Suspension question (pic inside)

R

rllndg17

Member
Jun 9, 2004
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#1
Is the bolt circled in the attached picture supposed to be loose? I was under the car the other day and I can turn mine by hand...I'm not a suspension guru so I'm not sure what it does/if it should be tightened one way or the other
 

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#2
rllndg17 said:
Is the bolt circled in the attached picture supposed to be loose? I was under the car the other day and I can turn mine by hand...I'm not a suspension guru so I'm not sure what it does/if it should be tightened one way or the other
Click to expand...

No, it shouldn't be loose. It's just a jam-nut for the tie-rod end. Someone doing an alignment who needs to play with the toe-angle will loosen this nut and turn the tie-rod one way or the other to get the desired toe and then re-tighten the nut to lock the tie-rod in place.

If it's loose it's likely someone didn't tighten the nut or didn't tighten it enough. Get two wrenches, one to hold the tie rod and one for the jam nut. Hold the tie-rod in place so it doesn't turn and tighten the jam nut.

You might consider having the front-end alignment checked in case the toe for that wheel has changed. You might notice the steering wheel is off center, the tire wears in a feathering manner, the car tracks oddly or there's tire squeal going around corners, even slowly. If you don't see any of these, the alignment is likely correct so just tightening the nut is all that's needed.

Had any front-end work done lately?
 
#3
I figured it wasn't right for it to be lose. I did have front end work done lately and my car is not steering straight. I'll go home and tighten that bolt up like you suggested...Then I'm gonna give the shop that did my alignment last a call and have them align it again. Thanks for the quick response!
 
#5
Man, I haven't been able to find anybody that can align my car just right...I have it lowered (ford c springs, that's it) and I have MM CC plates. I don't know much about alignments, but the last couple of times I've brought it in they've told me that they couldn't align it anymore than it already was...I don't have the specsheets in front of me and I could probably do a search on this, but if I went into a shop, what specs would be good? I know it's a total of .32 on the toe, but I can't exactly remember the rest. If anybody has insight on this that would be awesome, I'm tired of not being able to steer straight!!!!!!
 
#7

technicians might not know about the CC plates. in most machines it will say caster and camber not adjustable.. you just need to specify that when you go to get your alignment done that you have these plates that are dsigned for caster and camber adjustments. show them .....
 
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