Does anyone see anything wrong with this setup? First photo is prior to restoration and the nut appears to be hitting. Second photo is after restoration (new bushings, ball joints....everything replaced) and the castle nut on the tie rod is still hitting the top of the sway bar link (both driver and passenger side) when the wheels turn. Occurs with and without a load on the suspension. We're stumped, Any thoughts?
I just stared under my car for a few minutes, and don't see how I'd make that happen if I wanted to. So, throwing out a crazy question: have the knuckles been replaced with the wrong parts? Something about yours looks wrong to me. Maybe it's the picture. Can you take a better pic showing more behind the wheel area?
Me too. Sitting on a comfortable chair under my lift to forget day long IT-issues And on my suspension these parts are 40-50mm distant from each other. Is it possible to achieve that by mixing up right/left side parts? Especially the steering lever? I should also see a picture, which shows the axle stub / knuckles from behind the brake disc. Best from Germany Martin
Here are some more photos of the rebuild We have confirmed that the sway bar and links are the proper sizes. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Why should it? With this geometry the lower wishbone has almost the same travel like the steering arm. And he said, that it occurs also with load on the suspension. Anyway, there's something terribly wrong. Best Regards Martin
I wondered on this. It looks like the knuckles are on the correct sides, as the taller section is connected to the upper ball joint.
Here's a photo I previously saved that shows there isn't a lot of clearance there at full droop: Image Unavailable, Please Login Don't know if this is even physically possible to do, but any chance that items 3 and 4 in this SPC are on the wrong sides? https://www.ricambiamerica.com/car-diagrams/ferrari/v6-v8/308-group/308gtb-gts/steering-box-and-linkage.html If they should both "angle up" a little bit, but are swapped and "angling down" = that would reduce the clearance. Just thinking out loud... (Although that tie rod nut and the sway bar link appear to be about the same distance from the lower A-arm pivot axis, the tie rod nut will move vertically the same distance as the lower outer ball joint -- which is further away from the lower A-arm pivot axis. So at max droop, the clearance is reduced and is worst case.) Was the car drivable in the "before restoration" condition?
Are you sure about this? In the photo I posted, some of the lower ball joint housing shows below the backing plate; whereas, on the OP's photo, it looks like the backing plate extends well below the lower ball joint housing.
Not as much as I'd like. I agree with your theory on the angle might increase if the sides were swapped. This particular post is becoming a brain twisting splinter in my mind... Also I'm laying under the car with the wheels on... wish I had a clear view of mine. But, it does look like the knuckle isn't mirrored from top-to-bottom, and that the shorter 'leg' is the lower one. Edit: OP - just to confirm, the tie rod nut DOES hit the sway link with wheels on the ground?
We don't know if the car was driveable before the rebuild, as we started the work with the engine already removed (also being rebuilt). It's quite possible items 3 and 4 in the above linked drawing were previously reversed, as the issue appears to have been present, prior to us rebuilding the suspension. We believe the spindle is correct; "taller" side on top, so that doesn't seem to be the problem. In the first batch of photos, the one with the tape measure is with wheels on the ground. The tie rod/sway bar link contact is present (hardly any difference) with and without a load on the suspension.
the suspension has somewhere around 3 inches of droop when jacked up that's why. all the op needs to do is jack up the corner and we will see, or both actually incase the sway bar is limiting the travel, or disconnect the link and jack up the corner
and at rest the sway bar is 90 degrees to the ground, the rest of the a arms are 90 degrees at minimum, just look at how much the coils are open on the springs
I think this is just a difference in photograph angles. Our photo is looking slightly down, your photo is looking slightly up. We did investigate the ball joints (original and new) and they have the same height, size.... thought the new ones might have been the issue but didn't see anything that stood out.
and the tierods are not in the pointed down position when on the wheels. look at the pic, the tierods are pointed downward due to the uncompressed spring,
Don't know if this will help. Here's a pic of mine. Passenger side, wheel straight ahead, wheels in ground. Image Unavailable, Please Login
are the upper ball joints install in the correct way? I cant recall if there is limited travel of the bolt in one direction or the other
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earlier you asked about part 3 being swapped Left to right, not sure about that , I cant tell from your pics if there is a specific angle up or down if swapped
