Adjustable TC Rods with Bushings

[roadracer5]

Hi I have a 510 that I have recently put 280zx coilovers in the front. This revealed to me that the driver side front wheels has far less caster than the passenger side, to the point where the tire rubs on the drivers side but not the passengers. Ive looked and cant seem to find where the issue is. There is no obvious wrinkles in the sheetmetal aft of the subframe and I dont want to just start pulling willy nilly. So I figured the easiest solution would be adjustable tc rods. Now my questions is why does everyone remove the bushing from the front mount ( I realize of the shelf units dont use a bushing) and why not use a modified stock tc rod so to keep noise and harshness down. My goal with this car is to make it a street car that is balanced and can be "competitive" on a track and most of all just plain fun to drive.

[roadracer5]

I should specify, the tire rubs well before it reaches the steering stop, turning left.
Thanks

[okayfine]

So I figured the easiest solution would be adjustable tc rods.

May well be easier, but no one here's going to recommend that you gloss over a potentially bent frame or other damaged or mis-installed component. You need to find out what the difference is left-to-right on your car with your installed parts.

...easiest place to start with with your current T/C rods and their adjustments. Is one bent? Are they out of adjustment? Bushings rotted to allow play? Etc.

[roadracer5]

Yes I wasnt going to to ignore it but and have been trying to figure out what it is without having to take everything apart again. i rebuilt the whole front suspension with new poly bushings on the LCAs, Tc rods and sway bar bushings as well. i installed a larger front sway bar as well but because i had to make a space so that it would fit i noticed that i had to take significantly more material off of the driver side spacer to try and move the sway far enough to reach the sway bar links, as it kept hitting the subframe. I dont know if that says much but that is why i assumed the issue was aft of the sub frame. I installed everything correctly as far as i know i have lots of different 510 service manuals to reference and its pretty straight forward. I dont know if the subframe could have moved but is that a possibilty?
Thanks

[RMS]

i rebuilt the whole front suspension with new poly bushings

ive noticed that all the poly kits have tc bush sleeves that are 1/4in longer than stock. witch will move the tire back 1/8th in reducing caster.
could you be running one stock and one aftermarket tc sleeve.

[okayfine]

i rebuilt the whole front suspension with new poly bushings on the LCAs, Tc rods and

Well, poly LCA bushings preclude adjustable T/C rods, since added caster over stock will result in the LCAs binding at the bushings. T/C rod poly bushings will at least need to be drilled:

DQ Volume 2 Issue 2 - T/C Rod Modification - A lowered suspension and urethane bushings can lead to T/C rod failure. A small modification can help prevent it from happening to you.

A preferred T/C bush method is the EE T/C rod kit, a Delrin and aluminum ball and socket arrangement.

I dont know if the subframe could have moved but is that a possibilty?
Thanks

The probability of your car having been crashed and fixed in a previous life is something above zero. Poly T/C bushes won't compress like rubber, hence the shorter steel sleeves, but you may simply have a misadjusted T/C rod. Equal threads showing?

If all your suspension component pieces measure equally left to right and all mounting points (specifically the LCA stud) are not bent, then I'd look at taking some body reference measurements on the right and comparing them to the same points on the left.

[roadracer5]

I take it, its not supposed to look like this

[okayfine]

No sir. That's a fairly good whack.

[bertvorgon]

It is good that you noticed the unequal castor. You do not ever want the castor to not be equal, as this gives weird handling issues.

[roadracer5]

I was able to straighten the bolt without having to heat it which was great. My concern is that that didnt cure the castor issue, it helped significantly but I was in a rush to get back together because its my daily and did have time to measure the T/C rod to see if it was the same length as the other to be sure its not being pushed back. Ill look into that when i get a chance but back to my original question. Why is it that people replace the T/C rods with those that dont have bushings? Is the difference negligible as far as harshness and noise? I would also tend to think that having the bushings would aid in keeping the LCA at a more neutral position rather than letting it drop to full droop. Im trying to decide whether i should make a set of adjustable rods and save $200 or not.

[okayfine]

Converting the stock T/C setup with rubber bushings over to rod-ends will definitely increase NVH. People do it because they'd rather remove the slop the rubber bushings cause and/or want adjustable T/C rods for additional caster and they all come with rod-ends.

The alternative is what i suggested above, the EE kit.

http://datsun510.com/showphoto.php?phot ... t&cat=3329

This doesn't increase caster, but does remove the slop of the rubber bushings without increasing NVH. I've run that kit on all three of my 510s over the years.

[bertvorgon]

Like OK, I ran that setup for many years.

removing the rubber is done to eliminate the deflection that happens, mainly under hard braking, with sticky tires, that the rubber can give.