Suzuki Club UK

For the Kingpins, It looks like the shims are wedged between the head of the kingpin with the 4 bolts and the casing of the knuckle, so to simply remove a shim there seems no need to remove anything else apart from the kinpin itself? (ok maybe the wheel as well to get better access )

In general though... Does the steering on these things feel spongy? At full lock there is no hard stop as you would find with a rack and pinion steering box, it sort of gets to the end of its travel with a soft cushion effect (if you turn it really hard at the lock you can sort of squeeze a little more out of it if you get what i mean)... Is this just a characteristic of this car and its Z style steering?

Cheers

The steering has always got a bit more play in it than a road car, but mine does reach a hard top.
Full lock happens when one of the bolts (that holds the felts and oil seal on) hits the axle casing
Maybe get a friend to turn it right round to full lock and check its touching the bolt.

Back to the handling, I find that to keep mine in a straight line you have to make constant tiny adjustments

What are the felt pads like? I assume you haven't put new ones in yet

Yeah i need to make very tiny adjustments to keep it going in a straight line.. The felt pads i havent looked at, but one side has a LOT of axle grease leaking out onto the bellend... sorry swivel cup thing , so i presume its well gone ... The other side is pretty much bone dry so i guess its ok.

Forgot to mention.. While testing the CV's in a gravelly field at the end of my street i managed my first drift! (never had a RWD car before) who would of thought that was possible in an open diff (in 2wd mode) car with only 40 odd horsepower lol..

Just went out for a quick spin on an errand and i killed the motor at about 20mph (no power brakes anyway!) and alas i could still hear what sounds like a wheel bearing rumble. DAMN IT.. All the wheels dont show bearing wear when you wobble the wheel when its up in the air. (the front 2 have about 1mm play in the kingpin as you know from previous posts). so something else could be making the noise.. or its just a "normal" noise of this car.. not sure.. there are no carpets or roof lining so its very echo'y and tin can like which i guess would amplify these sorts of sounds.

What else do you think it could be?

Cheers!

The grease could be the oil seal gone which will wash it out

Im just glad Im not the one with gear oil on my bell end.... that stuff stinks!
They are quite noisy vehicles anyway and I find you get a bit more of a drone when driving along than in a normal road car... but would have to listen to the noise really...
As long as the wheels aren't falling off you'll be fine lol

As for drifting.... don't even get me started on that! They are drift machines
Mine loves to go sideways with the 1.6 16v! The hardest part is remembering not to try it in the dry and scrub my nice new tyres! haha

Here in the dry is like the UK in the rain, grip wise, and in 40C summer heat, or in rain, the roads turn to a ICE LIKE state!... so i think i will have to get much better at drifiting before winter comes lol!

I will live with the noise then, it doesnt bother me, but as long as i know its meant to be there... Shame i spent so much time and money in changing the wheel bearings for nothing :( but i learned a LOT about how the axle works, and the proper names for things .. When you come over you can take it for a spin and let me know if you think it works ok... And if not then maybe i can rope u in to help sort it out hahaha

You haven't changed the bearings for nothing.... they could last another 5-10 years now depending on how hard you drive it! New bearings are never a bad thing

I'd love to take it for a spin although I think the F10 engine would depress me with its lack of power

I don't normally charge anything to help people on their Zooks (unless they offer of course) but I think fixing a Zook while on holiday may qualify for some form of payment (even if in beer form lol)

We'll see how it goes!

Lol i was joking about helping fix it mate, a holiday is for relaxing not for fixing cars. But having a go in it and a quick spot check to let me know if you think anything is wrong would be much appreciated and definitely worth a couple of beers, and even maybe a BBQ on the beach.

Well I suppose my Mrs wants to sunbathe for a week so I might as well do what I like

BBQ sounds good though haha