Monday, Jun 07, 2004 at 20:17
Andrew,
I'll try to answer your question.......
On the front of the front axle of your patrol, you'll notice there are 2 circular-shaped lugs. One is just to the left of the diff pumpkin (looking from the front) and the other is in the same position on the passenger's side. These 2 lugs, plus the corresponding 2 behind the axle, are what locate the axle tube in place in respect to the chassis.
If you
check out the heavy steel struts that these 4 lugs belong to, you'll see that they go back and bolt to the chassis about underneath the front footwells on either side.
Now inside these 4 lugs there are bushes, the hole of each is in the centre.
When you do any
suspension raises, the angle of the front axle tube changes in relation to the rest of the vehicle. this can affect the angle of the front drive shaft and could put pressure on the uni-joint/s.
To fix this, you can purchase caster bushes with the hole offset from centre. When these are fitted, the effect is to twist the axle back into the correct position so the angles of the drive shaft are correct.
Once fitted correctly, these bushes do not need any maintainence more than they would in any case. They should last for a few hundred thousand klicks i would expect.
Just my understanding of it......others may have differing
views.
Cheers,
Roachie
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