Just wondering if the wheel bearing was damaged if the car came down heavy on the wheel - a low rumbling / moaning sound. Also, as Badge988 says, the handbrake shoes could be displaced.
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BillB

Did he learn his lession about driving stupidly? The only thing I can offer is about the same as the other posts down the thread but also take a look to see if the parking brake shoe was knocked loose inside during that impact.


Lost control of a 740 wagon, younger driver, what tickets can we do here...


Badge 988

In addition to the good advice in the other posts, I would look closely at the panhard rod- this is the only suspension link that is parallel to the axle, which goes from the axle to the body. It may have bent in the impact, and it's pulled the axle over to one side now. My brother's 89 745 got a bent one once courtesy of a tow truck operator (tied it down HARD with it). Had to replace the rod, which wasn't too difficult but it did screw up the position of the rear axle. IF I remember it scraped against the exhaust and the inner fender on the right side.
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Rob Bareiss, New London CT ::: '86 244DL- 215K, 87 244DL- 230K, 88 744GLE- 198K, 91 244 180K

"a grinding noise"...could be something whacked out in the brakes, perhaps a loose parking brake shoe. However, if it is "A GRINDING NOISE" like, maybe, you can't hear the radio any more, it could be the bearing. If the hit was hard enough, I suppose that the half axle could be bent, or at least have taken enough shock to upset the bearing.

They will track fairly straight even with a bent rear axle housing. I know this from experience. The track width is the same fron to rear on the 740 series. You can sight down the sides of a back tire, and you should be looking directly at the side of the front tire. Do this both sides, and give the eyeball check for vertical also.

When my wife's car had the bent rear axle housing, you could see it by sighting along side the right rear tire. You could see it was pointed out by about three inches at the corresponding front tire. I used rear axle for $45 cured the problem.