Most of you know that I have been having a spot of bother with my Smart Car and its appetite for CV joints. (Its the short axle that goes between the motor/transmission and the back wheel).
When I lowered the car, the angle of the CV joint increased. I did not think much of it (as a lot of people have lowered their Smart Cars and never had a problem).
I went around a left corner, put the power on, and hit a bump….. BOOM.
The joint popped out.
Thought it was a fluke, so the mechanic that fixed it did a few tweaks and off we went.
3 days latter. Went around a left corner, put the power on and hit a bump.. BOOM!
The joint popped out.
The mechanic took a longer look at it this time… Fitted bump stops to the back suspension to try and stop it moving as far. Machined the motor mounts to try and stop it moving so far and off we went.
About 3 months latter, I was up in Deluz having a nice drive and heard some clicking and clunking in the back end……
Kinda knew what it was, so backed off and have been driving like an old lady for the past few months……..|
We talked to a few people to try and figure out what was going on, but honestly, for the most part, everyone was guessing.
Was it the angle causing the joint to bind, or was it the motor moving too far, or what……
In the end, the only way I could work out what was happening was to put a camera under the car and go for a drive to figure it out.
Finally got a chance to do that on the weekend…..
Long story short, seems we have lowered the car more than most and the angle is the issue.
So, over the weekend, we added some 1/2 adjustable spacers to the back springs to lift the car a bit and thus reduce the axle angle.
What I should have done is left the CV boot off and taken another video of the bump and see if it really did help, but I did not think of that…..
So the question that remains unanswered just yet is…… Is 1/2 an inch lift enough to totally (and I mean totally) eliminate the problem?
I think we will go for a little drive up in Deluz and find out… Just a calm little drive…… heheheheh
EDIT: After looking at the video a few more times, we are also planing on fitting a web strap to the motor / body of the car to stop the motor from moving so far to the right.
