Suspension Tie-Rod Ends

[slomove]

I had to adjust the camber of the front suspension and was forced to take the top joint out of the upright with a pickle fork tool (because the adjusting threads were rusted in place).

Now, sorry for the dumb questions.....I suppose I can re-assemble the rod-end after the treatment with the pickle fork...or is this a one-time-assembly item?

Assuming the ball-joint itself was not damaged, the rubber gaitor on one of the rod-ends surely was. Are these fairly standardized items or do I need to do more research where it comes from?

Thanks,

Gert

[Elv15]

Howdy Gert,

The times in the past I've done this, the rubber boot is part of the ball joint, so if it's cut, you have to get a new ball joint. :(

Cheers,

Tom

[Doug Liedblad]

Gert

I think some companies can sell just the rubber boot.

Do you know what kind of car it was made for?

Also seach this forum for a ball joint tool. I don't know if it will work on Birkins.

Or here: http://www.californiacaterhamclub.co...ght=ball+joint

Doug

[slomove]

Thanks Doug, I knew your recipe was somewhere and it *might* work on my car but not as easy. The holding nut is seated in a deep recess in the upright and can anyway only be moved by a 22mm socket and a 1/2" wrench directly on the square drive. I think I could apply your method but maybe need to weld up a special socket/spacer tool. Last weekend I was just too impatient.

Tom, one of the gaitors is indeed punctured in 3 places but I smeared the whole outside with silicone seal maker and hope it will hold up for a while. On the other hand on my old vintage Birkin the lower ball joint is anyway completely open (new ones have gaitors there, too) so it may not matter that much for the top ball joint.

But, to repeat my earlier question....I suppose the ball joint itself should not be damaged by the pickle fork. Or would it?

Gert

[Doug Liedblad]

Gert

Generally the pickle fork does not damage the ball joint. Check the ground surface for marks.

They should be fairly hard too. At least harder than the pickle fork.

Doug

[Elv15]

Yea, what Doug said! :)

[slomove]

Thanks guys, means I just keep drivin' :) But maybe I get a spare set of rod-ends sometimes just in case.

I hope the camber adjustment will fix my very uneven front tire wear from the PNW trip. I measured -1.1 deg on one side (bad inside wear) and - 0.6 deg on the other side (somewhat inside wear). Now I have both tires exactly at zero degrees which is a bit strange for radial tires. Also cranked up the pressure from 21 to 26 psi to even out the wear pattern.

Maybe it is just my cheapo Yoko ES100 road tires.....

Gert

[moosetestbestanden]

Did you check the toe in/out?

[slomove]

Did you check the toe in/out?

last time I looked it was about 0.25 degree toe-in. But that was 2 years ago and I am not exactly sure anymore if I did everything right back then with proper loading and ride height settings. I will have to do this again.

But, if improper toe-in was responsible for the strange wear I would expect it to be symmetrical for left and right tire?

Gert

[SkinnyG]

Toe wear should be even left-to-right. If you drag your hand cross-ways across the tread, you may feel an edge to the tread blocks pointing in the direction of the toe (toe in leaves a sharp edge on the inside of each tread block).

-1.1آ° camber is not a lot, but if you're running too much toe in, that may accelerate inside shoulder wear. I'm running around -2.2آ° but I don't rack up as many miles (grin).

You may be able to find a replacement boot from Energy Suspension. Something might be relatively interchangeable.

A better way to pop the ball joint is to apply tension with a long pry bar, whilst smacking the ball joint end of the spindle with two hammers. This distorts the metal ever-so-slightly and, like popping a zit, should fire that tapered end out of there. This does not ruin the boot.

G