Caster Adjustment Seized

[michaelw]

Hi, I am new to the NSX so please bare with me if this question has been asked before although I have done a search.

I have just had the tracking checked and the Caster is 4 degrees one side and 8 degrees the other. But the caster adjusters have both seized solid. I have soaked them in WD40 but no luck. As they are about £1500 (I guess $2200) each I am quite keen to get them free. Has anybody has this problem and any hints on freeing up.

Great site by the way. There is little or no info here in England on the NSX. I think Honda sold 5 new here last year!!! What a great car!!

Many thanks,

Michael.

 

[Briank]

Caster all most never gets adjusted or gets out of adjustment. Has your car been in a crash? People here on prime talk about a product called PBlaster that works wounders. The other option is heat but with aluminum parts close by be very carefull.


I checked over the on line manual here in the faq's and found that the castor spec is 8 degrees + or - 45 min. If you have 4 degrees on one side thats much more then is possible with the adjustment. Which of the two bolts in each side is frozen, the one with the index plate or the other?

 

[sjs]

Caster all most never gets adjusted or gets out of adjustment...

But, when aligning the NSX the different setting impact each other, which is why the manual says to set toe, then the camber, then the caster, then the toe and camber again until all are within spec. So, if the last person to do the alignment didn't watch carefully they may have left it out of adjustment.

Just trying to lessen the fear a new owner might have when asked if their car had been in an accident.

 

[JoeSchmoe]

But, when aligning the NSX the different setting impact each other, which is why the manual says to set toe, then the camber, then the caster, then the toe and camber again until all are within spec. So, if the last person to do the alignment didn't watch carefully they may have left it out of adjustment.

Just trying to lessen the fear a new owner might have when asked if their car had been in an accident.

Ive had a similar problem 3 years ago -- they couldnt get castor in spec. I recall they could only get one side to 4-5 degrees. The dealer spouted some BS about the lower A-arm being bent or chassis tweaked and quoted some huge a$$ price to replace it. The subsequent 2 times I brought it to different shops for alignment and they were both able to get it in spec no problems.

Moral of the story is dont believe them when they say something is bent until youve gotten independent confirmation. Take it to a different shop and try again. Even though the procedure is rather simple (as detailed in the manual anyway), the skill of the technician doing the alignment also matters greatly.

 

[Larry Bastanza]

Hi Michael,

Hopefully you have a high speed internet connection. Go to the on line service manual on NSXPrime here:

http://www.nsxprime.com/FAQ/Reference/1991_svcman/1991_svcman.htm


Go to page 18-9 and review the alignment pages, specifically the caster. Check to be sure you have loosened BOTH nuts required to free up the Compliance Pivot Lower Bracket. This bracket is pictured on page 18-20.

If you have them both loose and no luck, remove them and remove the bracket and see if you can free it up. It is just odd to me since we are talking about all aluminum parts that they would be siezed.

HTH,
LarryB

 

[michaelw]

Thanks guys for the replies.

I don't think anything is bent as one caster adjuster side is at one limit and the other is at the other if you see what I mean. This ties in with the rest of teh suspension when I first got the car. The adjustment was miles out. Everything else has now been adjusted and the adjusters look as though they are in the same place side to side.

Both bolts are free and I have removed the cam. It seems that the castings are "stuck" (for want of a better word) together. Do the 2 circular castings (when viewed from underneath) need to rotate around each other - it looks like it?

Larry, it seemed weird to me too although there were traces of threadlock around the circular castings, I just hope they are not loctited together. I will try to download the file thanks for the advice.

Michael.

 

[michaelw]

Ooops sorry double post.

Michael.

 

[Larry Bastanza]

Hi Michael,

I did not think about LOCTITE in there. One thing I do know is if there was LOCTITE, it has a tendency to "wick" so it could be in places you do not want.

If this is the case you may need to disassemble both sides to clean them up and reinstall them. A lot of work.

Oh, if your connection is pretty good, you do not need to download it, you can just look on line.

Good Luck,
LarryB

 

[rollie]

bump guys

Had my wheel alignment done but 2 different workshops

Trying to adjust my camber and castor for the front

Right side allows free adjustment, but left side only allows for -0.5 degrees

Castor on both ends is 7.5 at this stage

Im trying to camber in the fronts more to -1.5 or more for track settings and the seized castor bolt is not allowing it?

Rears are fine set at -2.5 with total toe 3mm


Please help!!

 

[Moses]

PB Blaster

 

[michaelw]

I'm afraid I can't help much as I never got mine unseized - I still have the car. After all the advice I got about 6 months later it was in for something else and got it re-checked and the new check measured the camber as in tolerance. As the car drove fine apart - from a slight push when you accelerate which I think is the diff - I left it at that.

One thinkg I would add is don't try and loosen them by adjusting them side to side, one of mine had limited movement and thats what I did and it then seized completely :frown: Apparently it had almost certainly "Picked up" a tiny bit of aluminium on the mating surface and that was what had seized it. I would have thought it would be OK if lubricated well but just be careful I guess.

Good luck.




Michael.

 

[LJSB]

Please help!!

PM sent.

 

[docjohn]

I'm afraid I can't help much as I never got mine unseized - I still have the car. After all the advice I got about 6 months later it was in for something else and got it re-checked and the new check measured the camber as in tolerance. As the car drove fine apart - from a slight push when you accelerate which I think is the diff - I left it at that.

One thinkg I would add is don't try and loosen them by adjusting them side to side, one of mine had limited movement and thats what I did and it then seized completely :frown: Apparently it had almost certainly "Picked up" a tiny bit of aluminium on the mating surface and that was what had seized it. I would have thought it would be OK if lubricated well but just be careful I guess.

Good luck.




Michael.

I'm just here because you responded to your own thread with an 8 year bump..from someone else ....awesome to see you are still on prime and you are still an owner.Amazing its like 8 years in 8 minutes...

 

[d.n]

awesome to see you are still on prime and you are still an owner.

+1 to that

As for the topic on hand, I thought mine were seized too but managed to get the part to move. Mine was "frozen" completely turned in one direction and I wanted it to be all the way in the opposite direction.

Here's what I did in the end. I completely removed the 2 nuts (pictured in green) along with the dial washer that shows the camber adjustments. This removed as much resistance to motion as possible. Then I persuaded it with the pry bar (shown in the picture, you should be able to see what I was doing) and with a nice pop, it moved all the way to the other side and came to rest where I wanted it.

 

[rollie]

Thanks all for your help


This is what the wheel alignment guy said

Castor also couldn’t be adjusted because castor cam didn’t turn, camber bolts and cam turns freely but it is on it maximum adjustment of 0.5 neg.


Thanks d.n , will speak to my mechanic in regards to those bolts.

Thanks

 

[d.n]

Hi Rollie,

Just to be clear, the green arrows point to where the nuts and camber dial / washer have already been removed in the picture. The bolts stay put.

There's a good chance yours isn't frozen at all since it could be moved a bit. Don't worry about removing the nuts and dial completely, nothing is going to fall off if the rest of your suspension is still bolted in. It just removes a lot of the resistence to movement