URGENT:Rear axle situation!Experts!

sciphi · Nov 17, 2013

Take it somewhere with a new Hunter alignment rack, and tell them that you want a 4 wheel alignment. When they tell you that it's a twist beam rear and that the only adjustments are shims, yes, you know that. The wheel alignment for the rear CAN be read, and checked against what the factory settings are. If they're within tolerances, have them set the front toe and call it good. If they're outside tolerances and able to be shimmed, ask how much it would be. If it's unable to be shimmed, new twist beam time.

They sell shims that correct for up to +/- 0.50* of toe or +/- 0.25* or 0.50* of camber. Those shims are $18 apiece, so figure $30-40 apiece with shop markup. Then however much for installation, plus another alignment to make sure it's within specification.

ZachFools · Nov 20, 2013

SOLVED!! I finally figured it out, and I am more than happy that I stuck with my gut feeling on this one. This will most likely benefit anyone with the same suspension as mine if you ever come across hitting something in the rear! I will thoroughly explain the problem once I get home.

ZachFools · Nov 22, 2013

Ok,so beings my car is a rear suspension without linkage,that means that axle is indeed one piece.But as I said before,I knew it wasnt bent.There had to be something else that bent.

I jacked the vehicle up myself the other night,looked farther into the problem than the dealership service did, and its pretty simple: Like all suspensions, you would normally have some kind of cushion in place that would break before the axle would (With types of accidents along the lines of like mine). Cruzes' with the Z-linkage and Watt Linkage will have trailing arms that would bend before the axle (Again,depending on the accident).

The Cruzes' without any linkage, which I have, is the same, but without trailing arms basically. So what else could it be?

Well, there's two places where that axle is connected: To the wheel of course, and to the frame of the vehicle. So just a little more frontwards of where its connected to the wheel, there's an arm that connects to the frame of the vehicle. That arm is connected to the mounting bracket with a bolt and a bushing, while the bracket is bolted to the frame with four bolts, one in each corner roughly.

The short answer to this, is the bracket took the damage.

I couldn't tell by just looking at mine however, so I took advantage of working at the dealership, and looked at what it looked like on a new cruze on the lot, and thats when I knew. My bracket was slightly bent in two corners, (caused by the axle and the bolt attached to it pulling when I hit the curb), while a new one is smoothly rounded on each side. That slight bend caused all of this ordeal.

So the only reason I thoroughly explain this, is to help show that someone in a similar situation can consider this an option. Or else I would have just been oblivious and went through with it, but I trusted my gut and looked at the science of it.

Anytime any of you hit your rear and are having the same symptoms my car has, ask yourself, would that REALLY be hard enough to bend my axle? Your the one who did it, so you have the best idea.

Thank all of you for your help, seriously, you all helped me put the puzzle pieces together along the way.:goodjob:

jblackburn · Nov 22, 2013

Cool! Glad you figured it out without major expense.

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Aussie · Nov 22, 2013

If you recall I said something had moved to affect your steering angle and you found it, good work, now can we find some techs that are just as diigent?

NBrehm · Nov 23, 2013

jakkaroo said:
Check if you bent a wheel too

This. How friggin hard did you hit this curb? If you hit hard enough on the wheel to be worried about a bent rear beam then you most certainly damaged the wheel or the hub, both of which can and will cause the car to shimmy. Swap the wheel to the front and see if you feel it in the steering wheel before you go buying a rear beam.

edit: disregard, I see you fixed it. That makes way more sense. I really didn;t think you could have bent the beam without damaging a whole bunch of other stuff. It is nowhere near the weak link in the rear suspension

sciphi · Nov 23, 2013

How much is that bracket, and how hard of a fix does it look to be? I'm betting $100 and 2-3 hours to fix it in the driveway.

ZachFools · Nov 27, 2013

Aussie said:
If you recall I said something had moved to affect your steering angle and you found it, good work, now can we find some techs that are just as diigent?

Doubt it since I had to get to the bottom of it like Sherlock Holmes, It'd be nice though!:icon_scratch:

sciphi said:
How much is that bracket, and how hard of a fix does it look to be? I'm betting $100 and 2-3 hours to fix it in the driveway.

2013 Chevrolet Cruze Parts - GM Parts Online - GM Parts Direct

CHEAP!:dazed052: Thats what makes this so sweeter, but this is currently where I'm at now. I'm trying to determine whether I'll also need the bushing and bolt (#2 on diagram) that connects to the mount from the axle. I'm not thinking I do since the mount is bent, I'm thinking its gotta be a tough bolt for it being the only thing linking the two!

I'm also wondering if the four bolts that bolt into the bracket need to be torqued (If so, what numbers), or I can simply tighten em in?

Blue Angel · Nov 28, 2013

Can you post some pictures of the bent bracket so others will know what to look for?

The goofballs at the dealership just wanted to generate work on your insurance's dime. They surely CAN check the alignment of the rear wheels, even if it means not loading up the default program for the Cruze... just tell the rack it's a Corvette or something, not hard. If you told them you hit something with ONE wheel and the toe was off on BOTH wheels, well that should alert them to something more than a bent axle on one side only. Their default response in a situation like that SHOULD be to correct it with shims, as others pointed out, not just to start throwing new parts at it on someone else's dime.

If you had just taken their word for it they would have ordered the new axle, installed it, and then handed you back the keys without bothering to check the alignment since they can't check it anyway... and you'd drive off with the same issue you came in with (the same bent bracket). Genius.

Glad you figured it out.

ZachFools · Dec 11, 2013

Blue Angel said:
Can you post some pictures of the bent bracket so others will know what to look for?

The goofballs at the dealership just wanted to generate work on your insurance's dime. They surely CAN check the alignment of the rear wheels, even if it means not loading up the default program for the Cruze... just tell the rack it's a Corvette or something, not hard. If you told them you hit something with ONE wheel and the toe was off on BOTH wheels, well that should alert them to something more than a bent axle on one side only. Their default response in a situation like that SHOULD be to correct it with shims, as others pointed out, not just to start throwing new parts at it on someone else's dime.

If you had just taken their word for it they would have ordered the new axle, installed it, and then handed you back the keys without bothering to check the alignment since they can't check it anyway... and you'd drive off with the same issue you came in with (the same bent bracket). Genius.

Glad you figured it out.

That's exactly what I thought from the get go, that's why I posted on here.

Sorry it took me so long to reply, been super busy.

Excuse my corny drawing, but the part that I outlined and arrowed is the part that is bent. It's really hard to tell, but those edges are supposed to be smoothly rounded, but in the corners you can see that it is been bent just a smidge, knocking that arm connected to it off track a little.

What your seeing, will be inflicted with damage before your axle, unless you really hit something hard, and you should be able to tell when that is so. I really hope this can help other people out that might come across this problem, because I guarantee you GM won't hesitate to take your money and insurance claims. I work here and I know from personal experience

Opel · Jun 12, 2022

Hi everyone!!

Sorry for bringing back this old thread but I need your help because I'm in the same situation as you were.

I think you can see what's wrong

That bolt was straight before

My question is whether it supports bushing that it's bent or is the axle?
Thanks in advance.
PS: if you want me to start a new thread pls feel free to tell me, thank you.

Blasirl · Jul 25, 2022

saradinn62 said:
This incident was 100% your fault, so your insurance company is going to make you pay the deductible. If your deductible is $100, go for it. But if it is $1000 like I carry, you will be on your own to pay for the repair.

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URGENT:Rear axle situation!Experts!

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