Whiteline farb lateral movement

[sambb]

Just wondering if anyone else has noticed how much lateral movement there is in the Whiteline farb. It doesn't have the small ribs on the bar that butt up against the bushes that the oem bar had. Mine can move almost fully one way till the bar is virtually hitting the subframe.

http://[IMG%5Dhttp://i184.photobucke....jpg%5B/IMG%5D

the above link is from the eddy sleeve thread. No idea if linking the pic this way will work. Eddy if you're out there, do you have hose clamps fitted to the bar outside of the bushes to prevent sideways slip or was I just seeing things?

[sambb]

http://www.vwwatercooled.com/forums/f127/tramlining-excessive-torque-steer-32346-8.html

ok we'll try that again. This is the link. The picture is down the page a bit.

[brad]

Give Whiteline a ring and discuss with them. They'll have an add-on solution - it probably involves hose clamps and some other parts

[sambb]

I took this photo when my front drivers side front was off. The FARB is all the way across towards the passenger side, so much so that you can see the wear marks on the subframe. If you look closely you can just see my scribe marks at the junction of the subframe/body. The subframe hasn't shifted yet but I'd be willing to bet this is a big cause of subframe movement in our cars. The arm of the FARB becomes basically a perfect lever/cam that tries to shift the subframe inboard! Probably the source of one of my many front end knocks/bangs/creaks that seem so prevalent in this car.
Got an eddy inspired fix coming that will hopefully keep it in place in the future. I'll try to get some pics as I do it.
If you're thinking about a FARB - get one with the OEM style ribs on it that locates the bar against the bushes.

[brad]

Have you asked whiteline about a fix?

[sambb]

yeah I emailed but didn't hear back. I'll have a crack at it tonight. I don't want to leave it like that any longer because a good one wheel pot hole will probably knock the sub frame out of position. If they have anything better I can always fit it later. I haven't fitted the eddy sleeves yet so i'll have to get back under there at a later date anyway so thats ok.

[brad]

I think sometimes you have to ring & talk to a real human. We had similar issues on the Liberty & they came up with a collar held on with a hose clamp (something like that)

[sambb]

Well just did the job and glad I had because the subframe was taking a hammering. Miraculously the subframe hadn't budged so I'm glad I caught it in time. I had stuff all room to fit the clamps inside of the bushes which is what I wanted to do to keep the hose clamp away from the steering rack boots. I also had some nylon discs that I'd made to fit around the bar to butt up against the face of the bush and then the hose clamp would sit outside of that, but there wasn't enough clearance between the subframe and bar for them to fit.
So in the end it was just a pair of regular hose clamps with a rubber insert/channel inside of them, fitted to the outside of the bushes. Its basically fitted like what eddy did in the link above but with inserts that will hopefully grip well and prevent the outside edge of the clamp from chewing out the bushes outside face. I went lock to lock on the steering and it looks as though the boots will clear. All that remains is to check that the boots clear with lock on at full droop etc and to check that the clamps don't shift.
we'll see..

And if anyone has had a really clear dooiinggg/twang sound happening in the front end that sounds like when you flick those coil spring door stops in an old persons house I think I found what it is. Almost exactly like when you flick a metal rule over the edge of a table. The heat shroud that covers the power steering pipes (between the bar and rack) sits right in against the bar when you go to a bigger diameter. As the bar twists one of the kinks in the bar collects the edge of the shroud and then releases it. I was getting this turning off a down hill drive way into another downhill drive way and it was driving me insane. Couldn't replicate it short term. I'll keep you posted on it..

[sambb]

like I said its just some clamps