[urq] Rear suspension tie rods DOES hit the body.

[bhowell at rmi.net]

The two tie rods should not even be interchangeable. The angle that the
later rod has to take from the sub-frame out to the strut housing and the
length of that rod would make installing the later rod in an early car damn
near impossible.

As for the early rod hitting the car, that is 100% true! My 83’ WAS
equipped with H&R’s and Bilsteins when I bought it. About a year and a half
ago, my dad was borrowing the car and it would appear that circumstances
were JUST right to !!BREAK!! one of those rods. He was going through a
round-about, so the suspension was compressed on one side and in the middle
of the round-about was a man hole. So, he hit the man hole cover on the
side that was already compressed and the tie rod hit the body so hard that
is snapped in two pieces! 

So, imagine being mid corner and having one rear wheel able to turn any
which direction it feels like! My personal feeling is that on the early
cars (rear sway bar cars), the H&R’s are WAAAAAY too low. IMHO, they are
too low for any UrQ, but on the early cars, they are quite literally,
dangerously low. I suppose someone could “Notch” the frame rails directly
above the tie rods, but I elected to remove the springs. 

Ben
83’ UrQ
85’ UrQ


Original Message:
-----------------
From: Louis-Alain Richard laraa at sympatico.ca
Date: Mon, 9 Oct 2006 22:38:40 -0400
To: urq at audifans.com
Subject: [urq]  Rear suspension tie rods must hit the body.


Steve, the correct tie-rods for your car are "bent" like on this photo
(http://www.wrquattro.com/QuattroManual/t.QuattroManual085.jpg).

Or look at this PDF and tell us which one you have:
http://filebox.vt.edu/users/rfitton/ETKA/5_01_41-00.pdf

The correct one is the one on top.

I guess someone fitted the later style (around 100$CAN at FLAPS) because
the
older style is $$$ (425$CAN at the dealer...).

Now you know why I spent so much time trying to find a suitable
replacement last spring...

Louis-Alain



> > -----Message d'origine-----
> >
> > I noticed on both sides that there are dents in the sheet metal
above
> both
> > rear tie rods.    My model year  83 USA car has the 'sway bar rear
end'
> > VIN < 500  and it's has H&R springs.    I've only owned it 30
months.
> > Anyone else have this? - it seems sub-optimal.   With the car at
rest
> > there isn't much room over the tie rod top - I should have measured
it
> but
> > I'm guessing just 1 inch.

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