Hi to all,

I have a problem which has emerged after new front wishbone arms were fitted on my car, which is an Uno 60 1992 with 1108cc engine.

New wishbone arms (supplied by me) were fitted to each side. No issues or concerns were mentioned by the garage when I collected the car.
Due to a different unrelated fault, the car was examined on a ramp at a second garage the next day and I witnessed the issue which they identified.
On full lock the n/s arm was in direct contact with the tyre and could cause major damage-a definite MOT failure item. For the o/s, however, there was plenty of clearance on full lock (probably an excessive amount).

I have double checked the wishbone arms are the correct parts and confirmed this fact. Also had tracking checked and adjusted and although the track rod end thread is not equal on both sides the garage is now saying that the steering rack itself may need to be centralised accurately-not a quick job by any means-to correct the fault with the arm rubbing the tyre on full lock (the car has never failed an MOT for this reason before).
The steering wheel position after the wheel alignment is about 'twenty to three' rather than dead straight (ie similar to before the arms were fitted), but the notches on the wheel spline are very widely spaced so unable to alter satisfactorily.

I'm not sure if the garage is trying to generate unnecessary work or if the steering rack is the root cause of the problem (quite a few years ago I did have to replace the engine).

Any advice or comments welcomed.

Thanks,

Andy

capers626 said:

I have double checked the wishbone arms are the correct parts and confirmed this fact. Also had tracking checked and adjusted and although the track rod end thread is not equal on both sides the garage is now saying that the steering rack itself may need to be centralised accurately-not a quick job by any means-to correct the fault with the arm rubbing the tyre on full lock (the car has never failed an MOT for this reason before).The steering wheel position after the wheel alignment is about 'twenty to three' rather than dead straight (ie similar to before the arms were fitted), but the notches on the wheel spline are very widely spaced so unable to alter satisfactorily.

I'm not sure if the garage is trying to generate unnecessary work or if the steering rack is the root cause of the problem (quite a few years ago I did have to replace the engine).

Click to expand...

OK - the giveaway there is when you say 'although the track rod end thread is not equal on both sides'. It should be!

To centralise the rack is really not a difficult job on the Uno because there is no clockspring (airbag connection) to worry about. All you have to do is, wind the steering wheel all the way to full-lock, wind it back exactly two turns (there are 4.0 turns lock to lock), and take the steering wheel off, then refit it in the straight-ahead position. Then go under the car and adjust both track-rod ends (one may be seized, so this part of the job may require an oxy-acetylene gas torch etc. to free the threads, and you'll need a 21mm open-ended spanner which not everyone has in their tool collections). Start by getting both the track rods about equal length. The track rod has flats that you can turn - about 12mm I think, possibly 11.

Ideally the car should be on a wheel alignment machine at this point. But since the setting is parallel (zero toe) you can do this at home by adjusting both wheels to be straight ahead (with respect to the back wheels, check with a long straight bar) and then you can use a tape measure to check between the tread blocks on the front and back of the tyres, making fine adjustments at this point. You'll be able to get it within a couple of millimetres. When you drive off down the road, you may find the steering wheel is slightly off, but that can of course have a small adjustment as well. If the steering is that close to centred, that won't explain the problem you have with track-rod-end-to-tyre clearance.

I'm not sure how this became a problem after the control arm change - it really is a bit suspicious and maybe one of the control arms is wrong, but certainly try the rack-centering first.

-Alex