Sliding Pillar Problems

[Guest johnboy2b]

Help!......Again!......Please!

 

My sva test is a week saturday so i took my car into work to have a good look over and do tracking etc etc.

Anyway when driving the car off the trailer the front suspension moved and both the front fixed lower wishbone/ arms

are hitting the discs and even getting stuck underneath the discs.I moved it back but it keeps happening. I have found that both front shock absorbers are totally knackered

and need changing but im worried that there is more to it than that and i dont want them to refuse to sva test my car if it happens when i take it for

test!!!!!!!! I bought the car part built and just wondering if any one else has come across this problem as i have never delt with sliding pillar suspension before.

 

Any help would be greatfully recieved

 

ps can anyone tell me where i can get front shocks for it and are they of anything...old escort mini etc?

My car is a 2000 ish 2b with crappy sliding pillar as above!

cheers.

john

[Guest sritony]

You know my total lack of knowledge, so here comes the q what is a sliding pillar? seen it on a few posts and always wondered

[miikae]

Have a look at this thread http://community.rhocar.org/index.php?show...+pillar+schocks also if you do a search for sliding pillar shocks etc you will find a mine of info , sorry i cant help further .

 

Mike

[Guest chris brown]

Can you put a photo or two so as to give us an idea of what exactly is happening as there has been so many different problems with sliding pillocks in the past its difficult to diagnosis your problem from the description.

[Bob Tucker]

The wishbones are a fixed part of the cahssis.

A chromed shaft is fixed permanently between the upper & lower WBs

The hub is mounted on a phosphor bronze tube which slides up & down the pillar.

A spring is fitted above the hub over the shaft.

The shocker is mounted alongside.

Is this just for background info or do you have a problem with one?

Search the site, esp the NW RHOCAR site which identifies most (maybe all) of the various different RH types.

Bob

[Guest sritony]

Bob its totally just for my own knowledge just trying to learn as much as I can about kit cars, different parts / names locations why some have this part and some don't etc etc just for my benifit so I can understand mine a bit more and how it works so when it does go wrong I can go ahh its a so and so , not well what is this and looking confused haha

[Guest Ian & Carole]

The sliding pillar suspension is a poor mans copy of what Morgan used years ago.

 

Tricky Dickie tried to emulate this system, using the chrome shaft from inside the Sierra front strut, and a hub sliding up and down the fixed shaft.

 

Never quite worked though.

 

The wish bone conversion was the best Mod. I have done to our car exept the engine, however without the wishbone conversion I was never happy with the handling.

 

With the exeption of slight "Bump Steer" all is brill now.

[Guest salty_monk]

I don't understand how what you're describing can happen if everything is set up right. Towards the end of their life my sliding pillock went very soft on the suspension but that didn't happen.

 

It almost sounds like the disk is too close to the lower fixed wishbone but I don't see how that can be the case. The only other thing I can see is if the shafts are mounted at an angle & that is affecting it...

 

Got any pics?

 

This is the problem that most of us have as the springs go soft..... until the bushes wear out or the shaft snaps of course!

 

You may need longer wheel studs & some spacers if you don't already. Mine had about 10mm on there or close to it from memory.

 

 

 

 

 

Dan

[Guest johnboy2b]

Have a look at this thread http://community.rhocar.org/index.php?show...+pillar+schocks also if you do a search for sliding pillar shocks etc you will find a mine of info , sorry i cant help further .

 

Mike

 

 

thanks for your help but i cant see any thing broken on mine it just seems to be sliding down to far. when i can find the shocks will stick them on and fingers crossed!!

 

cheers

john

[Guest Ian & Carole]

I have a feeling that the large "Pinch bolt" that secures the Sierra hub to the pillar system might have come undone, or is not tight enough, and allowed the whole thing to drop???????

 

Really need pics

 

AGAIN A PRIM EXAPLE OF NOT KNOWING WHERE YOU ARE!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

You might have a whole gang of Hoodies around the corner who would be able to help out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Guest john]

I recommend you ask someone close by to give yours a good look over.

S/P may not be everyones cup of tea, but mine got me through SVA ok.

 

It sounds more like some kind of assembly error on yours, but without pics its hard to tell more.

I doubt if changing the shocks are going to cure it, and I agree you will definitely need wheel spacers if you have Ford wheels.

 

I will try and attch a pic of what mine looked like so you can compare.

[Bob Tucker]

Sounds like the bottom studs may have sheared off....that was a definite weak point.

You say the suspension moved....how...what direction....excatly what moved.??

 

I agree it wasnt the best set up but I did 6k hard miles on mine without any breakages before I fitted proper wishbones. IIRC the shockers were from a Mini.

 

PS it was a long while back but I think I took an angle grinder to the edge of the lower wishbone because it came too close to the disk....

 

Bob

[Dave R]

i definitly took off a lot of the bottom "bone" on mine with the angry grinder

[ibrooks]

OK - to expand on what Dave has written. The shaft that the hubs move up and down is inclined inwards at the top so as the hub moves upwards it also moves inwards. You need to remove as much material as possible from the mounting that the bottom of the shaft goes into or the disc can hit it as it moves inwards. Too much though and it'll leave it too weak so you need to find a balance. If you have the top-hat shaped bushes that Robin Hood supplied as a mod you can use their outer diameter as a guide. It's useful to do a dummy assembly without the spring or shock so that you can manually move the hub all the way up and down the shaft whilst checking for clearances.

 

You also need to watch for clearance issues between the tyre and corresponding mounting plate on the top wishbone.

 

How did you establish that the shocks are dud? They are Mini front shocks so should be available from almost any motor factor.

 

Iain

[Guest johnboy2b]

Thanks for your advise iain. I am 95% sure that the supension is working as it should , its just catching on the bottom arm going over bumps and when steering as you said. Have ground it back a bit , but its still happening so i will tke some more off it when i get my wing brackets and have a good look over it then. I have been watching the build video's and hopefully it shouldn't be to hard to do.

 

Got the shocks on order and need new discs now . Only done 1 mile and there Knackered due to catching the bottom arm,

 

Fingers crossed it will all be finished and pass sva on saturday.

 

Cheers everyone for all your help and advise

 

john