clarkspeed Posted July 11, 2010 Share Posted July 11, 2010 I did some searching and didn't find anything releated to the problem I have. My car sees only track use so heavy stresses are the norm. It seems the steering knuckles want to move and twist around during heavy braking and cornering. I thought it was bad ball joints at first and replaced them. After some troubleshooting I found that following a good 30 minute session, the 2 bolts that hold the knuckle to the strut housing start to lose torque no matter how much I tighten them. I haven't measured yet, but it looks like there are are roughly .005" clearance on each bolt shank to steering knuckle which ends up being a large movement in the tie rod. I also thought the bolt holes in my knuckles might be worn oversize, but I have a few knuckles laying around and they all seem to have the same hole diameter. I used to run a set of the bump spacers in between but removed them a few years ago. I noticed today that the original setup had an o-ring that goes at the base of the spigot fit which I am missing. It probably doesn't help that ball joint grease had coated this entire area so it's not rusted together like a stock 30 year old car might be. Anyway, whatever I do to fix this needs this to fix it for good. In my mind, cleaning the grease, replacing the bolts, adding back the o-ring might not be enough. I was considering adding a roll pin or some other way to lock the 2 parts together. Has anyone had this problem before? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hybrid240z Posted July 11, 2010 Share Posted July 11, 2010 Have you tried replacing the lock washers with new high quality lock washers? If they are the original ones, they may not be locking the bolt anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zbloke Posted July 11, 2010 Share Posted July 11, 2010 If new lock washers don't cure the problem maybe try some threadlocking compound, Locktite 243 or something similar? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clarkspeed Posted July 12, 2010 Author Share Posted July 12, 2010 Somehow I don't think they are rotating but I guess they could be. I used locktite on these already. New bolts, lockwashers, locktite,lock wire or a combination could all be solutions. The last time it almost seemed like they relaxed instead of rotated because they were hard to turn out against the locktite. Of course I could have overtorqued them trying to fix the problem and yielded some threads or the bolts. It just seems strange to me the design would allow movement here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Posted July 12, 2010 Share Posted July 12, 2010 Somehow I don't think they are rotating but I guess they could be. I used locktite on these already. New bolts, lockwashers, locktite,lock wire or a combination could all be solutions. The last time it almost seemed like they relaxed instead of rotated because they were hard to turn out against the locktite. Of course I could have overtorqued them trying to fix the problem and yielded some threads or the bolts. It just seems strange to me the design would allow movement here. The original lock washers were quite thick, and if a thinner lock washer (or no lock washer) is used, the shoulder of the bolt (if using original bolts without a full thread) will bottom out in the threads of the strut before the head of the bolt fully clamps the steering knuckle to the strut. But it will still feel like the bolt is tight. I'd check that... Nigel '73 240ZT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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