Got a waggly rear end?...FIX IT
My name is Larry, & I've got waggly rear end syndrome...
Or at least, I DID...
Since last summer some time, I've been experiencing the somewhat unpleasant sensation of the rear end of my VX getting all squirrely when going down the highway. Usually at a constant cruising speed of 60-70 mph it would start pitching back & forth until I let off the gas, then it would straighten out.
It got progressively worser over the winter until I could feel it wiggle back & forth at much lower speeds around 20-30 mph. Eventually, I could feel it pitch one way when I accelerated, then the other direction when I lifted off the skinny pedal.
At first I suspected worn front end parts, ball joints, center link, worn shocks, control arm bushings...
Then I remembered reading something Mike (Musky Amigo) wrote over on the MWIOR forums a year or two ago, about how the holes in the mounts on the frame where the lower links connect, had become egg shaped from the forces of acceleration & braking...hmmmmmmm...
As I was cracking my lugs loose the other day, with the wheels on the ground, I noticed some movement in this area. Upon disassembly, I saw exactly what he had mentioned...oblong holes in the mounting bracket on the frame.
His solution was to zap some gr 8 washers on the outer surface of both sides of the bracket.
Since I don't have access to a welder any more, I went to the local purveyor of all wares hard, & picked up some half moon woodruff keys (very small, 1/8" thick) & gr 8 washers.
I then ground down the 1/2 moon keys so they resembled a crescent shape, & inserted them on the forward side of the oblong hole to act as shims, while prying the lower link back with a tire iron.
I then buttoned it all back up (after greasing the pivot pins) with the gr 8 washers against the outside of the bracket, effectivly captruing the 1/2 moon keys in their place.
A test drive quickly proved Mikes theory as being right, & you shoulda been able to see me smile from a mile away...
I'm gonna swing by my welder guy's place in the next day or two, to get the washers zapped on to the mounting brackets, to make this a permanent fix.
I can't tell you what a pleasure it is to drive Suzy straight down the road again...I'm
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