Front suspension lower arm rebuild.

[TJ 450]

Very nice work. I can only imagine the difference.

Tim

[oscar]

Ditto Bill.  Like you've said, I wonder how many cars are running around needing these items replaced. I had that feeling in povo of the steering collapsing to one side when you turned that way but no amount of adjustment could've corrected it with shot bushes up top.  I would love to do the whole lot like you've done.   Must be a major improvement and immensely satisfying.

[koan]

stopped to take this photo for Koan of my reconditioned right upper arm.

Thanks Bill, looks  good.

Just from what I remember it looks a little different to mine, there's no chamfer at the top of the casting and the closing insert plug expends to the edge of the casting. Might be different OEM. Could be wrong though, its 3:30 AM, can't sleep but I'm not going out to look.

koan

[s class]

Well done, it looks like you have done a very careful job there, and thanks for sharing the photos and stories. 

[Big_Richard]

what was the cause of the negative camber ? didnt even know this was adjustable on these

[WGB]

what was the cause of the negative camber ? didnt even know this was adjustable on these

I left the two adjustable bolts in their central position when I assesmbled it - the ones that also serve as the pivot points for the inner joints of the lower arms.

The front adjustable bolt does the camber and the rear adjustable bolt sets the castor.

Anyway I had a good drive around today and a brisk run along Mundaring Weir Road and the front is now very precise with good feel in the steering and excellent damping - I guess excess movement in the bushes interferes with the damping because the front end has now lost all it's float.

The front end is also much more absorbent to those little sharp bumps.

What it does show up is the small amount of imprecision in the rear bushes - I guess I have my next job popping up as I have the bushes sitting on the bench ready to go.

Bill

[Big_Richard]

what was the cause of the negative camber ? didnt even know this was adjustable on these

I left the two adjustable bolts in their central position when I assesmbled it - the ones that also serve as the pivot points for the inner joints of the lower arms.

The front adjustable bolt does the camber and the rear adjustable bolt sets the castor.

Anyway I had a good drive around today and a brisk run along Mundaring Weir Road and the front is now very precise with good feel in the steering and excellent damping - I guess excess movement in the bushes interferes with the damping because the front end has now lost all it's float.

The front end is also much more absorbent to those little sharp bumps.

What it does show up is the small amount of imprecision in the rear bushes - I guess I have my next job popping up as I have the bushes sitting on the bench ready to go.

Bill

where does one get these adjustments done, do they have on record the correct settings required for a 6.9 or should i take them with me?

Sounds like more work than i had initially intended - I thought it was remove, replace bushings, reinstall, wham bam thankyou mam. I'm ready to remount the rear subframe this weekend. That's going to be very interesting attempting to do so without scratching the hell out of it. I have the assembled rear subframe minus disks, and calipers sitting on an el cheapo single foam mattress behind the car - its so heavy that it tears the cotton lining and compresses the foam to about 5mm thick! I had envisaged sliding the mattress under the car to the correct position and lifting up from there, but i think it'll just rip to pieces. 

[koan]

where does one get these adjustments done, do they have on record the correct settings required for a 6.9 or should i take them with me?

The book says to mark the positions of the eccentric bolts and put them back in the same positions but you'll still need a front end alignment because of the slack in the eccentric/frame pieces.

(when I have a bit of spare time I'll type up the alignment info from the manual and offer it up for quick reference in the library)

Take the info with you, 6.9 is slightly different to regular 450.

koan

[WGB]

THe rear end is effectively non-adjustable but the front is very adjustable so long as the bushes actually "bush".

I marked my eccentric positions before I started but as the new bushes were so vastly different to the old I left everythng at the mid setting when I put it together and relied on the alignment guys to get it right.

Not saying that they did but I have the before and after readings and will sit down with the manual sometime and see how close they got.

I also got a read out of the rear so may give them a few dollars and recheck the rear again when I have re-bushed it just for interest.

The whole alignment only cost $69 and they were apologising for the cost as they took so long to get it right.

I was very happy with the cost and the result.

Bill