Harry Flatters Posted June 30, 2004 Share Posted June 30, 2004 Having converted my top balljoint to a spherical type, I was wondering whether anyone has done this on their track rod ends. What is involved - drilling out the taper in the steering arm etc? What rod ends did you use? Is there any built in adjustment for bump steer? *arrowright*Harry Flatters *arrowright* AKA Steve Mell of Su77on Se7ens and Surrey Joint AO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Wong1697456877 Posted June 30, 2004 Share Posted June 30, 2004 I'd be interested - can't get Caterham's new rod ends to seat properly! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EFA Posted June 30, 2004 Share Posted June 30, 2004 What, like this here??? Ex Fat Arnie Hauling Less Lard.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulD Posted June 30, 2004 Share Posted June 30, 2004 If you are concerned about front toe stiffness, I think that the flexible part in the chain is the arm on the upright and the moment that the existing TR end puts into it. A good solution would be to make up some new arms that rise higher and have forked ends to take a ball joint with the bolt in double shear. Why do you think that you have a problem? With front toe stiffness, stiffer is not nescesarily better. Paul p.s. EFA - do you atcually dare drive that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EFA Posted June 30, 2004 Share Posted June 30, 2004 Whats wrong with it then? Ex Fat Arnie Hauling Less Lard.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulD Posted June 30, 2004 Share Posted June 30, 2004 That cap head bolt in bending! V. bad practice, in this case potentialy lethal. Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Flatters Posted June 30, 2004 Author Share Posted June 30, 2004 Paul you may very well be correct but what does "That cap head bolt in bending! V. bad practice..." mean. Correct me if I'm wrong but don't most race cars, single-seaters and prototype (Le Mans style) use exactly this form of steering linkage? In terms of shear points, is it not pretty much the same as the standard setup? *arrowright*Harry Flatters *arrowright* AKA Steve Mell of Su77on Se7ens and Surrey Joint AO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EFA Posted June 30, 2004 Share Posted June 30, 2004 Paul, I'd suggest you look at the picture rather more closely - then establish if the caphead bolt is in bending. Its not. It purely holds the retainer washer for the rod end on top of the taper end shaft which actually takes the load. Look at the size of the nut on the other end for a visual clue..... Ex Fat Arnie Hauling Less Lard.... Edited by - EFA on 30 Jun 2004 15:45:36 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bare Posted June 30, 2004 Share Posted June 30, 2004 Spherical ends.. can be V dangerous.. A surprising number of semi pro (weekend) Racers and their Homemade Cars crash annually due to Rod End Failures. An ongoing adventure it seems. . Some fail due to being undersize, others due to allowable wear limits being exceeded. Neither is Good. F1 cars get all theirs replaced after..Every..race.. Yeah an extreme situation , but they also use the V best of quality to begin with.. likely you are not :-), is yr health/safety worth less? Or perhaps the Child you might run over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dannyboy Posted June 30, 2004 Share Posted June 30, 2004 Hmm, whilst it's potentially bad practice to effectively 'cantilever' any bolt, the material strength of say 375N/mm^2 for a grade 8.8 connection means, roughyl according to the back of some post it notes. For a 16mm dia bolt, shear force required to fail bolt is approx 6 tonnes! ( i say approx) The force required to bend a bolt of this diameter and grade will depend on the length of cantilever and at present I can't be arsed to work it out - sorry!! However, given the likely method of failure would be through fatigue failure, due to repeated bending action I would suggest that the retaining bolt is replaced occasionally!! How often is anybody's guess. I am a civil not mechanical engineer therefore have no expertise in this. It's a regularly used method of fixing, however, it will not last repeated cycles of loading as well as the conventional fixing. My two penneth! may be a load of tosh, but hell, who cares 😬 😬 😬 😬 Dannyboy - *tongue*back in blat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulD Posted June 30, 2004 Share Posted June 30, 2004 Ok, I stand corrected on the bolt, but, why did you go away from the original? It doesn't look any lighter, I suspect that it is no stiffer than the original TR end and will have a shorter life. On something that critical, I would want to see a significant improvement over the original before making a modification. Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EFA Posted June 30, 2004 Share Posted June 30, 2004 Paul, The Caterham TR ends foul the brake discs which shortens the TR life considerably dur to there being no dust seal on the joints bearing surface. The joints I have used have dust seals. They are also a little lighter in weight. Ex Fat Arnie Hauling Less Lard.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy65 Posted June 30, 2004 Share Posted June 30, 2004 Harry, did you get the top spherical from Goldstar Racing........is it any good. I assume you got it so you could adjust camber without splitting the top ball joint? ..we're all individuals.......I'm not Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EFA Posted June 30, 2004 Share Posted June 30, 2004 He got one of them from Gary Anderson - Personally!! Ex Fat Arnie Hauling Less Lard.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy65 Posted June 30, 2004 Share Posted June 30, 2004 That's a bit flash ..we're all individuals.......I'm not Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Flatters Posted July 1, 2004 Author Share Posted July 1, 2004 Andy, Yes they did come from Goldstar and yes it was so that I could adjust the camber without knocking seven shades of sh*t out of my uprights every I needed to split the Ford Transit ball-joint. The Gary Anderson bit is another story. If you wanted to discusss the conversion, feel free to call (work hours) 020 8642 0162. *arrowright*Harry Flatters *arrowright* AKA Steve Mell of Su77on Se7ens and Surrey Joint AO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy65 Posted July 1, 2004 Share Posted July 1, 2004 ..we're all individuals.......I'm not Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chelspeed Posted July 1, 2004 Share Posted July 1, 2004 Done mine with LH thread ball joints and an extension piece to the rack with female thread to suit the rack one end and female LH thread the other end to suit the joint. Loosen two lock nuts and you can adjust the tracking without disturbing the bolt thro the steering arm or the rack gaiters, very neat. Must work out how to put pickies up...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Flatters Posted July 1, 2004 Author Share Posted July 1, 2004 Pic would be great Graham *arrowright*Harry Flatters *arrowright* AKA Steve Mell of Su77on Se7ens and Surrey Joint AO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ally Posted July 5, 2004 Share Posted July 5, 2004 Harry You should be able to see Graham's car at Loton and Curborough. Easy to spot, a rather bright shade of yellow with all the goodies on it you have always wanted but cannot afford. He has also replaced the top balljoint with a rod-end, no more struggling to split the balljoint to adjust camber. GC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EFA Posted July 5, 2004 Share Posted July 5, 2004 Ally, Just tell him its a K2 RUM tribute car...... *tongue* *tongue* Ex Fat Arnie Hauling Less Lard.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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