im Axle Specialists

General <insert long string of swear words here>

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General <insert long string of swear words here>

Aha! tyre rubbage!

Is that with the 14" Tempra alloys on? if it is you could do with some 3-5mm spacers ASAP!

The bumper can be repaired either by using 2 pack superglue or a big soldering iron carefully at the back (possibly reinforcing it with offcuts of plastic taken from the bottom lip), then spraying the whole bumper after if its still visible.

I hope you werent laying under her taking pictures (the car that is) when it was only on that jack!

Ucof said:
Pictures as promised!


Damage from the outside. You hardly notice it thankfully unless you know where to look!
small31.jpg



This is the damage that was done to the tyre (well, not he only damage done, it is like that the whole way round it) - this tyre is now on the rear right hand corner.

small34.jpg


SEXY NEW WISHBONE! (and sexy 2nd hand driveshaft á la LouieBee)

small35.jpg


This is what I believe the culprit to be. At full lock, the end point of the steering rack touches the innermost rim of the wheel, causing a horrible grinding and scraping noise. That small round circle near slightly above the middle of the picture is the bit that it rubs on. I remember a thread a while back after I had posted about this saying that it was the wheel rubbing on the bottom of the gearbox. I can categorically say that this is NOT the case at all. It is the steering rack end arm that causes it!

small38.jpg


However, I also think that the problem could be made worse by the fact that the tyre rubs on the wishbone at full lock too:

small40.jpg


As you can see, it is jammed up tight.

small41.jpg


That all got sorted. I did however manage to totally bugger up my car jack :(
I was unwinding it (after finishing all the work!) slightly too vigorously and rocked the car off the jack. Thankfully I was nowhere near it, and it just dropped onto the wheels only. Not really that fussed either! I have the spare jack from my old transit van anyway so just chucked the broken one away.

That's about it really!
Click to expand...
 
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No, it was on the axle stands when I was under it. Im not daft enough to only use car jacks ;)

and the wheels are from the Mk2 Turbo, so they are still just 13".
The rubbage happened when the drive shaft had snapped so the wheel wasn't aligned properly.
 
Nope.

It was a sketchy roundabout opposite where I work :(
Two other people have done the same thing, one even said he 360'd on it.


£103 for recovery back to the garage
£35 for new left side suspension arm
:(


Can't afford to keep doing this.


I had smoke coming out of the air vents and footwell too :(
I also now have an instant blister due to molten plastic :(

Not happy.
 
Is it due to a road surface problem like spilled diesel etc or were you all pushing it a tad too hard?

I`ve always found in Uno`s that although dry handling is superb, but in the wet they understeer like bstrds.

Always use top quality `wet` tyres on the front & experiment with tyre pressures to find the best wet handling compromise.
 
I was just pushing it too hard. :(
Entirely my own fault with no-one else to blame really. I don't know if that makes it better or worse! ;)
 
Pictures have been resized, haven't heard anything from the garage though. :(

grumpy1.JPG


Wobbly drive shaft :(


grumpy2.JPG


8uggered side panel, though I think this will easily be straightened out.


grumpy3.JPG


Knackered alloy (different one this time round as I swapped the wheels all round) :(


grumpy4.JPG


Bent/ buckled wishbone (again) :(

grumpy5.JPG


This inside of the wheel arch is a mess. The plastic is all ripped up, everything inside is coated in small bits of plastic shavings and there is a very shiney bits of metal that caused the following 2 pics :(


meltedsoundproofingsmall2.JPG

meltdsoundproofingsmall2.JPG

The metal got so hot, the sound proofing in the passenger footwell started melting(!) causing horrible plasticky smelling smoke to flood into the cabin, as well as for the next few minutes after the car stopped moving and I got some water to cool it down with.


meltedfingersmall.JPG


In my franticness to get the soundproofing up so it didn't catch fire, I ended up putting my finger into molten plastic, causing an instant blister.



So yeah, that was my day.
How was yours? :D
 
So yeah, that was my day.
How was yours?
Click to expand...

Better than that, I suppose :(

What has happened to the driveshaft?

This is awful to read, sucks. I wonder whether your tyres are up to standard; just because there's tread doesn't mean the rubber will have any grip if it's cheap and/or six years old. I wouldn't completely blame yourself.

Oh well, best of luck for the week ahead!

-Alex
 
No idea what happened to the drive shaft, it simply looks like it has popped out of the gearbox.

Tyres are up to standard, still got excellent tread on them and they were new last year. Mid-ranges too, not simply the cheapest I could find.
 
Yer the driveshaft can pop out if pulled hard enough. should pop back in (y)

I have a good wing in rosso racing 113 and an arch liner from my breaker (y) not really postable but well cheep to you (as you've had so many parts already). Also have another N/S driveshaft if need be (y)

I was just thinking of you yesterday as I did some woodwork in the back of my Uno(y) was gonna take a pic for George.

Shame it's happened again, but what caused it? hit the curb :confused:
 
George?

yeah, hit the curb and it popped :(
I half-thought that I should straighten the wheel so as to drive straight up the kerb, but thankfully I saw the lamppost that I would have gone straight into, so I chose not to. :D

This time, when I put the car in gear and accelerated, there was no noise at all (other than the engine revving), however the last time I damaged it, there was a horrible metal grinding noise. That hopefully will be a good thing in that nothing has broken per se, but has just disconnected.

Thankfully, to me, it didn't look at bad as the last time it happened.
To me, it appears that only the suspension arm needs replacing, the bodywork sorting out and then repainting. Oh, and the wheel rebalanced too.

Might take you up on that offer if needs be for the wing if it is not easily repairable. :)
I am however going to visit my dad next weekend, so will pick the arch liner up from him instead to save on the postage :)


In other news, my blister continues to weep like a teased v4g1n4. :D
 
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Blister has stopped weeping and is now self-repairing. :D


Car is ready to be picked up, so by the shounds of things, everything is ok.
I'll see what they have done about the bodywork crumpled bit though.

Doubt it'll cost that much seeing as they only fitted a part I bought. :D
 
Got the car back.
Cost me £30 to have the part fitted.

I've driven it, and something doesn't seem quite right - I said this to the garage, and one of them drove it, and said that the driveshaft and the front wheel bearings could do with being replaced too after all the knocks they have had. They said it was perfectly safe and legal, butit would be worth getting it replaced.

However, what has annoyed me the most, is that the steering wheel is completly lop-sided now, but about 30 degrees. When I gave it to th garage, it was 5 degrees out maxiumum.
Is it hard to readjust and realign the steering wheel so that it is straight for me?

Also, how much effort would go into removing the wheel bearings from my dad's spares and repairs Uno, and would it be ok for the car to stay there without the bearings, or would the wheels fall off? (Sorry if this is a stupid question!)

Thanks all.
 
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Ucof said:
However, what has annoyed me the most, is that the steering wheel is completly lop-sided now, but about 30 degrees. When I gave it to th garage, it was 5 degrees out maxiumum.
Is it hard to readjust and realign the steering wheel so that it is straight for me?
Click to expand...


Take off the steering wheel centre cover, undo the big nut (keep steering lock on and use a socket, about 21cm I think, and a big wrench), pull wheel off steering column and then move it round a spline or two to re-align it.

If they've adjusted the tracking then I could understand the steering wheel being out. If they haven't then I'd be concerned that the rack/ suspension may be damaged to make it go out of alignment. Does the car track in a straight line?

Ucof said:
Also, how much effort would go into removing the wheel bearings from my dad's spares and repairs Uno, and would it be ok for the car to stay there without the bearings, or would the wheels fall off? (Sorry if this is a stupid question!)
Click to expand...

You will need a fly press/ half tonne press to remove and refit the bearings. It's not something you can do at home and you should replace with new bearings anyway. What you can do is swap the hub over from your spares Uno. Disconnect the strut, driveshaft, lower suspension arm, trackrod end, brake caliper (plus brake pipe) and the hub with bearing (and disc) will come away. Refitting is the reversal of removal, and to keep the braking system balanced you could also swap your own disc back over.

You could then swap your old hub back onto your dad's car so it will still be mobile.

Hope this helps :)
 
Cheers for that info.

I was hoping to not have to drive to my dads in order to swap bits over, I kinda wanted to go to the car, take off the bits I need, bring them home and then give them to the garage to fit over.

They said that they had adjusted the tracking after the knock which could indeed explain the steering wheel being wonky.

You say take the centre cover off? This is one thing that has confused me the most about my Uno - in the Haynes manual, it says as you do - however, in the middle of my steering wheel is the horn cover, rather than a Fiat badge. Does this horn cover also come off in the same way?


I took the oppurtunity today to get the car up on the stands and have a good look around underneath at the extent of the damage - thankfully, it doesn't look too bad.. however, the following videos, to me, indicate a big problem.

http://www.hyperloophoop.com/Jon/carpics/Video0002.3gp - 7mb
http://www.hyperloophoop.com/Jon/carpics/Video0004.3gp - 3mb

Im thinking drive shaft.
Car is in 1st gear, with ignition on, and the car on axle stands.
Any ideas what is wrong?

(files are in phone format (3GP) - if you can't view them with your normal media player, then use VLC Player - www.videolan.org )
 
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isn't that the function of the dif working correctly :confused:

when jacked up with the engine off and in neutral, you should be able to turn one front wheel one way and the other will turn the opposite way (one forward tother backwards) . if it will do that, then both drive shafts are fixed into the gearbox and the dif is ok.

the dif always transfers power to the easier path, or you'd struggle to go round bends. Ever noticed that when doing a wheel spin only one wheel spins.

the steering wheel horn press is prized out, and can make a mess of the foam either side. it's a 24mm nut to hold on the steering wheel.

I'd leave it and have the tracking done again, asking for the steering wheel to be centralised. it's a nice to have, not an essential ;). what may have happened is the tracking has been adjusted only at one end, instead of centralising the steering wheel and working both track rod ends.

Moving the steering wheel to correct it isn't really the correct way forward.
 
Hmm..
I would have thought that, but its the fact that it does seem to be sticking, as you can see by the 'juddering' of the hub, and when it passes that point, it spins round freely until it reaches the sticking point again.

It is as if the hub is on a wonk, and the brake disc is rubbing on the pad up to a point, upon which is it free for half a revolution until it starts rubbing again.

Surely, if the car is on stands, and both wheels off, there would be no resistance to either wheel, so shouldn't both wheels turn?
 
you'd have thought but not always.

there is often uneven bearing resisance, and sometimes the brakes stick a little on one side than the other. it all adds up.

Maybe the brake disk is slightly bent or more likley, warped.

jack it up and knock it out a gear. Turn wach wheel. is thre the same feel of resistance each side?
 
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