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Evolution suspension grating

FI90

FI90

Shifting Up
Hi All,

A couple of weeks ago I fitted a 2" lift kit and 'evolution' suspension upgrade from Scorpion Racing to my 90.

All seemed to go well with the fitting but last weekend I took it off-road for the first time after fitting it (it will be used more off-road than on-road by the way as I live in the Falkland Islands and we regularly make a 60 mile each way trip off-road). On the way back a horrible grating sound could be heard from the suspension (on compression when traversing dips, etc). On investigation, I noticed that the rear of the front nearside spring was fouling on the rear of the dislocation cone - hence the grating noise. By the time I got back to Stanley the paint on the spring and the dislocation cone where it was fouling had obviously disappeared.

To be fair to SR they are determined to solve the problem and will replace any parts that might be required but I am a long way from the UK and any replacement parts will take a few months to arrive. They suggested rotating the spring, which I did but it makes no difference - the spring is obviously straight. It is as if the spring, under compression is bent like a banana and so fouls the location cone at the top.

Before I get back to SR, does anyone have any idea what could be causing this so I can discuss with some knowledge. The offside spring is fine. The spring sits central on the dislocation cone but the nearside fouls at its rear no matter what I do.

Cheers,
Keith

:( :( :(
 
How much lift is fitted? If you have a 3" or more lift and did not go to caster corrected radius arms, then the lower spring perch is angled a bit and the spring will look like a banana when compressed - well sort of. The top of the spring will be parallel with the ground, the bottom of the spring will be canted off angle. You can fabricate a wedge to bring the lower spring perch into alignment, but caster correcting the radius arms is better.
 
Only 2". The handling seems fine - better if anything (and SR advised only to change the radius arms if it felt loose after fitting - no central return, etc).

The puzzling bit is that the drivers side is ok. A wedge under the the front of the bottom spring seat would probably do the trick but is this ok? As I said I do a lot of off-road miles (not for fun) and don't want to be caught on the hop!

Cheers,
Keith
 
is the spring correctly seated on the axle?
is it possible that the plate it seats onto is slightly bent?
can your rotate or adjust the position of the cone at all?

occasionally i hear the springs catching or rubbing on my dislocation cones.
 
The spring seems to be seated ok. I released the spring tension last night and rotated the spring. It is the same regardless of spring position so the spring must be straight when free. I also rotaed the spring seat through 190 degrees to see if that made any difference but it was just the same. I cant see any way to adjust the cone though. The top mounting goes through the cone to the tubular damper mount.

If the seat could be lifted slightly at the front (by fitting a wedge of some sort) it would probably solve the problem but I'm not sure how safe that would be.
 
I think that a few washers is probably the first option (I won't need a longer bolt as the new ones that came with the kit are plenty long enough). The spring seat on that side does seem to be leaning down a little at the front compared with the driver's side one (but maybe that's just my eyes). Nothing seem to be bent though.

Thanks for the assistance. Will give it a try.

Keith
 
Hi All,

No joy I'm afraid - back to square one. The washers made little if any difference and I don't want to put too many in there.

I have measured the slope of the spring seats and both sides are identical (it must have been my eyes). It looks almost as if the axle itself is too far forward but I can't adjust that as it is set by the radius arms. (BTW I have almost new polybushes fitted so I doubt its any of the bushes).

Any further ideas gratefully received.

Cheers,
Keith
 
How much slope do the lower spring perches have? Try measuring both sides from the outrigger or other fixed point on the frame to a fixed point on each side of the axle - are the lengths identical? Are the shocks(damper) at an angle?
 
Hoosier said:
How much slope do the lower spring perches have? Try measuring both sides from the outrigger or other fixed point on the frame to a fixed point on each side of the axle - are the lengths identical? Are the shocks(damper) at an angle?
Click to expand...

I have measured the slope on both sides (admittedly from the ground rather than the outrigger) and the slope is the same on both sides. The difference between the front and back of the spring seats is the same. I think that the passenger side wheel centre is further forward than the driver's side. This makes the damper on the passenger side sit at more of an angle. What I don't understand is how this can be.
 
Check the outriggers that the radius arms attach to and see it they are tweaked out of position - again measure everything from several points off the frame and see if they are at spec. You should be able to find a frame diagram showing all the distances to see if frame is true. If all else fails, it may be time to get creative - shave polybush to move wheel center back in position :)
 
Hi All,

Thanks for your help on this. I thought I'd give you an update.

I took the afternoon off to have another look at this. I stripped all the front suspension off again. All the polybushes are fine and all the mountings are undamaged. (I did have the turrets on the wrong side though, which was straining the dampers somewhat). All put back together now and as far as I can see it looks just about the same. However there must have been a little movement since it seems not to scrape on potholes so its a little better.

I also measured as many diagonals as I could think of and, within my measuring ability, everything seems square at the bottom end. Radius arms fronts to opposite rear drop arm mounts, etc, etc. It may not pass a laser test but nothing I measured was more than 5mm different.

I am beginning to think that it might be the offside top spring seat that is too far back rather than the bottom spring seat being too far forward. I also examined the old turret/shock assembly that is still in one piece from when I replaced it. The shocker in that turret is offset at a significant angle (forwards) which would support the notion that it was like this before I did the suspension upgrade anyway.

I think I may have to resort to bending in the back edge of the cone. I don't really want to shave the rear radius arm polybush to pull the axle back because I think that would throw it off square. It drives ok (apart from the scrape) so I don't want to upset it.
 
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