What Is Wrong With Adjustable Arms

[R DIRTY 3]

SK, whats your opinion of the whiteline adjustable rear arms fro skylines? they have bushes not bearings. The only thing i am not overly happy with it the size of the threaded section. Not thick enough? They work well for alignment though.

Regards

Brad

[Duncan]

Main reason I ask this is that I've also seen other bushes that have a thread through the tube. When you tighten the bolt up, it places pressure on the thread to help lock it in place.

I'm not familiar with the whiteline bushes but in the noltec ones, there are splines in the bush that grab onto the bolt. As you turn the bolt it does not tighten it just adjusts the caster by rotating the bush. Once you are happy you lock it in place with a lock nut

[J_Red33]

This is how I originally thought it should work, but according to this guy he reckoned they'd still move.

This is coming from a guy that also reckoned rose-joints were ok to use for the road though. I don't really think I need fully adjustable arms for the street. So I'm thinking I'll just go check out a couple other workshops in town that know their stuff.

Thanks for the info

Edited October 17, 2006 by JazzaR33

[Sydneykid]

I did a quick add up of the emails and PM's that I have received this month. One re-occurring theme was knocking suspension arms and strut tops in S13’s, S14’s, S15’s and Skylines. I have had 14 guys (just this month) come to me asking how to fix the knocks, rattles and cracks caused by aftermarket suspension arms and strut tops using spherical bearings. The rush to adjustable arms over the last couple of years seems to have now resulted in a whole pile of cars with worn sphericals.

My usual response is to strongly suggest that they put a set of adjustable polyurethane bushes in the standard arms and use the standard rubber bushes with the standard strut tops. The problem is a lot of the guys chucked out their standard arms when they bought the aftermarket ones. So if you just have to have adjustable arms, then please keep your standard ones. There’s a good chance that you will need them in 12 months or so. The import dismantlers are running out standard arms and strut tops and charging a small fortune for good ones.

cheers

Edited October 25, 2006 by Sydneykid

[J_Red33]

Yeah one thing I'd never do is throw any of the original bits away, just in case. But after reading this thread - & I was a little bit concerned before I read it anyway - I've been completely put off of fully adjustable arms.

The hardest performance workout my car is likely to get is a non-compeditive track day or a street drag meet.

I couldn't justify going to adjustable arms for 1 off events like that at the expense of risking chassis damage & I do like a bit of compliance in my ride.

As far as I knew if the chassis wasn't originally designed with rose jointed arms in mind - & only very few high performance road cars are - then it should not be done unless its done in combination with extra chassis reinforcement to prevent cracking & it's going to be serviced on a very regular basis.

[benl1981]

Has anyone got pictures of the front whiteline camber kit fitted to the original wishbones..

Thanks

[Sydneykid]

Has anyone got pictures of the front whiteline camber kit fitted to the original wishbones..

Thanks

R32 or R33/34?

This is R34 (R33 is the same)

cheers

[benl1981]

Thanks Gary - appreciate it.

Edited February 7, 2007 by benl1981

[benl1981]

Gary - can you have a look in here:

http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/in...howtopic=157124

I'm fitting these at the moment - did you fit yours yourself and did you have to cut sections off them?

Edited February 19, 2007 by benl1981

[Sydneykid]

Gary - can you have a look in here:

http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/in...howtopic=157124

I'm fitting these at the moment - did you fit yours yourself and did you have to cut sections off them?

I just used an air chissel, tap away at the raised lip on the bush outer.

cheers

[benl1981]

Thanks SK. Could you do it with a hand chisel you think?

Did the come out complete or do they split up a bit. I.e. you definatlely butcher the old bushes right?

Did you install the new ones yourself? No press required?

[Sydneykid]

Most times you pretty much destroy the old bushes, they get rusted in a bit. Occasionally they pop out a bit earier, but not very often. Never tried it with hammer and chisel, would be tough going I reckon.

The replacements bushes fit in pretty easy, plastic hammer taps usually do the job. The eccentric, steel, crush tubes take a bit more effort, steel hammer needed sometimes.

cheers

[Duncan]

I just cut off one end of the bush with a hacksaw, then used a press to push both halves out from that side.....then press back in. Pretty easy.

As long as you have a press

[benl1981]

Hey SK. Thanks for the tips.

Got the old ones out ok but now another problem.

When I'm hammering through the tube from the top the bottom poly bush pushes out slightly...no matter how much I try to support it.

The one I'm showing was the best one. The passenger side one was out by about 5-8mm.

Do I need a press. I used a piece of wood and tried to hammer the poly bush in but no matter how hard I go it won't go back.

Any ideas?

Thanks

I tried to put the control arm in the picture in the upper wishbone and tighten it up but I couldn't really get it in. It is only about 3mm from being flush.

These superpro ones are made in the same factory as the whiteline, it is only the colour that is different - so they should be the same..

Also, I had to hammer in the tube quite hard to get it in.

I also don't see how you could actually adjust these. The tube is so tight in there I dont think it will spin inside there when you loosen the lock nut and try and rotate the bolt to rotate tube. I put quite a bit of grease in there but still it's very tight. Are you meant to bottom out the long bolt when adjusting so that it stops the bolt turning and rotates the tube instead? Even then I don't see how it can work.

Cheers

Edited February 21, 2007 by benl1981

[Sydneykid]

Hey SK. Thanks for the tips.

Got the old ones out ok but now another problem.

When I'm hammering through the tube from the top the bottom poly bush pushes out slightly...no matter how much I try to support it.

The one I'm showing was the best one. The passenger side one was out by about 5-8mm.

Do I need a press. I used a piece of wood and tried to hammer the poly bush in but no matter how hard I go it won't go back.

Any ideas?

Thanks

I tried to put the control arm in the picture in the upper wishbone and tighten it up but I couldn't really get it in. It is only about 3mm from being flush.

These superpro ones are made in the same factory as the whiteline, it is only the colour that is different - so they should be the same..

Also, I had to hammer in the tube quite hard to get it in.

I also don't see how you could actually adjust these. The tube is so tight in there I dont think it will spin inside there when you loosen the lock nut and try and rotate the bolt to rotate tube. I put quite a bit of grease in there but still it's very tight. Are you meant to bottom out the long bolt when adjusting so that it stops the bolt turning and rotates the tube instead? Even then I don't see how it can work.

Cheers

Let's get over the Superpro Whiteline comparison first, colour is NOT the only difference, the duro (hardness) is different. Suprerpo tend to go for a higher duro, which is noticeable in the increased NVH for zero benefit in handling.

You can push the protruding bush back in using a wide jaw vice. If you don’t have one of those then two big washers and the supplied bolts will do it. Put the washers at either end of the bushes, screw the bolts into the crush tube and tighten then down on the washers.

OR

Use a long bolt and 2 big washers either end, bolt through the crush tune and tighten.

You can buy 6mm high tensile long bolts and big washers from your local SupaCheap, Repco, AutoOne, AutoPro, AutoBarn etc.

Cheers

[benl1981]

I'm not sure what duro they are, but hopefully the one different bush doesn't make too much of a difference.

Anyway. I'll try what your saying. I might have to put something in the vise so that it doesn't rip the poly apart.

I still don't see how you could get it to pivot easily within the poly bushes to adjust the camber. Do you have to bottom the bolt out in the threaded hole before you can adjust?

Have you adjusted it before SK? How much effort was required.

Thanks

[Sydneykid]

I'm not sure what duro they are, but hopefully the one different bush doesn't make too much of a difference.

Anyway. I'll try what your saying. I might have to put something in the vise so that it doesn't rip the poly apart.

I still don't see how you could get it to pivot easily within the poly bushes to adjust the camber. Do you have to bottom the bolt out in the threaded hole before you can adjust?

Have you adjusted it before SK? How much effort was required.

Thanks

Have a look down the bolt holes in the crush tube, you can see that one is very shallow. The bolt that goes in that hole bottoms out, so you use that to rotate the crush tube. It is not that hard to turn. There is a lock nut that goes on that bolt to tighten when you are finished so it doesn't rotate. The bolt on the other side doesn't bottom out. so you can tighten it.

cheers

[benl1981]

Hi Sk. I'm pertty sure both bolt holes were the same depth, quite deep that is.

If you were to try rotating it off the car you should be able to do it right? I might try and put it in a vice and see if I can rotate it.

Thanks.

[PT]

I know this is a Skyline thread but curious to know on an S15 with use of adjustable poly bushes (eg whiteline) how much adjustment is there to correct rear camber if 2 were used on each side? (is the S series the same as for the R series in Nissans?) Ride height will be ~340mm and don't want to use spherical bearings if I don't need them.

and how much extra castor will the same style castor bushes give on the S15?

Cheers

[salad]

I assume you're talking about rear. Rear suspension is same as R33/R34 for S15. Each camber kit offers +/-0.75deg camber, so with 2 you can get rid of 1.5deg camber.

I'm not too sure how S15 guards are cut compared to skyline ones, but for skylines 1 camber kit is enough to get rid of the camber for that height.

As far as I know, the castor bushes are the same as R33/R34 too, but someone will need to confirm that...