Driveline/Steering problem this weekend

[shojuan]

Coming back from camping this weekend a nasty little problem came up right from the get go. Whenever the engine is supplying power the steering wheel shifts to the left 15 to 20 degrees. That is, when going straight down the road the steering wheel is turned 20 degrees to the left. Let off the gas and the steering wheel immediately snaps back to the proper center position, straight down the road. And of course the car does a nasty weave while the steering wheel position gets readjusted. Made coming home a very careful endeavor. Suffice it to say that I minimized my shifting as much as possible and tried to be as smooth as I could be with the car. Could it be my worn motor mounts just totally failed? Subframe bolts are all still tight. All the other suspension parts up there have been replaced within the year. I haven't had a chance to really get under there to check things out but I didn't notice anything unusual when I popped my head under the car at a stop for a quick looksee.

 

[shojuan]

You people are lagging! The tension strut to lower control arm bushings popped out of the lower control arm on the driver's side. Those are the new Moog bushings I installed last summer along with new moog red poly/black rubber tension strut to subframe bushings and every other replaceable suspension component plus bearings and a few other odds and ends. Something must've upset that arm *real* bad to loosen that stuff out of place.

edit: credit to George Fourchy for pointing me towards the tension strut. Took me 2 seconds to find the problem without lifting the car once my eyes were there. I wouldv'e found it if I raised the car up when I got back from weekend playtime but I was *BUSY* (more playtime, borrowed truck from work).

double edit: Since George doesn't post on the forum I'll relay his description of this problem "for the archives" and so anybody else who has this problem knows the cause and solution

You have a loose tension strut nut. Lowrider did that to me on the way home from Indiana in '99. It started weaving when I'd vary the power. When it is under power, things are OK..power pushes the LCA against the strut ....when you are braking, you are trying to pull the lower control arm off of it. Go down there and tighten both sides, front and rear nuts.

Hurry...

George

 

[Lance Cheney]

You people are lagging! The tension strut to lower control arm bushings popped out of the lower control arm on the driver's side. Those are the new Moog bushings I installed last summer along with new moog red poly/black rubber tension strut to subframe bushings and every other replaceable suspension component plus bearings and a few other odds and ends. Something must've upset that arm *real* bad to loosen that stuff out of place.

edit: credit to George Fourchy for pointing me towards the tension strut. Took me 2 seconds to find the problem without lifting the car once my eyes were there. I wouldv'e found it if I raised the car up when I got back from weekend playtime but I was *BUSY* (more playtime, borrowed truck from work).

double edit: Since George doesn't post on the forum I'll relay his description of this problem "for the archives" and so anybody else who has this problem knows the cause and solution

I've had problems with energy suspension bushings splitting in half, though I'm a bit surprised the Moog ones did. I'm down to using stock LCA bushings now (buy the whole LCA and just install -- don't mess with it), since they are molded in and likely won't exhibit the same problems.

-Lance

 

[shojuan]

Lance, I haven't yet inspected the bushings for damage. I've been occupied with drinking beer and transferring gas from the crap Walmart bought Blitz gas jugs to the new, Canadian made D) Scepter gas jugs that will save my hands and eyes (and boat gelcoat!) from the damaging effects of gas splash. Walmart jugs go back to store with a shout. I'm siding with me mum's folk who must take their snowmobiles very seriously indeed to engineer an obviously superior CARB approved jug at only a couple dollars more cost.

Anyhow, irrelevant drunken banter aside I'm thinking that your thinking might be the right path to take next time. The replacement moog arms came with a nice new single piece bushing that was going to stay put till the end of time unless bitch-slapped silly into torn shreds. I've got enough stiff stuff on the car already that a little softness in that LCA area might actually be a welcome thing. To be honest I actually feel that my Hollister to Pinnacles H-25 times were faster on my old, soft, original stock worn suspension than the stiffer stuff I've got on now. On those rough roads I felt I could ease the soft SHO around the corners fast, smooth, and stress free...the new rejuvinated SHO requires a bit more attention to calm the road upsets and doesn't seem to get me there any quicker than the SHO of old. Certainly simply exchanging TPR tension strut to LCA rubber for stock style wouldn't be much of a step backwards from the current aftermarket setup on the car now and might actually put some refinement back into the vehicle. Does this jive with your experiences on and off the track?

 

[Lance Cheney]

Certainly simply exchanging TPR tension strut to LCA rubber for stock style wouldn't be much of a step backwards from the current aftermarket setup on the car now and might actually put some refinement back into the vehicle. Does this jive with your experiences on and off the track?

Hehe. Unfortunately I swapped from ES bushings in old arms to new McQuay-Norris arms (and left the stock LCA bushing in the arms) at the same time I did the coilovers, so I'm not going to be much good for that comparison! However, for street use it is generally accepted that one wants enough compliance to keep all of the tires on the ground all the time. The bushings' function mainly is to keep the toe from changing when you get on the gas or brakes, and harder bushings keep your alignment more stable. If you look at the compression side ('on the gas') of the factory setup, it has TPR in the front (on subframe) being compressed and then the rubber on the LCA. The TPR isn't going to squish much, and the LCA can only move so much before it bottoms out anyway (and it doesn't bottom out -- you can hear it when it does that, since mine was doing that when the ES bushings were split), so the factory setup is pretty good that way. You do get more movement when you're braking hard but that's less noticeable, and still will not be a large amount (if you have a poly bushing on the front of the subframe then you'll cut that down as well -- on the subframe I have ES poly front, TPR [factory] rear, and then the LCA is just as it came from McQuay-Norris).

As a direct answer, the coilovers make driving on uneven pavement more of a chore -- a softer suspension makes it a bit easier and more predictable with variations in the road surface. Plus the Konis are working overtime to keep up...

-Lance