hey guys, so the other day i was driving and one of the front cross-member bolts fell out

upon jacking the car up, the wheel nearly fell OFF
the rotor can literally be moved in/pulled out

im hoping someone here can help, could it be the bearing?


still waiting for the bolt to arrive to see if that will fix the movement, but i highly doubt that would affect this.

 

Make sure your wheel lugs are tightened on properly.

After that, look at the bolts that hold the hub to the knuckle.

 

stuff like that doesn't randomly come loose like that. Have you or anyone been working on the car recently?

 

Thanks will do. Lugs were on perfect the wheel/rotor both went outwards together so it's not that.

 

Nobody has touched my car, I've owned for around two years and have literally never beaten on it
Spends most days in the garage

Very very strange how a bolt would come out of their, I hadn't heard any weird noises either

 

There are only four fasteners that attach the subframe, 2 nuts and 2 bolts. The two bolts go through the bushings at the rear of the lower control arms. So if one of these bolts falls out the lower control arm can move. Bolt torque is 123 ft lbs.

 

What Im not understanding is you said you were driving and while driving you had a subframe bolt drop off? Are you saying you know for a fact that it fell off at that instant you were driving, or is it possible that bolt hadn't been on there for a while?

You had to have hit something to cause those two things to happen. A really long subframe bolt torqued to over 120 ft lbs doesn't just decide to fall out, and I don't think that has anything to do with your other situation-- your loose wheel/hub problem.

The only thing I can think that would link those two issues would be some collision or major pothole or something. Sorry to hear about it, Good luck and keep us posted. Get pics up if you can.

 

The only things I can think of is either the bolt is stripped or it was left finger tight after a subframe off clutch job. What I wonder is what it is like driving a car with the lower control arm sorta attached. There's a good story here, I hope the OP gets back to us. Anyway, go look under your car, the subframe bolt is one of two places the lower control arm attaches. It missing could do what he says.

 

There are six fasteners: 2 nuts, 2 bolts at rear LCA attachment, and 2 more bolts into the body behind those. If the rear LCA bolt came out, there would be movement but it would be restricted to the compliance in the front LCA bushing. If the rearmost bolt came out you would probably never notice.

 

will keep you guys updated, for now waiting on the bolt. Had the wrong one come in, so now im backtracked waiting for roseville,ca mitsu to get it to me next couple of days.

As for the bolt, it literally just fell off reason i know this is because i though i hit something and immediately turned around to see. what i saw was a large black bolt, unfortunately at the time i had zero idea what the problem was with my car.

ill post some pictures in the coming days, been real busy/sick last couple of days


appreciate the support guys

 

When you picked up that bolt, did you examine it at all? Were you able to tell if it was damaged/broken, stripped? I don't even see how it would fall out even if it had been stripped going in from previous install. Ive had bolts strip so bad they might turn but those suckers were not coming out. They were probably on there more secure than a correctly torqued bolt,

 

By the time i went back to pick it up it was somehow gone, this was the next day. since the time that it happened was at night, i didn't get the chance to examine it until the next morning.

As for the bolt stripping, its hilarious how mitsu makes the bottom two thirds of the bolt have the ribbing but the top third is smooth.

 

By ribbing, do you mean the threads? If so, you only need threads where it meets a fastener.

 

When you do get ready to put that bolt back in, make sure that end isn't sagging down at all. If your trying to thread that bolt in while trying to lift that end of the subframe you may ruin the bolt or brake off the welds where the bolt catches too. Its not that difficult, just jack that corner of the subframe and just make sure that end is sitting nice and flush and you can torque it down without having weight on it.