Tie Rod / Steering Arm Fell off on Friday!!!!!

[karlblues2]

Well, there I was, happily driving (slowly :shock: ) around a roundabout in Fyshwick on Friday lunch time when I heard / felt a clunk, before losing my steering almost completely :shock: :shock: :? I managed to manoevre it slowly to a garage about 30m away, where I opened the bonnet, hunted around inside and saw the steering arm / tie rod (can never remember the name) had stripped it's rubber bush and fallen off :shock: It's where both steering arms meet in the centre of the car, not at the wheel end. I got a couple of washers from the garage and fitted the arm back on, to stop it slipping off again, and then took it to get it checked out. OK, so after all that background drivvle, does anyone know how a worn bush can cause the arm to come away :?: How can 1/8th" of glued in rubber be the only thing stopping the arm falling off :?: Is this a known weakness, or am I just very lucky :?: I say lucky, because, 2 hours later I was driving down the mountain to Batemans Bay with the family and had it happened then , I wouldn't be able to write this :roll:
Any help to confirm the correct set-up to the steering rack would be appreciated :)

[Audi8090]

I had the same thin happen in my 90. I was doing a 3 point turn, and having reversed full lock left, i moved forward full lock right and the car simply wouldn't move.......Being literally not able to move from the middle of the road, I got out to see what was going on, and found both front wheels pointing in completely different directions. I fitted new rubbers and bought a new retaining plate which has been bolted on in front of the arms to hold it all together and havent had a problem since. Its unusual that it has happened to both of us, wouldnt have thought that something like that would easily occur......

CHRIS