Alignment gone wrong

[Zefal151]

I would have to go look, i have it in my trunk right now, so can bring it back to the computer shortly, but i do remember a very nice looking L on it, and possibly some numbers on a bronze looking plate on the underside of the post on the right of the pic

 

[Zefal151]

On the bushing it says 2M-53020

On the brass it says 4Z23N

On the middle it says L 64 and opposite side has L and 3 dots

 

[jtmcinder]

Wow. I have never seen a centered mounting bracket on a compression arm. I've seen both directions of offset, but never centered. Wonder how this produced 3* of caster.

In any event, if you want your car to turn left and right equally on flat surfaces, you want a left-side arm with a flipped *offset* bushing. That's the only was to get 4.5* of left caster. I'd head off to the junkyard, if I were you.

edit: I can see that the rubber on that bushing is ripped. Time to check every bushing on the car, yes?

And this seems like the right time to remind everyone: when you change the height of the car, you need to loosen every bushing, put the car on the ground, and then retighten every bushing. You do not want the rubber to be under any twisting load when sitting still at static height.

 

[Zefal151]

Well this arm came off of a 95 GST, not my car, mines still my only vehicle, so was trying to get a replacement so my car wasnt down for very long

Im confused, i didnt see any rip when i looked at it... there are still some dirty oily spots since i havent been able to do a full clean yet... grr...

 

[snowborder714]

and this seems like the right time to remind everyone: When you change the height of the car, you need to loosen every bushing, put the car on the ground, and then retighten every bushing. You do not want the rubber to be under any twisting load when sitting still at static height.

qft.

 

[Zefal151]

what does qtf mean?

 

[snowborder714]

Quoted for truth.

Edit: I fixed my dyslexia issue

 

[Zefal151]

Ah that makes sense. So seeing as how the eyelet is in the middle on the one that i just pulled, i might just toss that on my car long enough to get the one thats on there flipped. Unless the Middle eyelet would be the better option, but im guessing not since it seems it would be better to have that extra degree of caster

 

[ViciousLord]

thank goodness I came across this thread.

I ordered the knuckle kit which included the knuckle, control arm and compression arm for $108 per side from Extremepsi. The ball joint in the lower control arm is on it's way out, so I decided to replace both. The "knuckle kit" is way cheaper then buying everything separate.. My question is how the hell do you flip the bushing? what do you recommend to remove those bushings as a whole... Also does the Prothane total kit replace these bushings?

 

[gofer]

And this seems like the right time to remind everyone: when you change the height of the car, you need to loosen every bushing, put the car on the ground, and then retighten every bushing. You do not want the rubber to be under any twisting load when sitting still at static height.

This is a good point to make as I've never heard of doing this, seems like someone would have mentioned this in at least one of the thousands of threads I've lurked over the years.

So you just loosen every bushing with the car off its wheels, put the car back on its wheels so everything settles, then raise the car back up off the wheels and tighten all the bushings back up?

Chris, Thursday morning is the last day I'll be able to do the rear camber kit install for you until the 15th when I get back from my trip to home... let me know.

 

[snowborder714]

thank goodness I came across this thread.

I ordered the knuckle kit which included the knuckle, control arm and compression arm for $108 per side from Extremepsi. The ball joint in the lower control arm is on it's way out, so I decided to replace both. The "knuckle kit" is way cheaper then buying everything separate.. My question is how the hell do you flip the bushing? what do you recommend to remove those bushings as a whole... Also does the Prothane total kit replace these bushings?

See the link in post #2 for more info on how to flip the bushing.

No, the Prothane kit will not replace that, or any bushings in the compression arm.

This is a good point to make as I've never heard of doing this, seems like someone would have mentioned this in at least one of the thousands of threads I've lurked over the years.

So you just loosen every bushing with the car off its wheels, put the car back on its wheels so everything settles, then raise the car back up off the wheels and tighten all the bushings back up?

I would loosen everything while it's up, lower the car and bounce it a bit to get it to settle, and then tighten everything up so they're all in a static position while it's on the ground. If you raise it back up, they'll move again from having the weight off the suspension.

 

[gofer]

I would loosen everything while it's up, lower the car and bounce it a bit to get it to settle, and then tighten everything up so they're all in a static position while it's on the ground. If you raise it back up, they'll move again from having the weight off the suspension.

Thats what made sense to me too but how would you get to the bolts you loosened up with the wheels on the car? Seems like it would be almost impossible, especially since you just lowered it and clearance wouldn't exactly be on your side.

It is a good point to make though, wish I would have known about it back in 2003 when I first lowered my GS. Maybe the suspension bushings would be in better shape than they are now.

 

[snowborder714]

Maybe if clearance is an issue, you can either tighten up the bolts as much as you can with it on the ground and then raise it to torque them, or possibly lower it onto hunks of wood so that it has the weight on the suspension, but you can still get under the car a bit easier.

 

[Zefal151]

this makes sense.... hopefully i will have an update and some more pictures on Thurs after working with Corey on getting this situated... cant wait to not be fighting the pull to the left...

 

[ViciousLord]

Well during lunch I went home to look at my compression arms, look at what I found....

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no offset bushings

These are brand new OEM Knuckle Kits... Part# MR325010 & MR325009

Guess no caster adjustment for me. Hopefully i'll have near equal caster on both sides.

 

[Zefal151]

ooh those are pretty, wonder why the eyelets are no longer offset?

 

[jtmcinder]

This is a good point to make as I've never heard of doing this, seems like someone would have mentioned this in at least one of the thousands of threads I've lurked over the years.

So you just loosen every bushing with the car off its wheels, put the car back on its wheels so everything settles, then raise the car back up off the wheels and tighten all the bushings back up?

Nope. You have to tighten the bolts with the weight on the wheels (or, at least, on the knuckles, which is how I did it). You want the rubber in the bushings to be untwisted at static ride height.

I used to remind people of this quite often, but I haven't been around for about five years.

 

[underradar92]

I haven't been around for about five years.

Yes, and welcome back.

 

[greengoblin]

If you can't get to all the pickup points because you have the car so low it is bouncing off the bump stops but look hella cool, you can measure the distance from a wheel stud to the fender with the car on the ground and settled
Then raise it up take the tire off. Put a jack under the hub and compress the suspension until you get the same measurement. Then torque bolts to spec. This would get you really close.

If you really anal you can also clock the compression arm bushings to get them lined up at the proper angle so there is no prelaod/twist on them too.

Kevin

 

[ViciousLord]

wonder why the eyelets are no longer offset?

Good Question.

 

[Zefal151]

Good Question.

I concur good sir

 

[gofer]

... because the cross eyed dude at Mitsu got fired after they realized he was building all of them offset, its a shame since he had worked there since '95.

 

[jtmcinder]

Someone with these non-offset compression arms needs to measure from the ball-joint to the inboard pivot. Maybe the arms are now different in length, instead of being the same and using offset brackets.

 

[Zefal151]

Id be able to if i knew that terminology... well im going to be at Gofers tomorrow, so we could do it then if Vicious doesnt do it by then

 

[goodbuds]

wow, sorry to hear the pain in the ass your going tru to get that shit right ... funny thing is that most everyone else that installs suspension or coil overs. just rides and never tries to tackle these issues . yet wonder why ther expensive tiers only last 5000 miles..