Well I took the suspension apart and the upper control arm bushings looked great. I swapped them out because at that point it would have been pointless to leave good enough alone.

Both ball joints look great too. I replaced those as well.

The tie rod end will need to be replaced. I haven't received those yet. Seems that they are not a stock item at SNG Barratt. Would have been nice to know at the time of order, however since no one else sells Lemforder tie rod ends here, I'll have to be patient. It'll be easy enough to get back in there when I do the brakes.

Anyways, the lower bushings look like they're in great shape too. I know there's only one way to tell, but the dealer wants $1,500 to do it, a local jag specialist wants $2,000. I don't think it's worth the risk.

I ended up increasing the spacers by 50% at the Upper Fulcrum Shaft to reduce the camber of that wheel. Not sure it will work, but it should help. I couldn't figure out any better way to change the camber while I was in there.

Any other ideas?

Thanks.

 

A couple of points:

1: Did you measure the camber to start with? If not it is not really a good idea to fiddle with the camber blind.

2: If you have too much positive camber on that wheel (ie top of wheel tilting outwards) thereby wearing the outer edge of the tyre too much, placing extra spacers behind the fulcrum shaft (ie between the shaft and the subframe it bolts to) will increase the amount of positive camber. If that is what you have done, I think it may be making the situation worse if too much positive camber is part of the problem. If anything removing spacers would be the thing to do, I think.

I do not think you should worry about the lower fulcrum bushes at this stage. Unless the subframe is bent, I do not think they are the problem. Finally, while you are in there, check that the wheel bearings are properly set: remove the split pin, tighten nut on stub axle carefully so so there is just no play, and then back the nut off about 1/10 of a turn; replace locking device and split pin. It would be best to look at the stub axles too for bearing wear ridges, but this means pulling the hub off, which means unbolting the calipers, which is somewhat of a pain.

I suggest you do all the things you have listed on the rest of the suspension, forget the lower fulcrums for the time being, then get it tracked up and see what is what.

Any difficulty getting the track rod ends, David Manners is the UK are pretty good, by the way, and will send anywhere.

Greg

 

Thanks Greg.

The spacers I added did move the fulcrum shaft back and using a very unscientific method (using a torpedo level) it seems to have helped.

I kept the old spacers in case I need to get back in there and revert back to the original. For now, I moved a good tire on the drivers front side and we'll see what happens.

I did check the nut on the stub axle as you suggested. It appeared to be fine. I followed your directions anyways.

When the tie rod ends come in, I'll dig back in there...

Thanks for all of your help. I'm pretty disappointed that there wasn't a smoking gun in there...

Now I have to carve out some time to do the passenger's side! At least I know exactly what to do now.

 

Junk the bad tyre. You will never know if the alignment is correct without a replacement tyre.

Greg

 

I replaced the all bushes in mine while the front subframe was out. With the frame out of the car the lowers were reasonably easy. Yes you do need to drop the rack. Its much easier to remove the whole subframe.

Excessive toe in will cause wear on the outer edges as toe out will cause wear on inner edges.

here are some pics

http://warrjon.blogspot.com.au/p/reb...front-end.html

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