Tie rods front suspension

[Morris57]

Hi All

Just treated my Minor to new eye bolts,pins and poly bushes also replaced the front tie rods with new ones complete with poly bushes as one of my tie rods was bent.Dont know how it got bent,anyway just a question please.

How tight do I tighten the tie rods,and do I tighten them with the car on the ground as the car is in axle stands at the moment.
Thanks.

P.S when I removed the eye bolts I could not believe how worn they were one had worn right through the rubber bush and was wearing metal to metal on the eye bolt itself,very scarey the other side was almost through the rubber bush as well.

[aupickup]

i tighten to just take up the play in the bushes

of course all this does affect the suspension and tracking geometry

[bmcecosse]

Tighten them right up with the suspension at normal height - the more castor the better! However two poly bushes may be too much here - I use a single poly on the outside (where it will take the braking forces) with a new rubber bush on the insiode to give some compliance to the suspension. As Dennis suggests - you should now track the wheels - but first it would be worthwhile checking the camber angles - and perhaps sorting that out with washers (or steelplate) behind the eyebolts first!

[Morris57]

Hi Guys

Sorry to be dumb but you said tighten up with the suspension at normal hieght do you mean put the wheels on and put the car back on the ground and then tighten them up.

Thanks

[bmcecosse]

Yes - or put the axle stands under the suspension arms close to the hubs.

[rayofleamington]

For the tie bars, it makes very little difference doing it with the suspension loaded or not loaded.
The important one to do un loaded is assemble the lower suspension arms and eyebolt and make sure the arms are eqaully space around the eyebolt (not over-squashing one of the flanges on either eyebolt rubber bush). With the suspension unloaded the thick arm can adjust it's axial position by sliding on the torsion bar splines.

With poly bushes on the eyebolts I would rather assemble them with the suspension loded, as this way you get more of an idea how much the position of the end of the bar has moved due to having different bushes. If the rearmost bush is too stiff, the rear of the bar will be further backwards - some people have had to slim the rear poly* bush down to get better alignment.

* - not so much of a problem if the bushes are the correct hardness, however some on the market at the moment are way too stiff.

[bmcecosse]

Which is why I suggest (and use on my own car) a rubber bush on the back of the bracket - and a poly bush on the front.

[Morris57]

Thanks everyone

The information is gratefully received,you have been a great source of help yet again.

[Morris57]

Ok Guys
Time for a silly question,when tightening the tie rods if I tighten them up as much as possible the castle nut is way too far in past the hole for the split pin.
ie.the split pin itself will not be through the castle nut which does not seem right as this renders the split pins useless.

What am I doing wrong,do I need to slacken them off until the castle nut lines up with the split pin hole?
Sorry for the daft question but I am stuck.

Morris57

[bmcecosse]

I add a large washer behind the shaped washer.