308 Suspension Rebuild Questions

I replaced the worn bushings in my 68 Corvette & the ride actually got smoother.

While you are rebuilding the rear suspension I highly advise replacing the stub axles with race quality units bcus the Ferrari stub axles are notorious for failing when the car is pushed hard, leaving you out of control of a 3 wheeled 308, Not good

 

William,

Who makes stub axles with race quality? Source?

Enjoy the Walk.,

Steven R. Rochlin

 

Does anyone know what the failure is from?
Fatigue cracks emanating from a roughly machined surface, or failue at the root of the thread. Corosion induced ?? I'm just guessing here without a failed part to look at.
Is this type of failure possibly avoidable if one magnafluxes, polishes and shot peens the part, or eases the thread root or machining in a more generous radius on the darn thing.

 

Steven, I am going to be brief and somewhat vague, but keep an eye on KTR and billable hours. I know the facility is pretty and there are some very talented people there, but.....speaking from knowledge.
David

 

David,

Thanks for the words of wisdom, will do.

Enjoy the Walk,

Steven R. Rochlin

 

Will, do you know if this problem extends to 328s as well? (more importantly the ABS era hub 328s)

 

William,

Did some research and seems that Strange Engineering makes some for Ferrari (http://www.strangeengineering.ne) according to a post in the archives http://www.ferrarichat.com/discus/messages/256121/202865.html . Do not see many complaints on the Stub Axle while searching the Internet, yet am curious to costs/labor. Any other details? ALL help is ALWAYS appreciated.

Enjoy the Walk,

Steven R. Rochlin

 

Steven,

I contacted Strange Engineering a little while back and they said they did not provide parts for 308s/328s. I don't know if maybe I just got the wrong guy, but you should probably verify they exist.

 

Tillman,

It was mentioned by William H (Countachxx) on the old thread (as seen in link above). Seems to me a failure like this is RARE as it has not been overly mentioned here on Fchat or the Internet in general. Guess if you go with R Compound and track a lot things like this MAY happen, yet for spirited street and occasional AutoX i have a feeling the point is moot. Still, if anyone wants to chime in i am all ears.

Enjoy the Walk,

Steven R. Rochlin

 

I would like to know, as I am trying to set up my car to be one bad mother...

 

Chris,
You can't burn the shock bushings out because 1.) My god, lighting your shocks on fire can't be good for them! and 2.) the bushings have a rubber part between two cylinders of metal, so the burning would still leave the outer bushing sleeve.

Without a press, you can probably do it with a big ass vise and a sock of the right size. Find a socket that is just a smidge smaller than the O.D. of the new bushings (i.e. smaller than the diameter of the hole in the shock itself, but not smaller than the larger sleeve on the bushing) and use that to press it out. Use a larger socket on the other side of the shock to provide a space into which the old bushing can move as you press. So you need a vise and two big sockets. Should work fine.

If that won't work, any local shock place like Midas can press them out and press the new ones back in pretty quickly. The problem is that if the clunking is coming from the shock itself, this won't fix the problem and you will need to either replace or rebuild the shocks.

Good luck and don't forget to report back.

Birdman

 

Btw, most auto machine shops have reasonable presses & can press them out very reasonably. $5/bushing, maybe less.

 

Hey birdman,

Thanks for the info, Yesterday, before I read your post, I did just that. I used a big old 6 inch wide navy vise and a 3 foot cheater on the vise. Man it was tough - I think I even looked worse than Verrell. At one point, I had to lay the vise and stand assembly on the garge floor so I could stand on the cheater. and that was only the first shock. The machine shop is looking pretty good.
Also, the sockets wanted to slip around on the thin outter bushing shell, so there was a lot of fussing about tryhing to keep the socket centered. I am seriously considering having a couple of metal slugs truned with a lip to center it in the sleeve. that is one for the shocks and one for the controll arm bushings.
Also had a great time trying to line up the top shock eye and a arm to insert the bold. Next time I will make a tapered alignment punch to get things in line.

thanks, chris