Man where to begine... I guess you could say I'm a victim of that PST suspension kit... Drivers side coil spring perch is getting crushed, not only the bushing is getting destroyed but the vertical are getting bent to the side. The lower control bushings while still intact they are pulling away from the mount causing the control arm to be abit deflected, the lower control arm mount and arm are not centered in the mount, the drivers side is forward alot (almost touching the chassis) and the passenger side is forward as well but not as much. The upper control arm bushings and shaft... They are not centered, the end caps like to unscrew but sents there so close the the strut tower they don't get very far. As far as they go I'm debating between pulling them off adjust them than tack-weld the nut to the body or go with the Moog K8233 press kit but I'd like to hear how well people like them. It would be nice to just get a pair of those shafts that come with that kit it would make it easier to put togeather a roller bearing conversion kit. Still running the poly strut rod kit against better judgement and general census. I do have a new set of rubber bushings but I just haven't installed them yet... still trying to figure out the heim joint strut rod thing. Got bubbles/blisters on three out of four tires. Had to buy one new one (barely could afford it), installed a used one, and still runnng on the third one... just waiting for it to get bad enough for me to "have to" change it. O and when I had my used one installed and ballenced they said that my rim was out of round... Now I get to figure out how to make more money... student loans for a degree that is pretty much useless, and now medical bills... I've got to stop saying "I don't know how much more I can take"... I should never have gone to a trade school, and I wish I never got cancer (no big deal but the bills are causing more damage to me than the cancer). If I didn't do those two things I'll be saving $400 or so a month which is about $200 more than I can afford... sorry off topic... So... I need to figure out the most cost effective way to keep my car on the road... I got so much going on that it's hard to think clearly. So far the most cost effective thing I can figure out to do would be to either install new rubber perches or rebuild some old ones I have lying around with a dazecars roller kit (about a $10 differance), adjust my existing upper control arms with the parts currently on them, install the rubber strut rod bushings I had bought 4 months ago and are still in their plastic bag, maybe find some washers to try and fix my lower control arm location in it's mounting point, than get a alignment assuming one could be done when I have two differant brands of tires up front one old and one new, or I might have to tack on the cost of another new tire so I can get a alignment... and than to fix a wheel thats out of round I might be able to pick up some stock explorer 15x7's on craigslist for about the same or less than getting a new wheel, than theres the still bubbled tire which I might have to get soon as well... man life sucks... sorry I'm rambling... Ok all the problems hitting at once and not enough money, what would you do in my situation? my mav's my daily driver, so I need to drive it to work...
sorry to hear about all those probs you have In my opinion, since you are out in Arizona, why don't you look for a Mav with a 200 and put your current Mav as a side project. The 200 will save you money and is a better economy choice as well. Then, like I said, you can take your time with your current Mav so that way it won't drive you nuts. Hell, it doesn't even have to be another Mav. Just a car that will get you back and forth without many problems at all. I'm sure you can find something like that for $300-$400. Just my 2 cents of course.
Sorry to hear that man. I agree, I say shelve the Mav project for awhile and find yourself a cheap daily driver. So is there a quality issue with the PST kits? I'm getting ready to redo my front suspension in a month or so and they're one of the companies I was looking at for front end kits.
Yeah good question. I want to do my front end real soon and is the PST kit is bad, I would like some info so I can determine if I want to skip it. And to add to my first post; if you do end up doing that idea, I think it will save you some cash on insurance as well.
Just about everything you describe could be caused by incorrectly torqued fasteners and/or the upper control arm shaft caps not being correctly located during installation. Did you torque everything correctly with a known good torque wrench? Center the upper shafts and torque the end caps to 35 lb ft?
yeah i agree with everyone else cover it up and put it aside for now till shes ready to be worked on and get your self a gas saver,better to have it at your place than break down somewhere where youll be **** out of luck with getting it back plus paying for it to get towed,my broinlaw always tells me that
I didn't use a torque wrench on the uppers, I don't remember seeing that section in my manual, everything else got handled when I got it aligned... I installed the kit about 5 years ago, I don't know if thats the normal life span for all the parts or not. I do have a motorcycle I could ride I just haven't been because I haven't had the energy or the resistance to the elaments I used to (the fore mentioned medical issues)... I don't know if I like the idea of paying for another car and more insurance... but I might have to. I could sell the bike find a cheap car and work on the maverick...
Hey man if you can't ride the bike why keep it around? Fix it up a bit and make it shine and then sell it. As for another car idea, just don't pay too much for it and make sure it is something that will get you by. I don't know how much more car insurance you would pay but it can't be that bad.
It's a rigid chopper and it runs good but the main problem with selling it is the fact that it's a import and it's a small "market" for a rigid kz chopper... I can technicaly ride just not for long... took me a couple years to build so it's hard to let it go...
well I went ahead and got a roller bearing kit... just a little more than a new set of rubber perches... with all the time it took to make them now I know why they cost what they do for the finished product... also have some moog lower control arms and rubber strut rod bushings on order (credit cards, nice to have when you need them) they should be here monday... I had a hell of a time adjusting my upper control arms to be center or as center as I could get, I couldn't find any "how to" articles anywhere, I did do the not torqued down tight but weld the caps on thing along with the added grease channel mod while I had them off... also I can't find torque specs in my chiltons manual for the spring perches, that thing is grossly inadiquite. now I am going to try and find some 90 degree zerks tomarrow/today (it's 1:33 am where I'm at), I'm debating between drilling a hole for the zerks or try and hammer a bump so I can fit the 90's in. man... long day... spent about 5hrs or more on one spring perch... not to mention disassembly and doing what I did to the uca... I need a vacation... or a second job so I could pay someone to work on my car when I don't feel well enough to do it myself...
btw, when I get the lca's and strut bushings I know I'll need a alignment and have found afew specs around from Dazecars and Opentracker but I'm not sure what to ask for at the shop... my car is manual steer with the power box... Caster 2, camber -.5, toe 1/8" in sound good? thanks.
Those settings should work for you. I have my caster at 2.75 and camber at 0, manual steer. Another project for me down the road is to rollerize my idler arm.
well got the perches on finally, adjusted the upper control arms and tack welded the caps in place... I clearanced the strut tower for the 90' zerks from napa but I guess I was so glad I was able to get the arm in that I forgot to check if I could put the grease coupler on so I could grease them... well the coupler can't fit one of them posibly two... now I get to try and find a smaller coupler of sorts or try and rig one up... atleast I can drive it to work...
Just go with Moog parts or at least rubber bushings everywhere you possibly can. I can say at this point, polygraphite absolutely dosen't belong anywhere in the suspension of a street driven Maverick. It simply dosen't hold up, and can and has caused catastrophic suspension failure due to far greater stresses being put on suspension parts that weren't designed for it.
I ordered moog strut rod bushings and lower control arms. now I got afew things to figure out like the best way to take the strut rods off the control arms (usually I use a bfh with the car still on the ground). Also I got some standard 90' zerk fittings from napa on my upper control arms and I guess I was so excited or tired from hammering the strut tower so they'll fit that I failed to check if the grease coupler would fit as also, well after putting everything back togeather and I was about to grease them I found out that nope the coupler is just a little to fat to fit on one of theme... I went to harber freight and picked up their 7pc grease adapter kit so hopefuly something in there will work... wish they made a low profile coupler or I wish I had some foresight and got some of those low-profile 90' zerk things they make for the early mustang... anyway... I better get out there and start working on it...
