UrQuattro Steering Arms Track Rods

[oliverjl]

Just in case it helps anyone in the future:

I drew a complete blank trying to find steering arms to fit my ur MB so here is the solution I came up with and enlisted the help of a local engineering company.

I used TREs from a Mk1 caddy, some places refer to golf ones but the golf ones are offset and so although the taper is correct they dont line up correctly. I then bought some easily available standard M14 (iirc) Track adjusters with left and right hand thread. Finally I purchased a left-hand m14 thread tap from eBay for about £8.

The long one was easy to do as it is quite a large diameter rod, I just got the local (and friendly) engineering company to chop the end off then drill and tap the arm, job done.

The adjustable arm is slightly more difficult as the arm is a smaller diameter. To make sure we had plenty of meat to tap into we replaced the whole end section, after doing a weld test it appears to be high-tensile steel so we bought a small length of high tensile rod, bent it the same as the original and then threaded the original adjuster end and tapped the TRE end.

Here is the end result, it also means the tracking can now be adjusted easily in the wheel arch just like a modern car, much better.

[urquattr085]

Good solution. Thanks for sharing with us all.
I've already taken notes in case I need to change mine at any point in the future.

[Colin Aitchison]

I have also been looking into steering arm in resent weeks, Both arms on my car are Ok but at some point they are going to give up and I will be stuck the same as you where, your new arms look first class, thanks for the post.

[john bowden]

That is a great piece of work and one I've been promising to try and get doe for ages.

Any chance you could provide a service on these or recommend the people that did the machining work?

Thanks
John

[oliverjl]

Originally Posted by john bowden

That is a great piece of work and one I've been promising to try and get doe for ages.



Any chance you could provide a service on these or recommend the people that did the machining work?



Thanks

John

I actually discussed this with the machine shop, as we now know how to do it and what parts are required it would be a case of making up a few arms and then just chopping and tapping them when required. Im really pleased it will be useful for someone though, keeping these cars on the road seems to be increasingly difficult!
Thanks,
Oliver

[oliverjl]

Its worth noting that my original arms appeared to be ok, but once they were removed the movement in the TRE was quite surprising.

[john bowden]

Originally Posted by oliverjl

Its worth noting that my original arms appeared to be ok, but once they were removed the movement in the TRE was quite surprising.

Thats exactly the reason for my interest, mine has passed the MOT, but does have an advisory on one side.

I'd like to get it sorted but was unhappy at the ridiculous prices being quoted by some suppliers.

I'd be very interested in moving this forward, as its a common failure point which could see a vehicle off the road.

John

[BackintheFold]

Agreed-this looks like an excellent bit of work (and when i eventually try for an MOT, I may be up for a set too!)

[oliverjl]

Originally Posted by john bowden

Thats exactly the reason for my interest, mine has passed the MOT, but does have an advisory on one side.

I'd like to get it sorted but was unhappy at the ridiculous prices being quoted by some suppliers.

I'd be very interested in moving this forward, as its a common failure point which could see a vehicle off the road.

John

Out of interest what did you manage to find from suppliers, was it to remanufacture the original joints? Thats the route I went down first but I couldnt find anyone with a solution/helpful at all.

[john bowden]

Originally Posted by oliverjl

Out of interest what did you manage to find from suppliers, was it to remanufacture the original joints? Thats the route I went down first but I couldnt find anyone with a solution/helpful at all.

I've tried with people to remanufacture the ball joints, but when I supplied a sample the interest from the supplier seemed to dry up.

The cost for new items was also ridiculous to the point of extortion

John