What have you done to your car today?

Washed, painted, put ORS stickers on, axle aligned

Gidday All

Washed Roo2 on the one fine day last week. Painted bits on the trailer. Stuck the ORS stickers on the trailer. Adjusted the position of the axle on the springs - it was a bit lopsided.

I also got my new Palm Tungsten E2 PDA today. Have now set it up to talk to my Blackberry 9810, after "restoring" it from the PC image from early this year, then updating it from my Palm Zire 31 ...

Unfortunately, it was (quite inadvertently ... ) a faulty previous warranty return ... The seller apologised profusely, and will send me another; but a real new one this time. poop happens. Of course, he couldn't have sent it to someone in Colorado (next door to him); it had to be to someone on the other side of the world ...
 
I had a look this morning in daylight and turned out to be the wheel was about to fall off, ****
The front passenger wheel was holding on by only a few threads :surprised::huh::censored: The odd this is that I did stop twice last night to check yet they seemed 100% fine, could of been the angle and hill I parked on putting pressure on them. I did only try and hand tighten em.
That trip could of ended really bad but I'm so glad it didn't!
Atleast it was a simple fix for once though, I made sure to go around and check them all too!
I wasn't too sure though as I have done massive amounts of suspension and drive train work in the past 6 weeks.

On a positive note my new ubber high lift kit is done and in the foz. It's still not a high as I would of liked and am thinking of adding another inch to the rear just for when I carry big loads to make it more level. At the moment there is 10mm more clearance at the rear than the front, seems to drive much better too then when I had my 2" lift combination in.
Here is a teaser pic :iconwink:

20120820162458.jpg


Now after it's settled down abit when I got home from Stilsons house.

20120820183939.jpg


The rear blocks, now they are a home made job but are atleast functional. Nearly all the credit goes to Stilson for his awesome work, even with the few little **** ups :iconwink: :biggrin:

20120820153401.jpg


Now I should get another half an inch to an inch from some new chunky tyres, then another 15-20mm in the rear too. Should be set then :cool: Will get a good pic of the whole car in the day light :biggrin:
 
stilson said:
The best I've had is 610kms to a tank. And that was heading south so obviously gravity had some effect.
Click to expand...

730km from 63L when Ruby Scoo was a stock MPFI with a fresh engine - Adelaide to Woodend.

taza said:
...A very bad/annoying vibration through the floor of the car :(
Kept getting worse as I kept driving, was starting to wonder if I was gonna make it home
Click to expand...

I thought you'd have more sense than to keep driving mate! Not good news about either.

As for the issues with the car, once you get on top of them it should be a sweet car - this could take a couple of months yet.

Or you could stitch weld it so that nothing falls off ;)

Cañon Carver said:
I have the Justy running again....
Click to expand...

Awesome news, good feeling?

Ratbag said:
Number 2: NEVER continue driving a car making this kind of noise, and displaying these symptoms!!!!! Naughty, NAUGHTY. You could kill yourself; or worse, someone else.
Click to expand...

Couldn't agree more. It's just ludicrous to continue to drive with an issue such as that.

Cheers

Bennie
 
El_Freddo said:
I thought you'd have more sense than to keep driving mate! Not good news about either.

As for the issues with the car, once you get on top of them it should be a sweet car - this could take a couple of months yet.

Couldn't agree more. It's just ludicrous to continue to drive with an issue such as that.
Click to expand...

Hi Ratbag an El_Freddo, I did stop twice in my trip late last night to look. I am still unsure what the bang was though. I had a good look with a torch and felt around, check the nuts and they seemed fine.. I was how ever on a slope though thus pressure being put on the rim and nuts.
I'm not stupid enough to keep driving no matter the time or place.
Plus being so late I really just wanted to get home, I only had 50-60km to go.
 
taza said:
I did only try and hand tighten em.
Click to expand...

Hand tighten - without tools?

taza said:
I had a good look with a torch and felt around, check the nuts and they seemed fine.. I was how ever on a slope though thus pressure being put on the rim and nuts.
Click to expand...

There's always pressure on rims and nuts - you MUST use tools to check nuts and bolts always, not using tools is not checking them as you should. No two ways about it.

Plus being so late I really just wanted to get home, I only had 50-60km to go.[/QUOTE]

That's still quite a distance to go. When ever you feel vibrations you should check things starting at the wheels and move in from there.

Really just wanting to get home is not a good excuse when you create an accident or a fatality from ignoring an issue with your vehicle.

Cheers

Bennie
 
Gidday Taza

taza said:
Hi Ratbag an El_Freddo, I did stop twice in my trip late last night to look. I am still unsure what the bang was though. I had a good look with a torch and felt around, check the nuts and they seemed fine.. I was how ever on a slope though thus pressure being put on the rim and nuts.
I'm not stupid enough to keep driving no matter the time or place.
Plus being so late I really just wanted to get home, I only had 50-60km to go.
Click to expand...

Firstly, I am bloody glad your wheel didn't fall off! That could have been seriously dangerous to you and any other person nearby!!

Secondly, I must agree with Bennie - You have to check these things with tools. Wheel nuts are always under pressure, as Bennie rightly said.

If you must, you can always determine the situation roughly by grabbing the top of each wheel and shaking it from side to side. Specific noises and/or movements will allow a rough diagnosis.

e.g.:

Small movements and clunk-clunk noises indicate (usually) a damaged wheel bearing, or maybe a worn or loose ball joint or king pin. The latter two are very unusual in cars these days as almost none have king pins (other than trucks), and almost all ball joints are all but indestructible; unlike in my youth when they were anything but ...

Big movements, or the wheel falling off ... , usually indicates something wrong with the hub assembly, the wheel nuts being loose, or the brake disk caliper bolts being loose.

If you grab the front tyres at the sides and rock them back and forth, wheel bearing clunks may still be there, at least to feel, but this will also indicate if steering ball joints or tie rods are loose or broken ...

I'm not stupid enough to keep driving no matter the time or place.
Click to expand...

I hate to tell you this mate, but your actions described above show both recklessness and downright stupidity; BOTH brought on by lack of knowledge and experience, of course. Learn from it ... :cool:

Experience is based on what we learn one tenth of a second after we need to know something :iconwink: :rotfl:

Thank goodness that nothing else but hurt pride and hurt feelings came from this adventure!
 
i have had the same issue once before on one of my front wheels on my car, so I jacked up the car on the side of the I noticed it they they had come loose about half way or so...

what are your CV angles like now on the forester? I cant imagine they will last to long with that sort of lift
 
I'm just so very glad that you got home safely & in one piece mate.

But geez taza, I'm almost lost for words :shake:
So I won't say any more, as I think enough's been said.

Regards
Mr Turbo
 
Well I've had my new lift kit in for a few days now. Yesterday I went through the whole lot and check/re-tightened every damn bolt with the majority of the suspension (yes the wheel nuts too!).
My bullbar arrived from QLD yesterday and I fitted it.

Here are some pics of my Forester with it's new lift and bullbar. What do you guys think?

20120822144921.jpg


Front approach/depart angle has increased by a few inches too :biggrin: Not as flash as a Subaxtreme one but for 1/5 of the price I can't complain :cool: :lildevil:

20120822144908.jpg


Fitting the bar by myself at home..

20120822112044.jpg


20120822104508.jpg


20120822103302.jpg


I just need to mount my spotties and aerial/s on the front bar now :biggrin: I was going to get it painted or powdercoated but I think the aluminum goes really well with the colour scheme of my Forester :raspberry:
Due to the bar sitting quite low unlike a Subaxtreme one though I can see the front getting smashed in abit :lol:

*** With my new lift I have found that compared to my 2" lift the car rides much better. Less body roll (even with no rear swaybar), over speed humps the ride is harsh but not painful like it was before (not sure why :shrug:). It seems to corner better too in both wet and dry, just all round it's a much nicer drive so I'm happy :discomonkey: I was expecting it to be worse too.
 
Last edited:
Looks really terrific Taza ... :) :ebiggrin: :biggrin:

Certainly looks to have increased your approach/departure angles considerably, and improved the clearance and ramp-over angles dramatically as well.

Glad to hear that the handling etc is better too. :cool:
 
Last edited:
Wow the bar looks really good! I'd leave it alloy, maybe get some bore water to stain it and it will match perfectly.

Is that city beach car park?
 
Taza,

Have you had the car aligned in a shop since the new lift or did you do a backyard alignment?

The handling change could be due good luck/engineering of the lift in that the alignment is better for the car and your driving style than what it was. That is not to say it is anywhere near Subaru specs but you have significantly change the geometry so the Subaru specs are only a guide now.

BTW the bar looks fantastic and I am with stilson don't paint it. Just more stuff to paint when you scratch it.
 
crazydave said:
Taza,

Have you had the car aligned in a shop since the new lift or did you do a backyard alignment?

The handling change could be due good luck/engineering of the lift in that the alignment is better for the car and your driving style than what it was. That is not to say it is anywhere near Subaru specs but you have significantly change the geometry so the Subaru specs are only a guide now.

BTW the bar looks fantastic and I am with stilson don't paint it. Just more stuff to paint when you scratch it.
Click to expand...

They added a lot of camber correction to the blocks (overcompensated) which could have helped. As before with his raised springs and 1" alloy blocks there was no correction of any kind.
 
Your Forry is looking fantastic I must say. Even more so now with the new (to you) front bar :biggrin:
I will also agree with what others have said, don't paint it.
Leaving it as it is really suits your Forry colour wise :iconwink:

Regards
Mr Turbo
 
Davidov said:
They added a lot of camber correction to the blocks (overcompensated) which could have helped.
Click to expand...

We undercompensated on the offset as a trade off to CV life and power transmission, they're not very negative (if at all) but at least they're not positive anymore.

There is 4.5mm caster compensation though and that could be helping a little.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top