Tie rod hitting top of front sway bar link?

I had this head scratching problem too but when the car is on the its wheel the geometry changes and the parts clear each other. It is very close though.

 

If you would remove them from the knuckles, you would see, that there's a woodruff key inside (#7). They are mirrored parts. You cannot swap sides. Except someone omits the woodruff key.
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Best from Germany
Martin

 

start with going through any pics u may have taken prior to disassembly, and look through the parts manual. check the A arm bushing spacers, ball joints etc. Btw how did you tighten the control arms back on the car? with car on floor or measurements?

 

I was thinking the same thing after I posted. I was just going to suggest you check that. Glad that's the case. Should be an easy fix.

 

You are right Martin. I was just looking through the pictures and concluded the same thing. Perspective. At first I though it might be different parts for different years but checking I found all years used the same lower wishbone. Optics is a *****.

 

Should not touch at full droop. Full droop does happen when driving and you cant have a steering issue just because the travel is at the limit.

 

Pulled out the wrenches and tape measure first thing this morning - already fixed!

I've noticed that some people seem to get offended when I point out something that is wrong with their car... I never mean it as an insult, just something that they might not have been aware of. So thanks again for letting me know something was amiss with mine.

 

Hello together,

This thread is fascinating me so much, that after I came home from an extensive travelling through France I took my camera again and shot a few pictures of a few different positions , from which one brought me a surprise.
Sorry, but I was not in the mood for taking off the wheel.

First of all, as an addition to a previous post from me above; To avoid further discussions about the lower wishbone angling up or down.... there's no angle at all. This right angle shot shows, that the wisbones are straight and there's no angle.
It also shows the parts with the wheel just in the air and in straight forward position. Still a lot of space. Picture seems to show the wheel still on the ground. Actually it's a few mms off the ground. I could turn it by hand.

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Here are some pictures with the wheel in the air and steering at it's end position. And here's my surprise:
The steering arm comes close and actually touches the link, but not on the track rod end nut, but the arm itself. See red circle on second picture, which shows traces where the arm touches the link ( have turned the wheel a bit back to show the contact point):

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I think I can live with that, since I just noticed it because of this thread after 22 years of ownership. And it's not a steering/suspension condition, which often occurs while driving

Best from Germany
Marti

 

Sorry, don't want to cause any confusion, I mentioned it already in a post above and JohnK confirmed. It's a picture angle/perspective issue. I'm sure, when you look at the wishbone at right angle you will confirm too.

Best from Germany
Martin

 

Need to read all the post, Bob. All 308s and 328 use the same lower wishbone. They are all straight. The difference seen in the pictures is optical due to camera angle.

 

What we said

Best from Germany
Martin

 

Bob we're all with you here

 

my opinion is ONE part at a time. we all had a lot of opinions here which can be confusing, but I think you need to check all the bushing spacers, ball joint orientation, correct steering rack length , and I would want to be sure that the A arms are bolted in the correct location to be sure that they are not pointing downward ,upward etc. on my car which is a GT4 IIRC the chassis height is 5.25 from memory. We have seen that droop can cause a interference or partial interference condition, and constant interference in your case. So I would say start taking apart and examine everything. I also posted about the upper and lower A arms not lining up, but that could also be a photo illusion. Mike

 

and I still haven't seen the inboard edge of the ball joints. something bugs me with that, I feel from memory that they pivot more one way than the other , though they could be different on your car than mine. But most of these old F car V8s have used the same parts since 1973

 

ok good 1 down. keep going we can do this