Dear Spridgeteers,
Sorry I don't have anything to add to the weight and balance thread- I'm of
average dimensions. Anwyay, the other day, I hit a heck of a pothole and
later noticed that the steering seemed slightly less precise. Also, I now
have a vibration that comes on right at 50 mph that was never there before.
So, I did a few standard checks and here's what I found:
I jacked the front up until the tires were off the ground. Grasping the
tires at top and bottom and rocked the wheel in and out. There was a little
movement that did NOT go away when my wife pressed hard on the brake pedal.
This suggests worn king pin bushes. I found this on both front wheels.
Also, I tried moving the tires up and down. On the right side only, I got
some movement and 'knocking' noise, suggesting some king pin end float.
Also on the right side only, all three of the bolts that attach the damper
to the car were loose. In fact, the inner one appears to be stripped and is
not providing much is anny compression to the attachment! I have no idea
how long this has been in this state, though I did torque all 6 of these
bolts last winter. This was the side that hit the terrific pothole, though,
so maybe the bolt actually snapped. Finally, with the brakes applied, I
tired rotating the tires back and forth. ON the right side only, I got a
bit of rotational movement, suggesting that the upper outer damper bushes
are worn or that the damper lever arm is loose on it's shaft. I haven't had
a chance to do any more diagnostics.
I have now just about used up all of the spridget budget for the year, but
several of these conditions seem to me to be dangerous, so I'm ready to
dive in. The damper bolt of course, will need to be replaced at a minimum.
But, it looks like I may as well replace all of the front suspension
bushes. While I'm at it, would this be a good time to make any worthwhile
but inexpensive mods? That is, would this be the time to replace standard
components with offset bushes. If so, what are sources and approximate
costs relative to standard? Finally, would this be a good time to switch
to steel wheels? I have all of the components (the car originally came with
steel wheels). If so, what does this entail?
Sorry for the length of the post. Nobody can say that we don't get
technical enough around here! I appreciate any comments from "We tight" to
"pay a mechanic" and anything in between (though my favorite LBC mech just
told me this morning that he's stacked up through next week).
Jeff
Jeffrey H. Boatright, PhD
Senior Editor, Molecular Vision
http://www.molvis.org/molvis
Mailto:jboatri@emory.edu
404-778-4113
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