worn spindle pin hole in strut housing?

[ezzzzzzz]

My 240Z was starting to get difficult to handle on road. It would track where it wanted too and made for some interesting moments of panic. I had rebuilt the whole suspension a few years back. This new problem led me to think it was rack related. I replaced the rubber rack bushings with urethane and checked for wear in the rack too. It seemed to make a slight difference but not what I hoped for. We put it up an a lift to give things a better look over. Nothing was obvously a problem. That's when we started greasing the tierods and balljoints. Whoa, the balljoints actually moved a lot. They were heavily worn! These are TRW units with only about 3000 miles max on them! I was shocked. They were replaced and made for a huge improvement in handling. Moving on...

While under the car we also looked over the rear due to some minor clunking noises. The mustache bar nuts were a tad loose but everything else looked fine until...my friend grabbed the passenger side wheel to check for play. There was lots of play! At first we thought the nut had backed off the axle enough to cause this (which is still a probability). What caught my buddie's eye was movement at the LCA to strut housing at the back bushing. There is several thousands of play between the LCA and housing at the rear bushing only. That makes for a lot of movement of the tire. These are new bushings also replaced about 3k miles ago. My friend seems to think the spindle pin bole hole is worn allowing the pin to actually move in the strut housing. I'm hoping it's a failed bushing. My logic is I can't see how the spindle pin can be bowed like that with only hand pressure at the tire. It has to be torn down to resolve but I wondering if anyone has seen wear like that in a housing. Oh yeah, the pins were also replaced and I don't recall any kind of whallowing like that in the housing during re-assembly.

[johnc]

I wondering if anyone has seen wear like that in a housing. Oh yeah, the pins were also replaced and I don't recall any kind of whallowing like that in the housing during re-assembly.

 

I've seen it where the wedge locking pin was not installed, the spindle pin siezed on one bushing, and then started to turn in the strut casting. It quickly wore the hole in the strut casting into an oval shape.

[ezzzzzzz]

I've seen it where the wedge locking pin was not installed, the spindle pin siezed on one bushing, and then started to turn in the strut casting. It quickly wore the hole in the strut casting into an oval shape.

 

Yeah, I can see the potential. In my case the locking pins have always been there. Assuming that the hole is ovel should I just find a replacement or have this housing sleeved and reamed? I'm leaning towards the machine work because another housing is likely to be seized (PITA). I'll take photos when I break it down. The only reason I'm hesitating is I want to convert over to 5 lug, new wheels/tires and properly install ZG flares at the same time. There are so many Z events coming in the next few months including Z Days, a couple of shows and ZCon. I may wait until the end of summer before I pursue it.