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Front Suspension

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theleisure

theleisure

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I replaced a couple items in my ('66) sprite over the weekend. It solved a couple problems and revealed a couple new, less urgent symptoms. Items replaced included a leaky LF damper and a clunky steering rack. The replacement rack was treated to new grease, gaiters and tie rod ends. The symptoms that those items fixed were a wobble at and over 50mph, a clunky and less than smooth turning steering wheel and an extreme jarring when going over a bump or hitting a pothole on the left. I am absolutely sure that the new symptoms are related to the recent work as there was nothing like them before hand. They are a disfunctional horn and a strange tendency for the car to seem to jump or bounce sideways across the road a bit when I hit a bump or pothole on the right. It's not jarring but the car's just not precise anymore and kinda feels like it skips. Any thoughts? Some other items that might help to know are that both the left and right front dampers were replaced last year with items from a vendor that is widely respected on this forum. All bushings were replaced with red poly within the last year and a half and the springs were replaced.

A write up of the work is linked to below.

Thanks guys,
Sean
 
Good timing - just saw your post in my thread.

How hard was it to replace the rack? Any good references to how to do this?
 
First thing to do if you're going to remove it is to watch john twist/ university motor's YouTube video to learn how separate tie rod ends. That'll take 2 minutes to learn and it works great. The rest of the procedure is in the manuals and it's pretty straight forward. It'll be easier to do if you remove the radiator first but it is possible to do it without doing that.

Removing and installing shocks is really quick and easy. You won't regret installing rebuilt shocks. My wobble was cured after I replaced the left front shock last weekend but I kept going since i had the other parts on hand and replacing that shock got done so early in the day.
 
Nice tips, thanks. I've got a few hoses on the radiator that could use replacement so it might be worth killing two birds with one stone while I've got the bush handy (as it were) by removing the radiator. We'll burn that bridge when we come to it!
 
Sean, When I first brought Bugsy my '68 Sprite home 10 years ago, driving him over 30 mph was a fright. Pot holes weren't the issue paint lines would make him change lanes the front end was so loose. I went through changing:

1) Tie Rod Ends, boots, regreased
2) Pinion Gear - Cheap on a '68 to replace and really tightened up the rack
3) Peter C. shocks of course front and rear
4) added a sway bar off of a '72+ Parts car
5) Swapped of Wishbones, Hubs, from an unknown mileage car
6) Added lowering kit from MOSS
7) Replaced Front Springs

The effect was immediate. I went from fear of going over 30 mph and dodging paint lines to a Spridget that tracked like on rails. Upgrading the front end components is the most expensive part of Spridget Maintenance, after an engine rebuild and that is why most people don't do it. The wear and tear happens slowly over time and performance deteriorates slowly but it continues to progress.

My next major maintenance job will be rebushing the Wishbones. I have put 10-12k miles on Bugsy since I rebuilt the front end. In that time, Bugsy has a tendency to follow road grooves too much and I have a clunk in LF every time I hit a large bump. No not like when I brought him home but lets say that 70 mph blasts down the expressway call for a lot of steering input. A Arms can be rebushed by someone who knows what they are doing and has the proper tooling setup, with Labor and a MOSS Kit for $200-250. I know my RT Front has been rebushed once already as I discovered a 2nd grease fitting on it. Issue is with LF.

I did pull a set of Wishbones off of a '69, hoping to find a good set of cores I could send out for a rebuild, only to discover that A) After I cleaned off all of the grease and dirt, one of the wishbones was cracked right where the Bushing goes through the end of the arm. Probably less than 50% of the material there still remained. I now know why this car was off of the road and undrivable. Front end would have done a horrible shimmy and dance with every bump. B) the other was not drilled for a Sway Bar. Both of these are essentially junk

This will be a Winter Project as I don't want to take Bugsy off of the road during driving season.A bit of TLC, grease up to your elbows, and these cars can corner once again.
 
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