legacycentral bbs

I just mounted the KYB GR-2s up front on my '93 Legacy (FWD, M/T). While the front was jacked up, I tried turning the steering wheel left and right. If I steer all the way to the right, there's no problem. If I steer all the way to the left, it's a lot harder to do. I'll turn it, and then it'll pull back to the right a little bit.

I ended up pulling the struts back out, and the top hats turn freely. I don't know what else to check. Maybe the springs are rubbing on the body? Any chance the problem will go away if I put the wheels on it and take it off the jacks? I checked and double-checked the part numbers, and they're correct.

Tomorrow I'll attempt to change out the rear struts, I hope that is problem free.

You have a spring perch not lined up i bet. The spring will go on that way, but the perch will rub against the chassis. You will see rub marks on the chassis.

I fixed this by wrapping some 3000lb test cam straps (mine were for whitewater, but the tow hitch variety ones will work) jacking the car up, and rotating the perch so it lined up with the spring seat. The correct way would be to use a spring compressor, but this method works, if you feel safe doing it. Note that i didn't take the strut off, but i had to take off the wheel.

gluck.

Thanks, That was the problem. I pulled both struts because I had both messed up.

Next weekend I'll do the rears.

Okay! All four struts have been replaced! All four of the old ones were completely blown, they did not extend at all after pushing them in. It was well worth it to do it myself.

Now, I hear a grinding/scraping coming from the front right wheel only when I make a right turn. Actually, if I turn the steering wheel about 30 degrees to the right I hear it. I had heard this before, but not so badly or loud.

What do you guys think I should check? The CV boots look fine, and there isn't any clicking. If it were a bad wheel bearing I should hear noise all the time right, not just when turning? When I was trying to find the cause of my steering problems, I did the test that evolutionmovement suggested here, but didn't notice any movement. Could it be a bad tie-rod? Would it be worth replacing both the tie-rod and ball joint at the same time?

If there's no movement in the joints then they're good. You'd maybe replace both ball joints or both tie rods if one goes as the other may not be far behind, but other than a bad ball joint could stress the tie rods more, there's no real relationship between the two in terms of failure.

The scraping must be something simple like the fender liner sticking out/hanging somewhere or possibly, the backing plate to the brake rotor contacting the rotor (turning can cause the rotor to flex a little so they touch if the backing plate had been pushed in so that it was nearly touching it). Just check that the plate's not too close to the rotor and pry it away a little with a screwdriver if it is.

Steve

I'm looking at my Haynes manual right now. Is the backing plate the same thing as a "brake disc splash shield" and is it metal? Because the noise sounds like metal scraping against metal. That sounds like it's the cheapest solution, I hope that's all it is.

Is the noise dependant on speed? Or does it happen when you turn the wheel when you are stopped?

Legacy777 wrote:Is the noise dependant on speed? Or does it happen when you turn the wheel when you are stopped?

When I had the new front struts in with the car jacked up, but no wheels on, I could turn from side to side without hearing any grinding/scraping. With all four wheels on the ground, and when I'm moving, I hear the scraping. I haven't tried just turning the wheels on the ground at a stand-still yet.

I'll try tomorrow and report back.

evolutionmovement - you were right! On both sides, the backing plate was a little to close to the rotor, and I could see the scoring on the metal. Prying both sides a little bit away solved the problem. Cost = zero dollars.

Thanks!

I am the Master of the Universe!


That's about the fourth time I've suggested that and it was right. Who'd have thunk it'd be so common?

Steve