Mechanic - Ball Joint Replacement

It started as a clicking noise as you backed out of the drive. Just a mild tap through the steering wheel. Sometimes it's not even there. But as the mileage builds over the next few weeks, the click gets bigger. Then it starts to morph into a thump as you go over potholes. A thump that turns into a shimmy. You jack up the front end and shake the wheels side to side--no problem. You shake them up and down. Big problem. There's a half-inch of slop on one wheel, though the other is tight. The diagnosis: You've got a bad ball joint.

NOTHING IS FOREVER

Front suspension parts eventually wear out, but this sudden onset of slop in your ball joint probably means a lubrication failure. But wait! you say. My ball joints are sealed--there's no grease fitting to pump fresh lubricant into. They're Lubed For Life, like it says right here in the owner's manual.

Exactly.

You've just discovered the true life span of a permanently lubed suspension joint. The lubrication finally dries out, water intrudes inside the boot covering the moving parts, and rust and abrasive road dirt turn a ball joint or tie rod end into a loosey-goosey accident waiting to happen. Do not delay in repairing a failing ball joint or tie rod end. When it fails, the wheel involved will try to part company with your vehicle, and not quite succeed in doing so. This will precipitate two unfortunate events: loss of control at some speed, and considerable damage to the rest of the vehicle.

Mechanic - Ball Joint Replacement

It started as a clicking noise as you backed out of the drive. Just a mild tap through the steering wheel. Sometimes it's not even there. But as the mileage builds over the next few weeks, the click gets bigger. Then it starts to morph into a thump as you go over potholes. A thump that turns into a shimmy. You jack up the front end and shake the wheels side to side--no problem. You shake them up and down. Big problem. There's a half-inch of slop on one wheel, though the other is tight. The diagnosis: You've got a bad ball joint.

NOTHING IS FOREVER

Front suspension parts eventually wear out, but this sudden onset of slop in your ball joint probably means a lubrication failure. But wait! you say. My ball joints are sealed--there's no grease fitting to pump fresh lubricant into. They're Lubed For Life, like it says right here in the owner's manual.

Exactly.

You've just discovered the true life span of a permanently lubed suspension joint. The lubrication finally dries out, water intrudes inside the boot covering the moving parts, and rust and abrasive road dirt turn a ball joint or tie rod end into a loosey-goosey accident waiting to happen. Do not delay in repairing a failing ball joint or tie rod end. When it fails, the wheel involved will try to part company with your vehicle, and not quite succeed in doing so. This will precipitate two unfortunate events: loss of control at some speed, and considerable damage to the rest of the vehicle.

Ball joint

Description: A ball joint consists of a hardened-steel, bearing stud and socket enclosed in a steel housing. The bearing stud is tapered and threaded and fits into a tapered hole in the steering knuckle. A protective boot prevents dirt from entering the joint assembly. Ball joints are used on the front end of virtually every car and light truck. Vehicles with conventional suspension systems use two ball joints per wheel: an upper and a lower ball joint. Cars with MacPherson strut suspension systems use a lower ball joint and an upper strut bearing rather than an upper ball joint.

Purpose: Ball joints serve as the pivot points between the tires and suspension. Ball joints also support weight. On some vehicles, the ball joints may be used to make wheel alignment settings.

Maintenance Tips/Suggestions: Many cars use “lubed for life” ball joints that can’t be lubricated. Replacement ball joints often come with lubrication fittings. If your car has lubrication fittings, the ball joints should be lubricated at every oil change. Ball joints, along with other suspension components, should be inspected annually along with a complete wheel alignment. The most common vehicle symptoms associated with worn ball joints are wandering, uneven tire wear, and erratic steering. Ball joint inspection methods and specifications vary, so have your vehicle inspected by a qualified service professional.

source : carcare.org

STEERING & SUSPENSION (BALL JOINT)

Description: A ball joint consists of a hardened-steel, bearing stud and socket enclosed in a steel housing. The bearing stud is tapered and threaded and fits into a tapered hole in the steering knuckle. A protective boot prevents dirt from entering the joint assembly. Ball joints are used on the front end of virtually every car and light truck. Vehicles with conventional suspension systems use two ball joints per wheel: an upper and a lower ball joint. Cars with MacPherson strut suspension systems use a lower ball joint and an upper strut bearing rather than an upper ball joint.

Purpose: Ball joints serve as the pivot points between the tires and suspension. Ball joints also support weight. On some vehicles, the ball joints may be used to make wheel alignment settings.

Maintenance Tips/Suggestions: Many cars use “lubed for life” ball joints that can’t be lubricated. Replacement ball joints often come with lubrication fittings. If your car has lubrication fittings, the ball joints should be lubricated at every oil change. Ball joints, along with other suspension components, should be inspected annually along with a complete wheel alignment. The most common vehicle symptoms associated with worn ball joints are wandering, uneven tire wear, and erratic steering. Ball joint inspection methods and specifications vary, so have your vehicle inspected by a qualified service professional.

source : carcare.org

DAMPER DINAMICS

KONI Sport and FSD (Frequency Selective Damping)

During a typical mile of travel down the road, the damper will move in (compression) and out (rebound) millions of times. Break that mile into one second of travel, and the number of times the damper moves (stroke) defines the operating frequency (Hertz, Hz). Controlling body roll entering a corner induces relatively few strokes of the damper (low frequency), while chattering over broken pavement at highway speed results in a much higher quantity (high frequency) of very short strokes. Knowing this, damper frequency can also be used to tune handling and ride quality. Vehicle body roll control needed to aid handling occurs at a frequency of around 1Hz. Ride impact harshness is felt when damper frequency reaches approximately 10Hz.

Hit a bump without dampers, and the suspension would continue to bounce up and down uncontrollably like a bobble head doll. The damper's job is to reduce the size and/or speed of the suspension movement, preventing the never-ending bobble head scenario. We've all seen that older car going down a smooth highway with one of the rear tires visibly vibrating up and down very rapidly, which is caused by a worn-out damper that is no longer controlling the movement of the suspension. The lack of damper control allows the suspension to move uncontrolled.

The piston moving back and forth through the oil inside the damper creates the resistance needed to control (dampen) the suspension movement. How much resistance (force) develops for a given movement is determined by internal valves that control the flow of oil. Based on the force, the valves open or close to self adjust to each bump or any vehicle body roll. All dampers do this; but KONI's FSD units add a second valve system that responds to the damper's operating frequency, allowing ride and handling to be tuned more independently than with conventional dampers.

KONI's design theory for tuning dampers uses the compression (in) force to dictate the amount of axle movement and is directly linked to handling like steering response, road holding, etc. The rebound (out) force is used to control body movements (side-to-side body roll and/or pitch fore and aft) and is also directly linked to ride comfort.

KONI's traditional user-adjustable yellow sport dampers most applications have a fixed setting for the compression rate, but allow the user to manually adjust the amount of rebound control to tune the balance between ride comfort and handling. The FSD dampers also have a fixed compression setting, but instead of allowing the user to manually adjust the rebound, the internals of the FSD dampers automatically adjust the rate and shape of the force curve (when plotted on a graph) on the fly, responding immediately to the frequency of the damper’s movement. The unique secondary valve used inside the FSD units is engineered to provide large amounts of force to control vehicle body movement at relatively low frequencies, while generating less force at the higher frequencies that affect ride quality.

Automotive Dynamometer Systems(dynamo meter/rolling soad) information

Once you have built your new motor, or fitted any tuning parts you will NEED to visit a good automotive Dynamometer or rolling road. If you don't you will never be able to set up your engine properly. A good dynamometer allows you to use a gas analyser while under load so you can see the real air fuel mixture at all RPM's while driving.

Rather than discuss the subject on this site it is better if you go to my Automotive Dynamometer pages, as I used to build them! (Below)

Chip tuning, or chipping your car...

Non Turbo Cars

Heard a boy racer telling his mate the other day "just fitted a chip to my xxxxx car (non turbo) yesterday, and its loads faster!". Well that is just NOT possible.

I asked him how and he didn't know, but said it was about 20mph faster flat out! Now since it takes 4x the power to go twice as fast, that equates to a simply huge power increase! So he was obviously lying...

First of all, a noticeable increase in power is simply not possible with a naturally aspirated car (no turbo) by fitting a "chip" or having it "chipped". As we said in the first few pages engines breath air. If you do not increase this flow somehow it cannot make more power than it already is doing! That chip simply tells the fuel system how much is the CORRECT amount of fuel to add! The manufacturers stock settings are usually optimum for peak power. It also controls the Ignition timing, but again the stock settings will be about perfect for full power. It is only possible to get tiny gains in "drivability" rather than more real power.

t is possible to gain a few percent here and there at different rpm's and throttle plate positions, because the manufacturers tailor the fuel map to give optimum economy, smoothness and low emissions. But these gains are pretty small. They "may" result in better drivability, but definitely not enough extra power to notice!

Turbo Cars

It is possible however to chip a turbo car for more power in many cases. The max boost level is often controlled by the engine management system. So in this case reprogramming, or rather remapping the ECU or chip can bring power increases. Be careful though because the manufacturers set these things as they are often for good reasons - usually reliability!

By allowing the turbo to make higher boost the engine gets more air and therefore can make more power, often considerably more.