Anti-roll bar movement

[CraigHew]

Had a little tinkering session yesterday afternoon with my S2000, I noticed that the front ARB moves about 10mm laterelly against the mounting brackets.

 

I shot a fairly un-inspiring video of what I mean       (see    

)

 

Is this movement normal ?

 

The nuts and bolts on the brackets seem fairly tight.  I don't have a build manual for my car yet, but do have the old FW one.

In there it mentions using copper grease on the brackets, which gives me an inkling that some movement is expected.

 

Any advice appreciated.

 

 

 

[stephenh]

In my opinion, it isn't very excessive, but it would be better if it wasn't doing that. A bit of end float is desirable otherwise you risk the 'bar binding. There should be a locking collar, with a grub screw to lock it in place on the 'bar. Have you got one? if so, it may have slipped. It depends on what make of 'bar you have. Certainly my Playskool front 'bar has one. If you have such a thing then just slacken it off, and slide it along the 'bar until you eliminate all except maybe half a millimeter of end float, and tighten it up again.

If you have a fabricated anti-rollbar, such as Westfield's own, then you probably wont have a locking collar, because it would be impossible to fit. In that case, maybe the mountings of the mounting blocks have some free play adjustment?

One other thing, I fitted some nylon washers between the mounting blocks and the shoulder or stop which is on the 'bar and prevents the 'bar from moving sideways through the mounting block. If the 'bar is formed from bent tubing then the washer can be easily slid onto the 'bar in the course of assembly. If it is a fabricated 'bar, like the factory ones, you can't do that, but you can still fit a nylon washer by splitting the washer on one side, so you can then get it onto the 'bar, if you see what I mean. It helps to cushion the end float, and in  the case of a road car will avoid the squeaking which some people have experienced.

In your case, if you can't adjust the end float out as described above, at least the washers will take up a bit of the slack.

I found I could buy a packet of suitable washers from my local plumbers/builders merchant for pence. The larger size of washer for the old fashioned pillar taps will fit most of the anti-rollbars likely to be encountered on a Westfield.

[CraigHew]

As this was the factory demonstrator I'm guessing it was a factory ARB fitted.  There isn't a collar anywhere.

 

I understand what you mean about the nylon washers, although I've never heard it squeak. If there's no advice to the contrary, I'll pop a few washers on and see what difference.

 

thanks for the suggestion....

[pete g]

looks like there are fixed stops on the outside of mountings . if you cant adjust the mountings to remove the play you could always fix a jubilee clip on the inside on both sides to stop it moving .

10mm clearance don't seem right to me .maybe some thing have been fitted back to front. ie mounting brackets

 

 

 

ps welding on the top wishbone don't look the best either

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

Yours is a factory non-adjustable type bar, (it's not one that many will probably recognise on here, as it tends to be more of a fit and forget type item, having no stiffness adjustment).

 

As Stephen said though, it would benefit from some Nylon shims/washers, just to reduce the degree of end float a little. Note that you can get split-collar type parts from places like RS, that will clamp around the bar, to do what you want. (You can fit them on the centre section of the bar, between the mounting blocks.)

[Mark (smokey mow)]

I recall having been told in the past that there is a slight dimensional difference between the position of the suspension mounting points on the "kit" chassis compared to that of the Sport Turbo.

When I fitted my ST3 ARB which is the same as yours I had to shim the sides of it between the bracket with a pair of split nylon washers to take up the side float.

[Mark (smokey mow)]

Like this

[CraigHew]

Thanks for the helpful suggestions.

 

RS Components have the ideal solution (thanks Dave)

 

http://uk.rs-online.com/web/c/pneumatics-hydraulics-power-transmission/power-transmission-bushes-collars/collars/?searchTerm=collar#esid=cl_4294967294,cl_4294538292,cl_4294538343,cl_4294538502,cl_4294956528,cl_4294538263&applied-dimensions=4294529105,4294871085

 

Will get these bolted up tomorrow (hopefully) and post a photo up, perhaps helpful for future (newbie) owners like me.... 

[s2rrr]

I used a couple of those type of split metal collars on my rear ARB with the factory supplied split nylon washers slotted between them and the aluminium blocks to try and stop the clattering worked well for a while but needs a bit of grease every now and then.

 

Bob

[Ian Kinder (Bagpuss) - Joint Peak District AO]

HI Craig, did you do this and has it worked? I've just fitted mine and expect the same problem, though it's quite tight at the moment.