Andy,
Have you looked inside the rubber boot on the left tie rod to check
that the #19 ball-housing male is not loose? One inch of slack would
have it near the end of its thread, a scary thought. Once the rack is
apart, I believe you could make the shims you need. Many hardware stores
carry shim stock in different thicknesses. I can't say that it's
hardened, as I suppose the MG shims would be, but you could experiment
and see how they worked.
There is no designed-in camber adjustment, though one can do some
slight adjustments. When camber is off spec, check that the hole in the
control arms has not become oval from its bolt being too loose. Once the
hole is ovalled, it's nearly impossible to get the bolt tight enough to
keep it fixed in position.
I have heard it said that if the top & bottom links on the swivel
pin assembly are not screwed together firmly the camber will be affected.
I don't know that that's true, and making eyeball measurements off the
Fig K.3 drawing, it would seem that they would have to be very loose
before any significant effect would be noted. ---this I leave to others
to detail.....have no understanding of front-suspension geometry ----
But, it would seem that if they are ...that.... loose, the tires would be
aiming in several directions at once.
If your alignment guy has not come up with some ideas since you saw
him last, you might get a screw-type tie-rod end separator and take the
tie rods off, then check over this rack assembly yourself. When you
reassemble, you can get the alignment close enough to drive back to the
pro for alignment if you use a tight string touching rear tires and front
tires evenly.
Bob
On Wed, 8 Sep 2004 11:13:05 -0700 "drmoyce" <drmoyce@ent-oakland.com>
writes:
> I took the old TD for a wheel alignment because of uneven tire wear.
> The inner tread on the right front wears out, going through 2 tires
> in 25K miles. I dont have any issues with handling even at
> conservative freeway speeds.
>
> They found that there is too much play in the LEFT tie rod, which
> seems to be about = inch of play. The service manual specifies shims
for
> the inner ball joints, but Skip Kelsey cant locate any.
>
> The alignment guy noted that there is no camber adjustment, and
> though the right side is a little off from the left, it is within
spec.
> He suggested maybe putting a little toe-in on the right to limit tire
> wear.
>
> Suggestions?
>
>
>
> Andy Moyce
>
> 52 TD
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