Longer(Est) Track Rod Arms?

[brumster]

Hey all,

 

I've just been giving my Exmo a look-over before it returns to the road from it's 12 year hibernation (!), and one thing I've noticed there's not as much thread in the track rod ends as I'd like - it needs toeing out a little but there is no way enough thread left to safely extend the track rod ends on the arms.

 

Now as far as I can remember, the TRE's were new and the rods I assume are off the Sierra we built the thing from, so I'm not quite sure how the width isn't up to it, but I notice on various websites there are a few different track rod arms available - Mk.1/2 Sierra, but also a Cosworth 2WD listed, for example.

 

Does anyone know if one is longer than t'other - are there longer arms or TRE's available that I can fit to give me a little more engaged thread than I currently have?

[brumster]

Well, for the record (and thanks to a friendly motor factors who went through his part catalogue!) the Cosworth/4x4 arms are 310mm - 15mm longer than the base model - so I'm going to try those; should give me just the extra thread inside the TRE that I need to keep the safety switch in my brain from toggling .

[brumster]

Well, turns out my old arms weren't as long as the spec says (295mm) and the cosworth ones were a bit too long to fully thread into the TRE's. However this is easily solved by chopping some off the end of them with an angle grinder, if you really need the extra length. However I've kept the old arms, and dropped the front down about 15mm on the shock platforms... I noticed the sleeves on the Exmo shocks had been tapped on a bit too far and were not fully sitting in the hub carriers. The car sits better now, the camber looks (by eye) better (ie. not positive!) and I don't seem to need quite so much track rod to achieve parallel toe now (again, just by eye at this stage, but the car needs to be MOTd on Friday and I can then concentrate on the geometry....)

 

I'm wondering if, like others, I'm going to need adjustable TCAs to get half-decent geometry at the front (I don't fancy chopping about the top mounts any more as I'll never get the welded-in re-enforcing plates out!)... we'll see.