Track rod end rubber touching brake disc?

[Steve Price]

On each of my track rod ends the rubber (gator, dust cover or whatever it's called) ever so slightly touches the brake disc. It was going to fail SVA for this, until I taped the thing back away from the disc! They even mooted taking a picture and alerting other SVA test stations (mine was London West (Yeading) - be warned!). The tester was saying any such rubbing was mechanically bad practice, said you wouldn't find similar on a production car, and suggested that grease inside the thing could get on the brake disc, if eventually punctured through wear.

 

Anyway, the contact is so slight I'm fairly relaxed about it (now) but having gone through such stress just have to know, is this anything to worry about?

 

Many thanks in advance.

 

Steve

[Alex Wong1697456877]

I dont think so - it is very close but seems to be how it is.

[Steve Price]

Perhaps a more precise question would be, has anyone's track rod end rubber thing been worn through by contact with the brake disc, and did that create any other problem (e.g. grease on brake disc)?

 

Thanks

 

Steve

[Bafty Crastard]

In every case I have heard of they touch, I've removed mine

 

The R300 NUT'errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

[I reply to every thread]

You've removed your track rod ends 🤔 🤔 *eek* 😳

[I.Mupferit]

Don't worry, after a few track days your discs will wear down and create additional clearance.

 

Mine are very close, barely a fag papers clearance but no comment from SVA AFAIK

 

Brent

 

2.3 DURATEC SV Reassuringly Expensive

R 417.39 😬

[Bafty Crastard]

Yep..I've removed the track rod ends.. Car now used only on straight roads

 

The R300 NUT'errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

[stevefoster]

Never had any of mine touch. Close, but not touch.

 

Hants (north) / Berkshire club here

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My Racing here

 

[Nick Green]

Steve,

 

Assuming the SVA mentioned is recent, I presume this is using the front hubs where the stub axles are the same thickness all the way along, and an enormous castellated nut is used on the end. Uses the same sized bearings inside and out.

 

I had the same problem when upgrading my older hubs to this type. Didn't look right to me. Fixed it by adding another thin shim.

 

The old style hubs, where the stub axle chamfers down to the outside, and a smaller bearing is used on the outside, did not have this problem. The disc was held just a little further out.

 

Did mention this track rod end gaitor/disc rubbing to Caterham at the time... Email forwarded to Technical and then it all went a bit quiet. Maybe it is something to do with using vented front discs ? Either way, rather a basic thing and am a little surprised no-one at Caterham seems to have noticed.

 

N.

[Nick Green]

Just remembered something:

 

When I fitted the extra shim, the hole in the stub axle that the split pin fits through was now slightly obscured... Had to get the thick outer shims machined down, to give necessary clearance.

 

Maybe it is easier to remove the track rod end gaitors...though that doesn't seem right to me either.

 

A couple of solutions though.

[Dizz]

Steve

I have sent you an e-mail with some pics/words from Caterham which might help.

 

Dizz

SV DD02CAT