Hi guys & girls,

So I was competing in Green car at Gurston Down hillclimb this weekend... on the way home to devon on right handed corners at over 30mph the whole car started to violently shake / judder until I had corrected it to a straight line again. I jacked it up on the roadside and couldn't find any loose axle bolts, the track rod ends were secure in the top of the hubs and the wheel bearings seemed ok...

I got back to devon and stripped the track rod ends as I expected one to be cracked or badly worn - all ok. Gearbox and engine mounts are all ok. Driveshafts are all ok, greased and bolts attached. When putting it all back together I noticed that whilst both kingpins have a small amount of play there was a little more in the passenger side...

Could a violent shake on a right handed corner be caused by a dodgy passenger side kingpin? Would it only do this on corners? It shakes like a mentalist especially if I hit a bump whilst cornering at the same time...

thanks,

fritz

That's the usual symptom of a worn kingpin. Certainly was on our 2cv.

That's usually caused by play in the steering, with the combined play in the kingpin(s), track rod end(s) and the rack being the critical factor.

Try locking the steering column in the 'straight ahead' position, jacking the front end clear of the ground, then pushing and pulling on each road wheel in the '3 o'clock to 9 o'clock' direction.

It's been quite a while since I had to sort this on a car, but from memory it was the 'unloaded' side which was the source of the problem; the offside wheel on right hand bends at just under 40 mph which was setting up a resonant vibration in the whole steering mechanism...

It also can be a crooked wheel (now this is franslated by google)I hope this is correct..

Did you hit a curbstone or pavement????

But mostly Ken is spot on

Change the wheels from rear end to front end and see if it is the same..

If all steering stuff is good, damper mount plate might be loose on the arm, I've had that before.

Guys thanks for the info and heads up..

Ken - steering was my first thought... I took the track rod ends apart on both sides and they seemed to be as usual, a couple of wear marks on the one of the balls but nothing excessive.

Done it all back up again - what are the guidelines for how firmly the castle nut should be done up?

The track rod end still has its range of free movement but now the passenger side wheel is not straight - so there must of been excess slack in that side?

If the tracking now has too much toe-out, there may well have been some slack in the track rod ends.

With new balls (Wimbledon style?) the setting is 'tight, then back off 1/6 of a turn', but if there's any suspicion of wear/ovality on the balls, I adjust them so that there's just a trace of free play at full lock. (Nearside on full left lock, offside on full right lock)

The tracking will need to be adjusted after any resetting of other steering components, of course.

Checked everything again today - it's still up on axle stands - and I have bent one of the steering control arms in-between the rack and the track rod end ball housing.

This makes sense as to the large amount of toe out on the passenger side now but why would this of given me the bad vibration? Or was it trying to pull itself apart with the wheel that far out on one side? I suppose it could of been a combination of all of the above too...

Anyhow, thanks again for the help and advice

Fritz,
if you bend a track rod, by clouting a kerb or another roadside hazard, it's usually immediately apparent, since when going 'straight ahead', the steering wheel will have adopted a different position.
I'd doubt that the increased toe out will be confined to one side, but shared between both wheels, hence the above indicator...

i had a similar problem. It apeared that one of the bronze blocks in the steering rack got room in the moving plate.