48 replies to this topic

[Vinay-RS]

How does one check for wear on the trailing arm pins?

[Spider]

On either end of the part of the Trailing Arm where the Pin Goes through, there is a Bush on the Outboard End and a Bearing on the Inboard End.

 

Because there is pressure on the Arm from the Rubber cone (via the trumpet and Knuckle Joint), it does make them a little hard to check.

 

I check them by jacking the car up, remove the wheel, then getting a tyre lever behind those parts of the Arm where the Bush and Bearing are and seeing if there's any movingment while levering. Even then, because the Arm is at an 'un-natural' angle when jacked up to when on the road, it still may not show any movement. If yiu can get something in there when on the ground, so much the better, however, ideally they are best removed for checking.

 

<edit: Also, if the Nut on the Trailing Arm Pin on the Inboard end has not been tightened properly, it can cause elongation of the hole in the subframe, this will also cause it to Toe Out

Edited by Moke Spider, 14 March 2015 - 09:35 AM.

[lsto]

As above check the rear arms for wear.
One thing I find on mine is if I drive on a main road used by a lot of HGV's, the weight of the lorries tends to wear two grooves in the surface of the road where the wheels run, bit like tram tracks. I find the a13 near me is bad for this.
When I drive along this road in the mini the wheels get stuck in the tyre tracks of the hgv's, but because the car is not as wide as the tracks it trios to pull from one side to the other as it goes from one track to the other, it gives the impression that the car is trying to weave from one side to the other, and the faster you go the worse it gets. I find if I pull into the middle lane because the hgv's don't use it there is nn problem.
Also I find as my mini is lowered its worse. My fiesta did it once I lowered it too. I guess it changes the wheel geometry, the same as having a full car.
Not sure if its your problem but just a suggestion.

[dyshipfakta]

I had something similar on my mg f when a rear wheel bearing completely gave up. Could wobble the rear wheel about 1cm was scariest thing ever

[Vinay-RS]

I had something similar on my mg f when a rear wheel bearing completely gave up. Could wobble the rear wheel about 1cm was scariest thing ever

was the back end very loose? would the car just start wobbling when you went into a corner?

[coopdog]

Probably to do with the road aswell,
The slow lane always have grooves in them from lorrys, I think you was just going in and out of them

[dyshipfakta]

Yeah it did violently was steering from the back but was much better when slowed down and driven straight and smooth. I limped it to the garage. Jack the car up and wobble the rear wheels at 12 and 6 and 9and 3 any movement will be much worse with weight and at speed

[dyshipfakta]

Yeah it did violently was steering from the back but was much better when slowed down and driven straight and smooth. I limped it to the garage. Jack the car up and wobble the rear wheels at 12 and 6 and 9and 3 any movement will be much worse with weight and at speed

[mab01uk]

Just for reference, if you think about it the optimum design of suspension and brakes on small lightweight cars like the Mini is much more difficult to achieve than with a larger heavier car because the difference in weight between a small car with only the driver onboard and with 4 heavy passengers + luggage becomes a much greater proportion of the cars total weight. As said any wear in the suspension components or low tyre pressures will be accentuated by the extra weight......most cars also have higher tyre presures specified in the handbook for a fully loaded car.

[Spider]

Just for reference, if you think about it the optimum design of suspension and brakes on small lightweight cars like the Mini is much more difficult to achieve than with a larger heavier car because the difference in weight between a small car with only the driver onboard and with 4 heavy passengers + luggage becomes a much greater proportion of the cars total weight. As said any wear in the suspension components or low tyre pressures will be accentuated by the extra weight......most cars also have higher tyre presures specified in the handbook for a fully loaded car.

 

All too true. A Mini from the factory has on ~3 mm toe IN on the back wheels. I've drive a few with 0 toe angle and even slight toe out. They want to swap ends all the time and give little warning.

 

I have a jig for resetting (bending) the arms, I tend to over set them and then shim them back.

[Vinay-RS]

Moke-Spider, I jacked up the rear and checked for play, but there really wasn't any at all. The wheel hub didn't move much and neither did the radius arm. The scary part is that wheel seems to have some positive camber, which is odd...

[Guess-Works.com]

+ve camber at the back is standard as is toe in...

[Vinay-RS]

oh ok, was worried that there was something very wrong with the tracking. Thanks Guess-Works.

[Spider]

Moke-Spider, I jacked up the rear and checked for play, but there really wasn't any at all. The wheel hub didn't move much and neither did the radius arm. The scary part is that wheel seems to have some positive camber, which is odd...

 

As Guessworks has said, there is a small amount of positive camber (1⁰) however, normally being such a small amount it is usually hard to pick that it has any. Being that you were able to notice it, again, it suggests that you may have a bent trailing arm.

 

I think at this point it maybe wise to take it to a reputable wheel alignment shop and have them check it with their machine.

 

As others have said, it could also be in the front end, but it could also be a combination of issues too.

[Vinay-RS]

 

Moke-Spider, I jacked up the rear and checked for play, but there really wasn't any at all. The wheel hub didn't move much and neither did the radius arm. The scary part is that wheel seems to have some positive camber, which is odd...

 

As Guessworks has said, there is a small amount of positive camber (1⁰) however, normally being such a small amount it is usually hard to pick that it has any. Being that you were able to notice it, again, it suggests that you may have a bent trailing arm.

 

I think at this point it maybe wise to take it to a reputable wheel alignment shop and have them check it with their machine.

 

As others have said, it could also be in the front end, but it could also be a combination of issues too.

 

Yeah... it seemed to be more than 1 degree... 

 

Cool, I'll take it to a wheel alignment shop and get them to check it out. Is the only solution to replace the radius arm? could there be other issues like damage to the subframe, etc?