LOWER WISHBONE

[bobwhittaker]

Have discovered a serious crack on the lefthand lower wishbone. This on the underside around the weld of the straight rear leg onto the
short link that joins the front and rear legs together and carries the mounts for the trunnion and the shocker. This was only discovered
when I removed the front suspension to investigate closely the condition of the shockers / bushes / trunnions etc. For no real reason
other than curiosity. The crack, some 2" long, was only evident when I had the wishbone upside down on the work bench and I suspect
there would have been no warning of a complete failure.

The history of the car is that it is chassis number 123 , probable manufacture 1985-86 but it wasn't built up untill 2012 having been dry
stored for 26 years. I am the only person that has ever driven it and I have never knowingly kerbed it or had a hard incident with it.
I don't know the spring rate other than it is fitted with the shockers supplied by Westfield, which albeit they are of some age inspection
shows them both to be in good condition.

It is realised age is possibly an issue, mine as much as the car, but my main concern is that only very close scrutiny will show this fault
which could result in the collapse of the front suspension.
Bob Whittaker

[Westfield 129]

I have chassis 129, and found no cracks in the front suspension when I replaced the bushings about 3 years ago. At that time, the car had around 40,000 miles on it. No cracks were found at that time.

With a suspension arm that has had little use, the age would not be a factor unless the part was somehow aged by corrosion, as in use wear would be out of the question. I really can't see corrosion as a problem.

In use, I would be suspect of any car that had miles on it with bad front bushings. This would subject the front end to all sorts of shock, as the front bushings will fail in short order if the bushings are torqued down tight. Any suspension movement tears out the inner tube, and extrudes the rubber, exposing the front arms to shock and direct to frame contact at the suspension mounting points. It is always best to use only about 5 lb.ft. of torque on the front end bolts to ensure that the bushing rotates about the mounting bolt, eliminating any problem of bushing rubber shearing apart.

I will be checking my car today...

In any case, new arms are available. I'd replace both.

[erictharg]

Recently checked my front suspension bushes and found all to be OK after 3 seasons of racing and some 8000 road miles. And all torqued up tight...so the rubber does the work. However noticed that the polybushes I was trying out at the front of the rear radius arms have worn horribly after less than one season. Never liked the idea of them anyway. Back to good old rubber bushes! I will now also remove the wishbones and check for any signs of stress or cracks.

[bobwhittaker]

I was initialy looking for wear / tear in the rubber element of the metalastic bushes in all four wishbones. This was done with them off the car by securing a long 7/16" bolt in a vice and slipping one leg of the wishbone over the bolt and then slipping a long bar in the free leg and
attempting to open up the bushing by distorting it. The wishbone was then reversed and the procedure repeated, all 8 bushes appeared sound.
Only when I laid the wishbone on the bench afterwards did I see the crack.

Regards over torquing, I had seen previous threads on this topic and the car was assembled with the 5 ft.lbs. suggested.

Corrosion, from the condition of the rest of the steel work I don't think this is the problem.

Spares, though advertised on the website they are not in stock and I have been told a two week lead time ! ! !

If anything of interest comes up I will advise.

[Westfield 129]

Two weeks doesn't seem like too much time for a limited production part, for a limited production car. Unless you are using it for daily transportation, I think that is not that bad. Best to purchase both left and right sides.

I just waited 3 months for a set of fuel injector seals for a Renault R5 Turbo. Finally showed up today.

Do you have a picture of the crack?

[bobwhittaker]

My exclamation marks are because I have had several experiences of their quoted lead times. Two examples were resolved
in two days but only after high level intervention.

[StephenH]

Bob, the factory should be getting some wishbones in the near future, because they have orders for new cars due for delivery in the very near future. My kit is due to be ready for collection in a couple of weeks! And they have the parts made in small batches, so with any luck there would be a spare set of wishbones for you from the same batch. I'd get your order in if I was you.

[bobwhittaker]

Availability of lower wishbones.

I was quoted a two week lead time on the 14th of January. I contacted them Friday 29th to be told, " We are expecting wishbones in today,
but I don't know what they are for." ! ! ! Contacted them again today 5th February to be told still none in stock and much surprise expressed when I mentioned the expected delivery one week previous of wishbones of any type. It was then said due various reasons a change of supplier was being considered, my comment to that was " In other words you don't have any on order or a supplier ". ! ! ! !

I also said I understood from the forum that delivery of a batch of kits was imminent and perhaps that might include some spares. " Not my department " was the response. ! ! ! ! !

I am not impressed, hence the exclamation marks.

My intention in the interim is to repair the original. I do have some clear photos of the faulty item but loading them onto the forum is not
my strong point. I could probably manage to email them direct to anyone that is interested.
Bob Whittaker

[Splat]

Yup. I've been less than impressed with phone calls to the factory at times.

And I too needed a lower front wishbone a couple of years ago (one of the bushing tubes had worn to an oval!) and they luckily had stock. But I was shocked at the quality. Welded by a drunken chimp. So if they're contemplating a change of supplier it would be no bad thing.

[Westfield 129]

Depending on the location and nature of the crack, you could have your cracked suspension arm TIG welded. This would be a permanent repair.

As for the "drunken chimp" welds, it may be due to the type of welding machine and technique that they are using. Some of the wire fed welders just don't produce attractive welds.