Hey people

I was working on my beast at a mates place today doing a cv joint and front shoes and slaves. All went to plan and the car has an awesome pedal now, but when we went for a test drive, the car was pulling massively to the right and felt like a boat to steer. we went back home and checked out the front wheels to find the rh front wheel with about 20o neg camber and towed out about the same.

When the car came off the jack stands I closed the bonnet and the front of the car dropped as the hydrolastics leveled. I dont remember it doing this before and it now sits on the bump stops but with two fingers clearance on the left and one and a half on the right with a good four on the rear.

I'm not sure if this is because I just mangled something in the hydro or if I have bent or broken something while doing the cv joint.

I only did the rh cv today because I did the lh a couple of weeks ago.

Anyone who as ever heard of anything like this would be much apreciated.

My clubbie is sleeping over at my mates tonight and I'm back over there tomorrow to look further into it.

Joe

You may have blown a hydro bag

You may have an arm torn away from its mounting point

You did re-connect the bottom Ball joint...didn't you

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everything looks secured, and nothing looks to be broken away. I think I might be up for new hydro...

Good luck finding new....I think someone said Northern Mini Parts have a swag of second hand ones.

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the knuckle joints have probably dropped out of the hydro bags... and as long as there aren't puddles of fluid under the car you're lucky as they can easily puncture the bags.

The knuckles connect the top suspension arm with the hydro bags - a ball with a shaft

there ought to be a rebound pad under the top suspension arm to stop this from happening, but they disappear over time and if they're missing then the arm can drop too far, and if the hydro was low on pressure anyway, the rear helper springs are stuffed and you jacked up all 4 wheels then the front ends will go as low as they can with no suspension pressure holding them down, and the shaft will drop out

simple to check that... sounds like what's happened

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thanks sks, I only had the front up and the bump stops are in place. it turned out to be a tie rod end that when I hit it with the hammer to split it from the hub, probably got the tie rod end itself and bent it. as for the ride height, its floaty in the back and hard in the front and all the way it was before. it still pulls a little to the right, but nothing like it did before, and its easier to turn to the right than the left but I think thats all just alignment that I will only probably fix when I put tyres on it which wont be too soon.

thanks both of you for the input but what I learnt was to seperate a tir rod end, smack it on the top with the nut sitting flush or use a 1/2" extension so you dont hit the tir rod end

no wuckas......

and that's what ball joint splitters are for

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I thought they were a last resort? dont they damage the joint?

bfh seems to work well... untill it hits everything else... I busted a flare splitting the upper arm too I'm such a hack you wouldnt notice unless you were looking for it.

hey when you do breaks, do they not work the best at first? I got them all adjusted good and have a wicked pedal but it doesnt seem to stop the car real fast? are mini breaks just crap or will they wear in and be better or did I stuff it up?

all new parts, nothing got contaminated, bled up well, adjusted well (after freeing up one of the adjusters) only I didnt get the drums mechiened. they were smooth and meaty enough, my mate tells me his were bad for the first couple of weeks untill he wore them in properly and adjusted them again...

Another way is to try two big hammers, one eack side of the ball joint with the nut off....hold one firmly against the side and give the other side a stout whack a couple of times...then dry gently drifting the taper out with a brass or aluminium drift....you often have to be lucky for this to work though...

ball joint splitters can do damage but most people are replacing the joints anyway....cheap as!!

New everything in the brakes dept means take it easy until you have everything bedded in....there was a discussion just recently about generally being careful but firm and doing a few quick stops to get the pads/shoes working properly.

And yes, your mate is right, once you wear the fur of the new shoes they do need a few more adjustments to get them spot on.

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