Article on The Internet Mini Encyclopædia |
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SSI Insert revised (no index tag!): 22-Feb-2016
Article on The Internet Mini Encyclopædia |
"When I fitted mine it seemed as if I needed to remove the upper arm on the front. You don't, but you need to know the trick to get them in:
Fit the plastic knuckle cup hard into the upper arm
Place the knuckle ball into it
Now fully compress the adjusta-ride and fit it up hard into the cone
Don't put the knuckle shaft into the adjusta-ride yet
You will probably find they won't just pop into each other, so pull the top of the knuckle rod outwards and the bottom 'hole' of the adjusta-ride outwards and place them together
Now using a short length of wood and a hammer, whack the bottom tip of the adjusta-ride inwards towards the engine
You should find this compresses the rubber cone slightly and the knuckle shaft pops into the adjusta-ride
Now wind out the adjusta-ride adjustment to an amount and then start the slow trial and error method to get the ride height correct
[22/02/2016] Before you start work measure the distance from the point of contact between the knuckle joint and the aluminium trumpet to a fixed point on the subframe (with the vehicle on the ground - to enable you to initially set the ride height the same once your adustarides are installed.
[22/02/2016] Raising or lowering your mini as a result of fitting adjusta-rides, hi-los or simply replacing soggy cone springs, can play havoc with your suspension & steering alignment. As the mini lowers, the camber decreases (the bottom swivel moves outwards), as this happens, the fixed length of the tie rod moves the bottom swivel relative to the top leading to a retrograde change in the castor angle. As the bottom swivel moves out the fixed distance between the track rods end (being fixed) cannot change, this leads to toe-out.
You really need to get the alignment checked professionally BUT tweaking could cost a lot in visits to Checkamini Inc so you can get equipment to check it yourself
Check your tracking using DIY equipment, check your camber & castor angles using DIY equipment both so long as you have a nice flat, clean floor area.
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