16 replies to this topic

[Hughes]

Fitted my new adjustable bottom arms and tie-rods this weekend.

One thing has just occurred to me.... how tight should the nut at the subframe end be? Obviously it squishes the bush as you tighten it so its difficult to tell? I know there is a torque setting listed in the 'torque settings' sticky, but you cant get a torque wrench on there!

Any ideas?

H

[MRA]

You can get tools that will fit on your torque wrench and fit over the nut on tie bars

However with the tiebar removed from car using "eye measurement" align the flat surface (bottom) of the nut with the step this is as far as you can go, and you MUST tighten them this far, now just check how much thread is sticking out at the end, (make a note) now fit it all together and tighten the nut up to the shoulder check that it all looks as it should You should be able to "feel" the nut tighten down on to the shoulder, but the visual check is belt and braces and helps to keep us all safe

[bmcecosse]

Fit poly-urethane bushes - and they won't squish!

[Hughes]

MRA - thanks so much. Useful response as always.

bmceosse - The outer bush is poly. It still squishes a bit!

[MRA]

Fit poly-urethane bushes - and they won't squish!

?? Then they are not tight enough ! the tie bar is designed to be tightened up to the step not doing so will create a potentially dangerous situation with the threaded section being unsupported.

[bmcecosse]

Aye - but not as much as the soggy rubber ones! To be honest I always tightened these up to the end of the thread on standard tie-bars !

[MRA]

Aye - but not as much as the soggy rubber ones! To be honest I always tightened these up to the end of the thread on standard tie-bars !

We have 4 differnet grades of rubber including the following......

Very soggy
slightly less than soggy
very much less than soggy
and nowhere near soggy .....



I find polyurethane to be a very good material for suspension bushes until it wears out.... as it has a very rapid wear rate and can fail fairly quickly

Other synthetic and pure rubbers fail less dramatically but do not last quite as long...

Horses for courses

[bmcecosse]

Fit spherical bearings !

[GraemeC]

Martin - should he not include the flat washer in his 'dry' build as this will also sit on the shoulder (whereas the the shaped washer will go over the shoulder if I rememeber rightly).

Another reason for ensuring that the tie bars are tightened down to the shoulder is that it will affect the caster settings. OK adjustable tie bars can accommodate this but it is still better to start with the same baseline every time.

[GraemeC]

Fit poly-urethane bushes - and they won't squish!

Fit spherical bearings !

Make your mind up

[Cooperman]

Use castelated nuts, do them up really tight until you know the washer is hard-up against the step, then drill through the tie bar and fit split pins.

[MRA]

Martin - should he not include the flat washer in his 'dry' build as this will also sit on the shoulder (whereas the the shaped washer will go over the shoulder if I rememeber rightly).

Another reason for ensuring that the tie bars are tightened down to the shoulder is that it will affect the caster settings. OK adjustable tie bars can accommodate this but it is still better to start with the same baseline every time.

Oops yes fit the washers

And absolutely to the second

[olds_kool_lews]

funny you should be talking of this, had an embarasing situation on my way home from work today, where the nut on the passenger side decided to pop of the tie rod, luckily i was doing less the 5mph, or it could of been very nasty! lesson learned me thinks lol

[MRA]

When you say "popped off" do you mean that the thread has pulled or the nut just unwound itself ? in which case did you not feel it pulling more to one side ??

[olds_kool_lews]

When you say "popped off" do you mean that the thread has pulled or the nut just unwound itself ? in which case did you not feel it pulling more to one side ??

it unwound itself, it didnt pull to 1 side, not that i noticed anyway, n then next thing i knew, 'pop!' and my wheel was tucked behind the a-panel lol but luckily i didnt lose any of the bits and i was on my way in no time with the help of a jack and a spanner