Overturned and snapped a strut tower bolt...

I either didn't notice the tick of the torque wrench or it malfunctioned but all of a sudden I hear a bang. The nut is still tight or so it seems. I need to take it for alignment since tires are scrubbing since the job, will I have to replace entire strut or is there a way to replace that bolt? I assume the bolt snapped with bang, but like I say the nut seems tight, was afraid to loosen it..lol.

Alignment shop will have to loosen the bolts so you could just let them replace it for you.

I either didn't notice the tick of the torque wrench or it malfunctioned but all of a sudden I hear a bang. The nut is still tight or so it seems. I need to take it for alignment since tires are scrubbing since the job, will I have to replace entire strut or is there a way to replace that bolt? I assume the bolt snapped with bang, but like I say the nut seems tight, was afraid to loosen it..lol.



Looks to me that the bolt could be part of the bearing plate. Could try using a punch and removing bolt head, if nothing wlse the bearing plate could be replaced. Pull the cowl to gain access.

It's in the shop today, so will mostly likely hear about today at some point. The Windstar adventures continues...although can't completely blame the vehicle when some of my own carelessness creates some of the fun :banghead:

It's in the shop today, so will mostly likely hear about today at some point. The Windstar adventures continues...although can't completely blame the vehicle when some of my own carelessness creates some of the fun :banghead:

Lol, and you can't blame the van for its age either. We're dealing with vehicles of which the newest are already a decade old, I try to keep that in mind when I encounter annoying issues. I have owned several other vans (Caravan, Odyssey, Sienna and Lumina) and of all these the Windstar is the less troublesome to me, at least mechanically. Electrically however, it does not fare too good. It has too many gadgety features overtaxing the electric system.

Well, $940 later, the Winnie steers nice and straight :eek:

Had the work done at the local Ford dealer, had it in for recall service, so got them to quote me price for fixing up front end..the right lower control arm bushings were separated, so had that replaced. Left strut bearing was replaced due to that broken bolt, camber and castor adjusted. I provided two of Canadian Tire's econo special tires for to replace the worn out front rubber. Turns out could get two tires from CTC for the price of one that the dealership was gonna order..lol.

Was painful paying that bill but oh well, its all done now, and I am really busy at work and it would have taken me too long doing all that myself and still having to bring it in for an alignment etc..

Now once bank account recovers, I will just have to try my hand at some body repairs...the next chapter of The Windstar Chronicles :uhoh: