some of these parts may be excessivly rusty and may not want to come apart.

 

Thanks for the info. Its good to know what ill be dealing with before tearing it apart.

 

The arm is 'usually' bent when someone puts a lift arm or jack too far rearward and inboard under the rear lift point to raise the car. The radius arm lowers onto the obstruction and bends. The jacking point should be located farther foreward to prevent this from happening again. I have placed the car on a lift and used prybars and wedges to successfuly bend the arm back into place. The steel bends easily so it might be worth a try. It usually just 'bows' so prying seems to be all that is neccessary most of the time. If it is too far gone, then replacement may be neccessary.

Your's seems to be farther back than most I've seen so it might be impact damage???

Try bending it straight with a little 'finesse' and see if it works.

bob gauff

 

Thanks Bob. I will definitely give it a try!