Jay-SS

So I recently added a set of UMI LCA's along with a few other mods. After putting about 600 miles on em (most of that in a single road trip) I am now having a LOT of grinding sound coming from the driver side LCA.

In the first pic you can see the ball joint with the spacers on each side against the inside bracket walls. At first I thought the joint and spacers was sliding around since one of the spacers was just a tad bit too small. There's a tiny gap inbetween the spacer and the bracket wall. I was going to fill the gap with a washer in hopes of dealing with this. Of course in my attempt to remove the nut on the outside i come to find the nut is on so damn tight i began to strip it in the effort. Put a stop to that until I get a better means of getting it off.

After scratching my head for a while I started rotating the arm clockwise and counter-clock and whamo, I found what I think is causing this very irritating sound. Now I dont know how stiff this thing is supposed to be but It was not a smooth rotation at all. Each time I stopped it took a good amount of force to break it loose again and when I did it sounded like it was grinding on the joint.

The passenger side LCA doesnt require nearly as much force to break it loose and doesnt make any sound at all when I rotate it.

It seems like the ball joint isnt lubricated or somthing. But im a newb to all this so im just guessing.

Any help?

UMI Sales

iTrader: (1)

Hello
I noticed that you are having a problem with your rod end. There are a lot of pros and cons with a rod end. One they hold up to HP better than a poly bushing. But seeing how they are open dirt does happen to find its way in therefore sometimes gumming them up and making them hard to articulate. I would just make sure that the hardware it torqued to spec. If you have any other questions feel free to ask and I will be more than glad to help.
Thanks
Brad

Jay-SS

Hey Brad thanks for the response. Im gonna go and tighten some stuff up like the SFC's and see if it helps out. While im at it, I was going to throw some lithium grease on the bearings to help lube it up. Any reason this would be a bad idea?

UMI Sales

iTrader: (1)

Hello
The lithium grease is going to be fine for the poly bushings! But I would not recommend it for the rod ends. They already have a teflon sleeve in them that is impregnated with grease. And like you said make sure everything is tightened and see how that turns out!
Thanks
Brad

Jay-SS

Alright... got the noise on video. Havnt had a chance to try tightening up the sfc's yet but... do you think thats really whats causing this? I'm still going to tighten it up im just sayn if thats really the cause then i'll be left speechless


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCI2gZZw0kg

Striker

iTrader: (1)

Brad- would such a problem be possible with your new roto joints?

UMI Sales

iTrader: (1)

Hello
Not at all! As long as they are properly greased they will be just fine.
Thanks
Brad

redracer1

iTrader: (2)

You're right that noise would drive me insane.
I think it's pretty well documented you'll get some noise with double rod ends. How much I don't know and I'm sure each car would be different. After you tighten and or lube things up if you still have the noise and if you still have them, thro the stock LCA back on and see if the noise goes away or UMI has the new roto joints. I believe you can upgrade just the rod ends. You could have just 1 bad rod end even tho they're new, crazier things have happened.

mitchntx

iTrader: (14)

A gap will indeed create a noise as the LCA end rattles between the 2 sides. The fact that the nut is bound would bother me. I realize it's a nylock, but it should be so tight that it rounds off the flanges to remove it.

If its galled, you might never have been able to get it tight in the first place.

That would be the first place I'd look. At the very least, I'd source another bolt and nut. That just isn't right.

When you do get it loose, make sure that joint rotates smooth in the eye and doesn't rattle. My guess is its fine. I've had UMI rod ends on a road race car ... hundreds of races, qual sessions and practice/tune events ... and the ends are still tight and rattle free.

My guess is the galled bolt/nut is your issue.