trebor_quitman

Well, incase any of you have a rattle up front, heres some "been there, done that" for ya. After KNOWING that the rattle coming from my front end had to be my ball joint. After buying the rebuild kit and the esential tools etc... I found out that my ball joints are not bad after all. I took off the sway mount, then undid the front controll arm bolt, luckily my mech had installed them from the rear last time they were off so I didn't have to deal with the tie rods being in the way, then I started to remove the two bolts that hold the caster block to the body so I wouldn't have to deal with the caster ecentric bolt.... but, the block bolts were already loose... So I put it all back together, tightened them good, and went for a test drive. Guess what... no rattle/clunking. I pull abit right now, so I imagine I need to slide it toe in abit. what is the Torque setting for those two bolts anyway? They look like they are just holding the block to the body so I imagine it's just tight as possible, within reason. I just want to make sure. I'm confused as to which bolts the manual refers to so it's not much help.

special tool

What do you mean, slide it? The tabs on your castor blocks are to adjust castor. Castor adjustment are made to adjust wheel centering effort after a turn - I wouldn't touch that tab based on your description. Toe adjustments are made with the tie rods - if you are pulling, it is most likely because your wheel is trying to go coon(armadillo?)huntin' off the side of the road. Toe is difficult to set at home, so just have it aligned.

Danno

Congratulations Roberto ! <img src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" border="0" alt="[cheers]" />

Toe will self-center so that left & right sides will have the same amount of toe-in. If your tie-rods are mis-adjusted such that one side or the other has more threads showing, then your steering will just be off-center that's all, but the car will still go straight.

If your car pulls to one side, it's probably due to an imbalance of caster between the left & right sides.

trebor_quitman

I probably will just get it aligned, but I'm confused. I wasn't talking about adjusting the tab or the eccentric bolt any, but the housing that the bushing goes into in relation to the body. It has two square tunnels on its sides that the bolts to body go through and hold it secure, there is play left to right in these tunnels that would allow the back of the controll arm to swing toe in, or out, pivoting on the front controll arm mounting point, so I thought.... am I totally lost in my logic? If so please explain. Thanks,

OZ951

[quote] Toe is difficult to set at home, so just have it aligned. <hr></blockquote>

There are actually several references on the net that will explain how to do a toe alignment at home. It can be done quite well if you take your time, set everything up carefully and take your measurements carefully and consistently. I use the method in the picture to get consistent results without parallax error in the readings.

SoCal Driver

Don't jump into the toe in right off! Not having the caster correct CAN affect pulling right or left.

As your caster block was loose you need to "play" with the caster a bit, to see if you can get the pulling out.If you can't then it's time to have the whole front re-aligned.

NOTE: Having the camber off with wide tires does the same thing.

Danno

"It has two square tunnels on its sides that the bolts to body go through and hold it secure, there is play left to right in these tunnels that would allow the back of the controll arm to swing toe in, or out, pivoting on the front controll arm mounting point, so I thought.... am I totally lost in my logic?

Due to the shape of the control-arm, when you move that caster-block left to right, it will move the wheel front to rear, toe remaines fairly constant. What does change though, is the angle of the strut or caster.

special tool

Hey Oz - do you think that Roberto will be setting his own toe and concerned about parallax, based on what you have read in this post???

SoCal Driver

Moving the caster will affect the toe in.

Changing the camber, the elliptical washer on the top of the two spindle bolts will have little effect on toe in.

OZ951

[quote] Hey Oz - do you think that Roberto will be setting his own toe and concerned about parallax, based on what you have read in this post??? <hr></blockquote>

Special Tool - No I doubt it since Roberto was concerned with more basic issues but others who read the post might be.

special tool

Oookedoki