wheel & steering related issues

fleaborg · Post by **fleaborg** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 11:40 am

gday lads,

okay. my l wagon has some issues that despite my best efforts i cannot figure out.

1) the FDS wheel consistently heats up more than the FPS.
2) after some time driving, the steering becomes odd. turning left is no problem, no change. turning right however becomes more difficult, becomes stiffer.
3) car slowly drifts left. i can deal with this but i figured i should mention it in case it was a related issue.

so... ive changed shocks and springs to kybs and kings and theyve had oodles of time to settle. ive changed tyres and have tried various pressures. bushes all look fine, no cracks, plenty rubber, seem to still do their job well. checked brake pads and theyre good. bled brakes several times. brakes dont seem to be sticking as far as i can tell. the only thing i can see, or rather feel, is the FDS rotor has been slightly grooved.

so, after all that, my theory is the grooves are causing the extra heat making that tyre hotter/bigger and hence harder to turn its way. does that seem likely? if not, any suggestions? ive been having these issues since i got the old girl and ive been trying to find the cause and fix it the whole time. its driving me berko and i havent the money to throw away on having a mechanic chase it down for me.

cheers in advance,
fleaborg.

Subafury · Post by **Subafury** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 1:15 pm

hmm seems like an odd one. when you say the wheel heats up is it the rotor or tyre or both?
have you checked all the steering rack bits- tie rod ends/boots etc.

also the drifting to the left could be caused by wheel unbalanced, pressures, or the need of alignment.

daveosubi · Post by **daveosubi** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 1:24 pm

Possibly a bad wheel bearing? It could make the hub warm up.

Jeff · Post by **Jeff** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 4:04 pm

definately check the wheel bearing

AlpineRaven · Post by **AlpineRaven** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 6:05 pm

Yeah I would check wheel bearing.... thats the first thing came to my mind.. bearings can do weird things! (due experience as service technician in woodworking machines)
Cheers
AP

fleaborg · Post by **fleaborg** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 8:24 pm

to subafury> i think its both but i dont know for sure. ill check next time. yeah, i shoulda mentioned, we've checked all the steering gear and theyre all good.
as for the drifting, ive had the wheels balanced and aligned MANY times and it never makes a difference. beaurepairs thought it was a bent radius rod so i got a straight replacement, went to put it on and the one on the car was fine.

to the others> i didnt think of the bearings. shoulda. ill slap myself later. checking the wheel bearings is gonna suck. i can see it all the nuts being incredibly tight.

my thanks to you all. ill check what youve suggested and let you know how i get on.

fleaborg.

Matatak · Post by **Matatak** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 9:22 pm

fleaborg wrote:to the others> i didnt think of the bearings. shoulda. ill slap myself later. checking the wheel bearings is gonna suck. i can see it all the nuts being incredibly tight.

my thanks to you all. ill check what youve suggested and let you know how i get on.

fleaborg.

yer i thought bearings to

checking them is soooo simple jack the car up and spin the wheels
if its grinding, making funny noises, a bit tight when spinning, etc dont really no how to explain it but u might no depending on how abd it might be.
try it slow and fast etc etc.

AlpineRaven · Post by **AlpineRaven** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 9:29 pm

Another thing.. I know they're tight, best way is to spray WD40 around the joints that requires taking apart for 12 hours, it'll make things slightly easier to take apart.

What I would do if it was me to confirm what it is... is to get another hub from somewhere and put it in, if you found out what it is - grab yourself new bearings and put it in the hub that you removed (you will need a press to do that) and put it back on - for what its worth - I'd suppose it would be worth doing.

Other hand, I dont think these wheel bearings are expensive, I could say approx $30 each from CBC - I could be wrong tho. So if it had high kms then I'd say its time to replace them all
Cheers
AP

camo85 · Post by **camo85** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 10:06 pm

HI
the drifting can be coming from the rack as sometimes after cornering the rack may not go back one tooth far enough which will pull the car to one side it doesn't take much to get it to pull to one side.this happened to my brumby

keppler · Post by **keppler** » Mon Oct 01, 2007 9:21 pm

have you made sure the hand brake cable is not seizing up getting cable wet and salt made them stiffen up pretty quick but wheel bearing does sound like a good place to start