Intrepid Fox Posted Monday at 03:34 Posted Monday at 03:34 Hi Guys I've got a 72 HQ Kingswood, lately the lower control arms have started hitting the brake discs on full lock. The discs are aftermarket ones but are the same size as the originals and have been on the car for 25 years. The rims are 18" and have been on the car for the last couple of years. Its only just started happening and I'm at a loss at what might be causing it? Anyone had this issue before or might know what's causing it? cheers Quote
440bbm Posted Monday at 03:48 Posted Monday at 03:48 10 minutes ago, AllTorque said: How are the ball joints? and quite possibly wheel bearings? 2 Quote
cletus Posted Monday at 11:46 Posted Monday at 11:46 8 hours ago, AllTorque said: How are the ball joints? This, don't drive it any more till you've jacked it up and figured it out If the joint separates when you're driving, you're going to have a bad time 2 2 Quote
Intrepid Fox Posted Monday at 20:57 Author Posted Monday at 20:57 The ball joints seem to be alright, the hubs needed nipping up a little but haven't checked the wheel bearings yet, will check those out and see how they are. Quote
440bbm Posted Monday at 21:31 Posted Monday at 21:31 Jack the corner up off the ground on axle stands and get amate with a lever/plank of wood to lift the wheel up and down and you watch where all the play is coming from. You may not see the major wear untill it get a bit of force. If the hubs needed nipping up, how did you do this? Do you know the correct procedure to carry this out? Quote
cletus Posted Monday at 21:42 Posted Monday at 21:42 6 minutes ago, 440bbm said: Jack the corner up off the ground on axle stands and get amate with a lever/plank of wood to lift the wheel up and down and you watch where all the play is coming from. You may not see the major wear untill it get a bit of force. This- Put a Jack, or big block of wood under the spring cup on the lower arm, so the tyre is far enough off the ground to fit some sort of lever under it- sometimes there's enough spring tension to disguise the play, jacking it up under the spring cup takes this out of the equation 2 1 Quote
azzurro Posted Tuesday at 00:27 Posted Tuesday at 00:27 Agree, there is no way that should be happening absent major issues in the front hubs/ball joints/spindles/steering and you are perhaps moments away from complete loss of steering due to catastrophic failure. the spindles or steering arms have stops that hit the control arms preventing them from steering angle pivoting that far that the discs can even get close something in the front end has had its retaining fasteners come loose, or is worn out/broken, or a combo of all three Be interesting to know what the issue ends up being when you find it! My guess is worn ball joints. Pic from my recent front end rebuild might help visualizing whats going on behind the backing plate 2 Quote
Intrepid Fox Posted Tuesday at 08:08 Author Posted Tuesday at 08:08 I had it in for a WOF a few weeks ago and mentioned it to the mechanic, he said hubs were a bit loose and they nipped them up, and the ball joints looked alright, but other than that he said they didn't really see anything and to bring it back if it keeps playing up. I had it out on the weekend and it's getting worse, so I'm definitely not driving it any more until its sorted. It does it both sides so I would of thought that both ball joints going at the same time wouldn't really happen, but I suppose it's still possible. Do you think it could possibly be something with the steering box? I will also go and do what you guys have suggested with jacking the car up this weekend. Quote
Nominal Posted Tuesday at 08:13 Posted Tuesday at 08:13 3 minutes ago, Intrepid Fox said: I had it in for a WOF a few weeks ago and mentioned it to the mechanic, he said hubs were a bit loose and they nipped them up, and the ball joints looked alright, but other than that he said they didn't really see anything and to bring it back if it keeps playing up. I had it out on the weekend and it's getting worse, so I'm definitely not driving it any more until its sorted. It does it both sides so I would of thought that both ball joints going at the same time wouldn't really happen, but I suppose it's still possible. Do you think it could possibly be something with the steering box? I will also go and do what you guys have suggested with jacking the car up this weekend. Nothing about the steering box could cause the discs to hit the control arm. The spindle that the wheel rotates on is constrained by the ball joints and the steering stop, so something must have movement/slop that shouldn't be present. Hopefully the mechanic did the check mentioned above rather than a visual inspection. Quote
Intrepid Fox Posted Tuesday at 08:29 Author Posted Tuesday at 08:29 7 minutes ago, Nominal said: Nothing about the steering box could cause the discs to hit the control arm. The spindle that the wheel rotates on is constrained by the ball joints and the steering stop, so something must have movement/slop that shouldn't be present. Hopefully the mechanic did the check mentioned above rather than a visual inspection. Yeah I'm thinking it was just a visual inspection they did, I will have a good look at the ball joints this weekend. Quote
sr2 Posted yesterday at 03:32 Posted yesterday at 03:32 What type of HQ steering arms are you running? (The HQ “power steering" arms are 90 mm from the centre of the ball joint hole to the centre of the next closest hole, the "non power steering arms are 120mm). Quote
Bearded Baldy Posted yesterday at 06:31 Posted yesterday at 06:31 Where are you based @Intrepid Fox? Quote
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