Incurable wheel wobble (CURED!!)

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Not_Anumber
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Re: Incurable wheel wobble

Post by Not_Anumber »

You are welcome and I hope the horrendous rain stops for long enough to actually get them on the car. :drive:
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Arya2.0S
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Re: Incurable wheel wobble

Post by Arya2.0S »

Update:

Ebay has given me a full refund for the defective tyres, no strings attached (as should have been the case from square one, shady vendor's fault not eBay's).
I am under no obligation to return the tyres either, as that would be at further cost to me.
So basically the vendor can have the tyres back so long as they send me the money it will cost to have them unmounted from the rims (£40), which isnt likely.
I'll probably sell these superlights and buy those 7-spokes Not_Anumber has lent me, which i have just put on the car and they look AWESOME!
Pictures tomorrow, too tired now.
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Re: Incurable wheel wobble

Post by andyd »

Arya2.0S wrote:too tired now.
:doh:

Glad you have it sorted.....Nice 280 Brookylikes :whistle:
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Arya2.0S
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Re: Incurable wheel wobble

Post by Arya2.0S »

andyd wrote:
Arya2.0S wrote:too tired now.
:doh:

Glad you have it sorted.....Nice 280 Brookylikes :whistle:

:lol:
Brookylikes? I like that.
They are off a Sierra so they require wheel spacers to give them the right offset for the Capri or else they'll rub on the struts, but yeah they look pretty sweet so im thinking of buying them with my refund money since the tyres on them have barely been used.
They need a clean and i'll likely do a light refurb on them with some sand paper and some rattle cans before i put them on the car for good.
Once i have tested them and found out for sure what is going on with this whole wobble situation i'll tart them all up and keep them on the car for good, and just keep my old 4-spokes as a back up as they have been a life saver during this whole tyre nightmare, plus its good to keep the originals for posterity. :P
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Major_Tom
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Re: Incurable wheel wobble

Post by Major_Tom »

Not_Anumber wrote:You are welcome and I hope the horrendous rain stops for long enough to actually get them on the car. :drive:
What a guy! Hope it helps sort the issue.
I'm the one who leaves all those shoes in the carriageway.
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Arya2.0S
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Re: Incurable wheel wobble

Post by Arya2.0S »

Not_Anumber wrote:You are welcome and I hope the horrendous rain stops for long enough to actually get them on the car. :drive:
Oh btw, you dont have pneumonia now after getting drenched yesterday do you? :lol:
My shirt was soaked all the way through, had to put a plastic bag behind me so i didnt get my seat wet! I was tempted to drive home shirtless lol.
Still was pretty fun hanging out in the rain, im a bit crazy but i love the rain.
Major_Tom wrote:
What a guy! Hope it helps sort the issue.
Believe me, so do I. Then i can finally sleep at night and not have to worry anymore.


Oh, and it seems we have blown past the 100 posts mark! Lol
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Arya2.0S
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Re: Incurable wheel wobble

Post by Arya2.0S »

No solution still as of now. The wheels and tyres Not_Anumber lent me made the problem even worse, the wobble was coming in at 40mph on those wheels.
It seems my assumption that the problem goes away on my old factory 4 spokes was also wrong, as i had to go on a semi-long journey the other day and got it up to motorway speeds and the wobble was there also on these old rims, but it came on at about 60 this time.

So to sum it up:
New rims and tyres the wobble came on at about 55/60 (these tyres were still defective but not the cause of the problem).
Borrowed Not_Anumber's 15 inchers and the wobble came on at 40.
Original factory 4-spokes with 10+ year old tyres on them, wobble comes on at 60.

Reason i thought the problem went away on my old 4-spokes is because sometimes the wobble eases depending on the camber of the road, so on the short section i tested it on these old wheels it must have been in its favour and gave my a false result.

I have found the steering rack mounting bushes are perished and are allowing the rack to move slightly side to side so will replace those next and get the alignment checked.

If that still doesn't fix it, well i haven't got a sodding clue! Looks like its a whole new steering rack even though the present one was only refurbished just over a year ago. Theres very minor play in the right hand steering arm as well, but this shouldn't be failing already after such a short time period. But apart from that theres literally nothing else left to check or replace!
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Re: Incurable wheel wobble

Post by nigecapri »

If you get a chance, lift it up with wheels on a ramp (car weight on the wheels) and with a hefty screwdriver try to pry the inner end of the radius arms either way along the axis of the bolts. Soft bushes here could allow a small movement to increase at speed?
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Arya2.0S
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Re: Incurable wheel wobble

Post by Arya2.0S »

nigecapri wrote:If you get a chance, lift it up with wheels on a ramp (car weight on the wheels) and with a hefty screwdriver try to pry the inner end of the radius arms either way along the axis of the bolts. Soft bushes here could allow a small movement to increase at speed?
Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately I have no where I can do that since I don't know anyone with a ramp. I'll mention it to my mechanic however and see if he knows someone who does.
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Arya2.0S
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Re: Incurable wheel wobble

Post by Arya2.0S »

New poly steering rack mountings fitted.... zero difference.
:banghead:
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Re: Incurable wheel wobble

Post by Arya2.0S »

I think i may have found my issue. The lower steering arm - the one that comes out of the rack itself and has the TCA's attached to it, or are they tie rod ends? Not sure, its the bit with the rubber gators and goes into the rack itself - has a lot of play in it on the right hand side. If you move the steering side to side, you can hear it clunking and if you put your hand on it you can feel it is notchy and not smooth as it moves side to side.
This is a refurbished rack less then 2 years ago, should have lasted much longer than this! Ive been told that you cant just replace or adjust the worn components inside the rack itself as the parts arent available hence why getting a whole refurbished rack is the only solution, but this info could of course be wrong.
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Re: Incurable wheel wobble

Post by Mc Tool »

Sometimes I talk to myself ... and we both have a good laugh
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pbar
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Re: Incurable wheel wobble

Post by pbar »

Arya2.0S wrote:you can feel it is notchy and not smooth as it moves side to side.
This is a refurbished rack
Have you greased it up? I do believe that they are filled with oil originally. But it's common to take the gaiters off, grease it all up as you move the steering from side to side.
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Re: Incurable wheel wobble

Post by Not_Anumber »

It would be worth making sure if the play is in the track rod itself (this is a part of the steering rack which emerges from the gator) or is the Track Rod End which is the balljoint which screws onto the end of the track rod and physically connects this to the front hub.

The Track Rod End. also variously known as the steering balljoint or track rod balljoint is a removable & consumable part. Ideally you want the play to be here as its the cheapest and easiest to fix.

To establish which it is I would say the sure fire way is to remove the balljoint from the hub (I have a ball joint splitter you can borrow) and check if the play is in the balljoint itself. Whilst this is disconnected you can also check for play in that side of the steering rack itself.

If the play is in the steering rack it maybe as cheap to try Niall, Martin etc for a reasonable 2nd hand rack rather than trying to rebuild yours.

I had a similar scenario last year on an MGB im rebuilding where there was a damaged but otherwise recently refurbished rack so I sourced a 2nd hand one which was sound as a pound but was cheap as it had damaged gators and reused the ones from the other rack.
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Arya2.0S
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Re: Incurable wheel wobble

Post by Arya2.0S »

pbar wrote:
Arya2.0S wrote:you can feel it is notchy and not smooth as it moves side to side.
This is a refurbished rack
Have you greased it up? I do believe that they are filled with oil originally. But it's common to take the gaiters off, grease it all up as you move the steering from side to side.
I have not, might try that first.
Not_Anumber wrote:It would be worth making sure if the play is in the track rod itself (this is a part of the steering rack which emerges from the gator) or is the Track Rod End which is the balljoint which screws onto the end of the track rod and physically connects this to the front hub.

The Track Rod End. also variously known as the steering balljoint or track rod balljoint is a removable & consumable part. Ideally you want the play to be here as its the cheapest and easiest to fix.

To establish which it is I would say the sure fire way is to remove the balljoint from the hub (I have a ball joint splitter you can borrow) and check if the play is in the balljoint itself. Whilst this is disconnected you can also check for play in that side of the steering rack itself.

If the play is in the steering rack it maybe as cheap to try Niall, Martin etc for a reasonable 2nd hand rack rather than trying to rebuild yours.

I had a similar scenario last year on an MGB im rebuilding where there was a damaged but otherwise recently refurbished rack so I sourced a 2nd hand one which was sound as a pound but was cheap as it had damaged gators and reused the ones from the other rack.
Im pretty certain its the rod itself and whatever it joins onto inside the rack. Theres no play in the track rod end.

Pretty sure ive tried the usual parts sources when i needed the rack last year and they didnt have any hence why i had to go down the refurbed route.

Gonna wait to get the alignment checked first before making a final decision anyway, but pretty sure this is the cause at this point.
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Re: Incurable wheel wobble

Post by Not_Anumber »

There is a cheap rack on Ebay at present for £ 25 +£ 10 postage. You'd need to use the gators and track rod ends from your old rack, could be a way out.
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Arya2.0S
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Re: Incurable wheel wobble

Post by Arya2.0S »

Hmm, it seems the people who supplied me with the rack are willing to send out a replacement. :applaud:
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Re: Incurable wheel wobble

Post by Not_Anumber »

Thats an excellent result. I think this should make a very great difference and it shouldnt take long to swap the racks over.

When transferring the track rod ends from your old rack undo the locknut on one side first. You will need 2 spanners one for the locknut and the 2nd for the track rod end. Now start unscrewing the track rod end BUT be careful to count how many turns it takes to unscrew it entirely, if in doubt write this down.
Next, fully unscrew the locknut (you dont need to count the turns) and shift this over to the same side of the new rack. Screw it on far enough so you know it wont get in the way when you start to fit the track rod end.

Start to screw the track rod onto the new rack, using the same number of turns you counted when it was removed. hold it in place at this position then tighten the locknut against it using 2 spanners so you dont disturb the position of the track rod end.

Repeat for the other side then transfer the rack over and take the car for a drive once the ball joints, steering column clamp bolt and steering rack mounting bolts are all safely tightened.
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Arya2.0S
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Re: Incurable wheel wobble

Post by Arya2.0S »

Not_Anumber wrote:Thats an excellent result. I think this should make a very great difference and it shouldnt take long to swap the racks over.

When transferring the track rod ends from your old rack undo the locknut on one side first. You will need 2 spanners one for the locknut and the 2nd for the track rod end. Now start unscrewing the track rod end BUT be careful to count how many turns it takes to unscrew it entirely, if in doubt write this down.
Next, fully unscrew the locknut (you dont need to count the turns) and shift this over to the same side of the new rack. Screw it on far enough so you know it wont get in the way when you start to fit the track rod end.

Start to screw the track rod onto the new rack, using the same number of turns you counted when it was removed. hold it in place at this position then tighten the locknut against it using 2 spanners so you dont disturb the position of the track rod end.

Repeat for the other side then transfer the rack over and take the car for a drive once the ball joints, steering column clamp bolt and steering rack mounting bolts are all safely tightened.
Thanks for the awesome advice. What about the ball joints that are bolted onto the hubs? Do I need a ball joint splitter to get them off?
I don't have one if I do need one unfortunately.
Other than that it sounds like something I might actually be able to do myself, seems simple enough? How'd you get on with your leaf springs?
Did you get those screws for the sunroof? Let me know if you ever need help with that, more than happy to help I'd paint it for you if I had a place I could do it.... actually come to think of it I just might since the panel is quite small and can be done off the car....
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Re: Incurable wheel wobble

Post by Not_Anumber »

I have a ball joint splitter somewhere you are welcome to borrow, I'll let you know as soon as I can find it. If the rack was changed not that long ago there's every chance the track rod end will be quite easy to remove from the hub. Ive lent my torque wrench out but let me know if you need it and i'll get it back.

Still on the leaf springs this morning as I had to give up yesterday due to the rain. Most of the way through now.

Hoping to get to South Essex Fasteners for the sunroof screws in the week and i'll need to look at an exploded diagram of the sunroof to understand what bits i need to run smoothly. Id be very grateful if you could help with the paint on the sunroof sometime where it has scraped near that edge.
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