After taking off my wheels, and front strut, the front disk just sags. Is this normal? It feels way too loose and wobbly.

Thanks

 

Normal
What year and mileage on car?

 

the steering knuckle is held in place by the lower ball joint, the tie rod and the strut. If you disconnect the strut, there's nothing to hold the steering knuckle in place, and the whole thing will drop down as the front control arm moves down. You should be supporting it so it doesn't drop too far, and (at least on the earlier cars) it could flop such that the half-shaft could come out of the tranny.... I don't know if this is an issue with the newer version though.

Matt

 

It's a 2009 Mini.
It feels like the half shaft did come out of the tranny.

The only time I had this feeling was in my BMW when the shaft came out. What a nightmare that was.

 

Yeah it's still possible to pull the half shaft out if you let the knuckle drop too far.

 

Don't do that. You need to support it.

 

Great so what am I to do if my shaft is out?

 

post a few good pics of it and I'll tell you if its out

 

Hey OXYBLUE, if it is out though what do you recommend? I mean the car is under warranty and all. Only has 850 miles on it.

By the way nice cars! I am looking forward to getting a Cayman S in the future myself.

 

The collar pin that holds the CV boot is pretty strong and should hold the shaft from falling out so unless you put lot's of pressure on it while it was hanging(which is easy to do on the passenger side since that struts a PIA to get out) it hasn't come out.

 

Oh, the side that is hanging is the drivers side. I was told to just give some elbow grease to get the strut out so I did such and then bam! The dam thing just gave up and now the brake disk is at a 45 degree angle.

So what are some tests I can run to verify that it hasn't fallen out? I would love to get some pics of it, but I don't think my condo will like me working on my car at this time. It's almost 11pm where I am now.

 

Assuming you have the whole front end up put something under the elbow and turn the other wheel. Both should turn.If the strut is out it's gonna hang.

 

Alright I just checked with the TIS and 45 degrees is what the wheel side joint should be. In other words just hook everything back up and you should be fine.

 

OXY Thank you! I really appreciate all your help. Next I am in DC, drinks on me.

 

Should have learned the lesson the first time! Anyway, if you have to do this in the future, get the car on stands and use the jack to support the knuckle...... I find this works well....

Matt