Track rod end rubbers touching brake disc

[Alex Wong1697456877]

My car has the old AP 4 pot ventilated brakes on the front. It's always been very very close between rod end rubber and the disc. The last set of Caterham supplied rod ends I bought simply would not sit properly in the taper so I bought some from Amsteer.

 

I fitted these and they clearly touched the discs and as soon as I reversed, the rubber snagged between the disc and rod end and split, but only on the right. The left is in contact with the disc but has not snagged (yet?)

 

So I took the right one off and put the rubber from the caterham supplied rod end on it. This looked a little less in diameter but did the same at pushing speeds. So I took it off and cut the bottom 5mm or so rubber off to reduce the ballooning out that happens when you tighten it down and it's better but still squeeling like mad.

 

I've now cleaned a load of rubber off the disc and whilst it is in contact, it's not squeeling or snagging.

 

My concern is that when it wears through, there will be some grease from the rod end just waiting to smear itself on the disc 😳 😳

 

Has anybody else had the same problem and found a solution?

[Peter Carmichael]

The steering arms are a weak spot and they do bend a bit depending on which kerb you last hit. Yours might just be at an extreme position that the difference in rod end spec might make up the rest. Obviously I am assuming that the appropriate washers are in place in the steering are assembly onto the upright.

[Alex Wong1697456877]

You're onto something - the left has 1 washer betwen the arm and the upright. The right has none. How many should there be? If you know, how many mm's of washer should there be?

 

Thanks!

[Peter Carmichael]

One washer is all I've ever seen. From memory it is about 0.7mm thick.

[Alex Wong1697456877]

Ta - washer fitted and problem solved.

[Alex Wong1697456877]

Still needed the bottom 5mm of the rubber cutting off to stop the contact.

 

Thanks Peter

[Irrelevant]

You can't use more than one washer as the steering arm mount that the stub axle goes through goes out of line and the wingstay/upright sandwich is filled by a wonky steering arm. The wingstay/steering arm/upright mounting surfaces should all be parallel.

All you can do if there's not enough clearance with one washer on the steering arm, is space the hub on the stub axle a tad. You can't space it much though because the hole that lines up with the castegelated nut will become hidden if you go too far.

[I.Mupferit]

When I built my car, mine were so close to the disc you could barely get a fag paper between them but fortunately it does appear to be just enough. I checked that the washers were fitted, since the uprights and steering arm were already assembled, and they are but the clearance is awfully tight

 

Brent

 

2.3 DURATEC SV Reassuringly Expensive

R 417.39 😬

[Alex Wong1697456877]

Ta. For me, after I corrected the missing washer, taking the bottom clip off the rubber and trimming away 5mm or so did the trick - the rubber does not bulge out as much when you compress it down and as Brent says, I can just get a piece of paper between the disc and rubber now. Seems much easier to modify the rubber cover than try and mess with the hub spacing.

 

Incidentally, my stub axle nuts were pretty loose! Must check these more often!

 

Edited by - Alex Wong on 12 Jun 2007 09:25:52

[Andy A]

 

Alex - just as a PS - I recently renewed my (presuambly original) rod ends becasue it seemed impossible to renew just the rubbers. Amsteer were doing a deal so I bought there. The casting is a tad bigger. The combination of that and the rubber brought my rod ends from "close" to "uncomfortably close" to the disk...

 

[Alex Wong1697456877]

The Amsteer ones are a bit bigger but not enough to bring the casting too close to the disc on my car. The rubber boot from the caterham supplied rod end was not as big and fitted on easily.

 

I did try to heat the rubber boot to flatten one side of it but they are amazingly resistant to heat!