Quote:
Originally Posted by Jaggu Ragul: Am sorry but i think something is horribly wrong here. You should have taken it to a garage who knows the job. Even your dealership would have been fine. I would seriously recommend you to take to Suraksha Silk Board Jn and show them so that they can set it up right. If required buy some new back plates etc to set this up right.
If set up right it can be a joy or else pain in all the wrong places. |
Quote:
Originally Posted by svsantosh By faar, the shoddiest job by any mechanic I have seen. Sigh!! What made you risk such a rare mod to be handled by such a in-competent person. Hope not all is lost, suraksha and khan was always the place to go to in bangy for a gypsy mod. Hope you dont stand to loose a lot in the process of grinding/damaging the mounts...
PS - can you share the exact details of person/mechanic, assuming you would never ever go back to him and also suggest others here to avoid him!! |
Guys
I was given the impression any mechanic could do it. I am a first time car owner and learning ...
I took some rough measurements under the car. The distance between the tyre inner wall and the Leaf is 5.5cm on the (bad) driver side but 6.5cm on the (good) passenger side.
So maybe I need to shift the axle right by 5mm to make both equidistant at 6cm? See sample pic. At full lock the Left Front (LF) wheel is 1.8cm away from the leaf at its closest point, while the Right Front (RF) touches. I think both wheels need to maintain a gap of 9mm from the leaf.
I also took a closer look and found the threaded Tie Rod End I had missed yesterday (see pic). But I believe
the Tie Rod end can be screwed to manipulate only the length of the tie rod and resulting toe-in and toe-out.
It will not shift or correct the misalignment if any of the axle hub assembly by 5mm or more - Is that a correct tidbit of knowledge? At a glance, it also seems like the wheels have a toe-out instead of a toe-in.
So now with some objective measurements I think the problem does not look too difficult to solve. Unless 5mm is too much of a distance to manipulate safely without affecting handling and stress on the system - but I think it is off anyways so I will only be correcting a problem. Combined with adjusting the toe-in it may do the trick. The SJ413 repair manual tells me the toe-in can be between 2-6mm with a recommended camber of 1 degree and kingpin inclination of 9 degrees.
Q: Would the Caster also change with a new suspension that gives a body lift? In that case I would need to adjust that as well. (The recommended caster is 3degrees 30minutes or 14.5mm. )
I think toe-in, Camber and Caster can be done at Madhu's Tyre alignment center rather than at Suraksha? Or do they have alignment facilities there as well?
Regarding my choice of the place - Suraksha is 25+kms form my house hence I did not consider going there earlier and chose a local place in Rammurthy Nagar soon after the Railway Crossing in a gully to the right. It is called Sai Raj Motors and mainly does body work outsourced from Pratham motors he told me. See pic. One mechanic (the cocksure idiot who almost immediately starting banging the parts to fit them in the wrong location) was also working at Pratham MASS and doing Sunday's at this Garage. The other mech works at Naveen Auto (TATA) in Kamannahalli. (See pic). Never go to this place again for mechanical repairs unless it is body work maybe.
The two monkeys also used 4 different types of clamps at the front!! Because time was running out on a Sunday and no shops were open they did not go and buy extra U clamps from the Armada/Bolero when they found that the threading on a few clamps was not good.
This has also contributed to a slight un-evenness in the horizontal plane of the leafs. I think if I leave it like that the stress and load may break the leaves over time because of improper alignment? I will first hunt for U clamps washers and nuts immediately after breakfast right now then call Suraksha as well.
Thanks guys for your support. It is good to talk to somebody when one has problems
--Ragul
PS: I will also request new plates and refit them again at the front after the immediate issue is resolved - unless it can only be resolved by changing the plates as Jaggu says. I dont want to take a chance with them breaking at the weld seams after all the monkey business done to them.