Rods Came Out Of Hicas Lock Bar R33

[A Grave Digger]

Has anyone ever had the rods that connect to the Hicas lock bar come free while they are driving? ( If someone could tell me the name of the rods it would be great ).

I have a lock bar in my R33 and i recently installed some Tein Super Streets. Now when i put them in I got new tyres put on the back and a wheel alignment done. Turns out the tyres rubbed, so i lifted the coilovers up a bit which threw the toe out. I then got another alignment done, and the car still didnt feel right, but i put this down to the new tyres ( rookie mistake, wont ever be doing that again).

Was driving along the other day and the rod that connects to the hicas bar came out of the bar ( pretty scary experience doing 80 along a narrow country road ). anyways no major damage was done. had a look under the car for the 1st time since today, and noticed the other side was loose as well. i did the things up bloody tight when i put them on.

Could they have come loose of their own free will? or would they have to have had a helping hand?

[sonicz]

The mechanism that controls rear turning has a ball-joint the same as the tie end rods at the front. Kind of like a chicken leg. These wear out over time. On others cars it doesn't seem to be much of a problem. But The two R33s I have (I convinced by dad to buy one) Both of them had funny rear toe settings when we got them. As in one wheel was out of whack to the other. Hicas problem or poor wheel misalignment, I don't know.

If I gave the car some power around a corner to try break rear traction, I felt like the rear wheels bent which everway the force pushed them before breaking traction, then I would hear a deep clunk, kind of like the chicken bone tie rod popped out and in again as the force was being applied and ease of again.

After I had a wheel alligment done (I run neg .05-1mm toe in on the back) the problem is mostly gone. but my point is with the sloppiness of the R33s rear, its possible these tie rods wear out a lot and eventually can become loose enough to pop out.

I also had my front tie end rods at the front replaced on my car, The old ones I had taken out were clunky and had lots of play. I don't know how far they were from popping out.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-OUTER-TIE-ROD-END-FOR-NISSAN-R32-89-94-2WD-R33-95-98-2WD-R34-99-04-/251028114720?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item3a72710d20&vxp=mtr

I should probably look into replacing the tie rods at the back as well, but I'm not sure what kind of tie rods they run.

Hopefully we can get some more information here.

Edited April 20, 2013 by sonicz

[GTSBoy]

There's already bucket loads of info on here about fixing HICAS, particularly the tie rod ends.