Hi Asgeir,
I to have fitted polyurethane bushes to my PI's trailing arms and track
control arms, one thing I found was to use a lot of grease (and I mean A
LOT, anywhere where the bush touches steel) when installing them it makes
them slide in really nicely.
Regards
Dave Watson
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> From: Asgeir Nesoen <asgeir.nesoen@hf.uio.no>
> To: 2000-register@autox.team.net
> Subject: Little activity here... :-(
> Date: Tuesday, 16 May 2000 8:46 pm
>
> OK, I thought that we had very little activity here these days, so I
> thought I'd let you in on my current project with my 2000 MKII Pre face
> lift...
>
> The steering has become "strange" lately. I experienced poor directional
> stability and my car was quite uncomfortable to drive. And this weekend,
it
> started to rattle like hell, when going straight at high speed.... So, I
> thought, I have to investigate this....
>
> Jacked up the car, removed road wheels. Seemed to be some slack at the
> steering rack balljoint on the right side (left side if you have a right
> hand drive), and after sliding the gaiter off the joint, I found that
there
> is some slack between the tube casing and the rack itself, and this
brings
> me to my first point. In the rack housing on the opposite side of the
> pinion (that is on the left side for right hand drive), there is a small
> hole. If my memory serves me well, this hole is situated underneath the
> bush, on top of the case. And further, I think there should be a small
> plastic cylinder here pressing the rack towards the bottom of the casing.
> Does anyone have any experience with this? Is this a part that should be
> renewed if there is slack between the casing and the rack? Maybe fitting
an
> oversize part would remove the slack? What is this small cylinder made
of?
> Any ideas on this?
>
> Well, anyway, the slack I found here obviously couldn't cause the kind of
> vibration and direction instability I have been experiencing, so I looked
> for other causes. The suspension arm bushes were dissolved, I
discovered...
> I could rock the suspension arms almost 2 cms on the right side, and
almost
> 1 cm on the left side. Without any effort on my behalf. The bushes were
> simply eaten away. No wonder the steering was feeling strange, because
the
> terrible slack at this bush causes havoc with camber and toe-in
(especially
> toe-in!). I bought reconditioned suspension arms from Rimmer brothers
last
> summer, and they are now ruined after only 9 month's use... The bushes
were
> not of the PolyUrethane type, regrettably. And I can't see what I have
been
> doing wrongly, I made sure that the bushes were "at ease" in the laden
> position so that no constant torque is applied to the bushes (I let the
car
> stand on it's wheels before tightening the bolt and nut)... To no
avail...
> Seems like inferior quality to me.
>
> So, bringing me to my second and final point, I will now install new
> polyurethane bushes to my suspension arms. I think that this bush is
quite
> important for steering and road holding, using anything else than
> polyurethane bushes seems like false economy/safety... The same goes with
> the drag strut, the poly urethane bushes really are superior in every
> respect (harder, longer lasting and prettier (yes, that yellow colour is
> great! Hehe)), your car's handling will improve with these. Preparing a
> triumph for racing should include installing polyurethane bushes all
> around, I think. Does anyone have any bad experiences with polyurethane
> bushes??? I think not.
>
> To change these particular bushes I'll need a bush press, but most
garages
> have this piece of equipment, and they usually lend it (at least here in
> norway) for a few quid if anything at all.
>
> Well, that was a long story, I hope that you are still awake and at good
> spirit...
>
> Anyway, we should use this forum a little more actively, I think. At
least
> I won't have a high threshold for what to post here...
>
> ---Asgeir---
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