thetimanator Posted January 18, 2012 Report Share Posted January 18, 2012 Driving home at 55 mph last night when I heard a loud noise and then the car jerked to the left pretty hard. I was able to keep it straight and started slowing when I noticed sparks from parts falling off the car. I tapped the brakes and they went straight to the floor! I was able to downshift and get it off the road. Smoke was coming from the left front tire... Fun night! If anybody has a hub and whatever else I'm gonna need to fix this let me know! Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted January 18, 2012 Report Share Posted January 18, 2012 Caliper seized and can't 'float'. Eventually it's only pushing the pad on one side forcing the rotor over, flexing it... until it fatigue cracked. There was a for sale here with a complete 510 front struts. Check Parts For Sale. Early 710 may work also. Quote Link to comment
Jesse C. Posted January 18, 2012 Report Share Posted January 18, 2012 Now would be a great time to upgrade to 280zx struts! Quote Link to comment
Skib Posted January 18, 2012 Report Share Posted January 18, 2012 holy shit! :blink: Quote Link to comment
paradoxx Posted January 18, 2012 Report Share Posted January 18, 2012 I had never seen that before...lucky that it didnt blocked the wheel, because you were going quite fast.......... Quote Link to comment
Rob W. Posted January 18, 2012 Report Share Posted January 18, 2012 Wow way to keep your head and not crash the whole thing. Hope you find what you need. Quote Link to comment
Farmer Joe Posted January 18, 2012 Report Share Posted January 18, 2012 wow mang, glad your safe from that one.. ive had a bearing lock up on the front of a truck before, but never this.. crazy shit! Quote Link to comment
thetimanator Posted January 18, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2012 Thanks guys! When the wheel came loose the fender edge dropped down into the groove on the tire. I'm pretty sure thats the only reason I didn't completely lose control of the car and I just got new tires last thursday. I actually have a spare set of strut assemblies but I'm going to need to find hubs. Will the 280zx hubs bolt on to 510 strut assembly? I'm assuming I can get the rotor, bearings, rebuilt calipers, seals etc at a parts store. I just need to get the car drivable again as its my daily...I rode the motorcycle this morning to work and I'm still cold. Quote Link to comment
yellowdatsun Posted January 18, 2012 Report Share Posted January 18, 2012 You use the entire 280ZX strut, the bottom half anyways. Rather than me go into all the details about the swap, just search for it here or online. Quote Link to comment
The Dat-side Posted January 18, 2012 Report Share Posted January 18, 2012 Just do the ZX swap. It's very straight forward. Read up on it and don't over think it. Quote Link to comment
thetimanator Posted January 18, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2012 You use the entire 280ZX strut, the bottom half anyways. Rather than me go into all the details about the swap, just search for it here or online. Just do the ZX swap. It's very straight forward. Read up on it and don't over think it. Just got done reading a couple threads about it. I was kinda hoping for a straight bolt on to speed up the process rather than having to have the spring perch welded but whatever at this point. Thanks for the suggestions Quote Link to comment
izzo Posted January 18, 2012 Report Share Posted January 18, 2012 My 720 driver caliper drags a tiny bit. Guess this is some motivation to get the thing replaced sooner than later. Quote Link to comment
TENDRIL Posted January 18, 2012 Report Share Posted January 18, 2012 knarfucked thats crazy man glad your alright :console: Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted January 18, 2012 Report Share Posted January 18, 2012 Just got done reading a couple threads about it. I was kinda hoping for a straight bolt on to speed up the process rather than having to have the spring perch welded but whatever at this point. Thanks for the suggestions The spring perch does not need to be welded. All you need is an angle grinder and a cut off disc for it. Trim carefully just above the weld... Tap it off... ... and grind the old weld off smooth. Slip you old 510 bottom spring perch on and your 510 spring and top hat. Now here is where it becomes interesting.... Go to a fastener shop and get or order two 2" split collars. This is a two piece collar with Allen head screws. I had to mount the strut on the car and use a hydraulic jack to push up and compress the spring slightly before tightening the collar. You will have to try by trial and error because this WILL MAKE THE RIDE HEIGHT TOTALLY ADJUSTABLE!!!! That's right, for about $10 a side you can make your strut adjustable for ride height. No need for spending $250- $1200 for coil overs. Well you can if you have the money and like re adjusting your ride height 4 time a week, but if like most you just want to be lower and spend the money on tires or brake pads or whatever. NOTE: You will still have the stock spring rate and same suspension travel when hitting dips in the road. If you have 4" of stock suspension travel and 6" of road clearance and you lower the car 3" you will hit the pavement. A way around this is to increase the spring rate... make it stiffer with less travel. You can replace them or.... you can remove a coil. Carefully cutting a coil off with the handy angle grinder will do two things. It will lower the ride height and it with stiffen the spring rate. I would not go more than one coil as once cut you can't put it back. I cut my 710 one coil and this increased the rate by 50%. I believe the 510 spring is very similar to the 710. NOTE: You can also firm up the damper action on those tired zx struts by emptying out the thin oil and replace with 20W motorcycle fork oil. This is what I did for under $20. NOTE: One last thing. Those split collars will support 6,600 pounds of weight or about three 510s on each strut! They won't slip. . 1 Quote Link to comment
TENDRIL Posted January 18, 2012 Report Share Posted January 18, 2012 king rat is awesome!!! great explanation :D Quote Link to comment
thetimanator Posted January 22, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 22, 2012 The spring perch does not need to be welded. All you need is an angle grinder and a cut off disc for it. Trim carefully just above the weld... You are the man! Found some complete 280sx strut assembly's in a junkyard friday for $130 in great condition. Split collars for $15 each. New ball joints, pads, etc Got the perches off last night and grounded down the welds and painted them. Quote Link to comment
bananahamuck Posted January 22, 2012 Report Share Posted January 22, 2012 That`s the spirit ,,, Sometimes the chasing the breaks makes catching them so much sweeter.. Quote Link to comment
thetimanator Posted January 30, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2012 Hopefully I'll get it back in the road tomorrow! I'm kinda worried that I'm not going to be able to get it as low as it was before but we'll see. I thought I would share this: I was putting it back together last night and was trying to figure out a way to make height adjustments easily. I already had a spring compressor I picked up from O'reilly's so I went and picked up some nuts and washers from Ace and bam! easy in car adjustment! Quote Link to comment
skyblue Posted January 30, 2012 Report Share Posted January 30, 2012 god damn! thats a first for me as well. glad to hear you didnt wreck. Quote Link to comment
ggzilla Posted January 30, 2012 Report Share Posted January 30, 2012 Didja ever figure out what cause this? I'm thinking the spindle nut came off Quote Link to comment
Hardwyre Posted January 30, 2012 Report Share Posted January 30, 2012 Hey Mike, with those split collars, is there any risk of the bolts breaking and/or the collars slipping due to road vibrations, bumps, etc? Quote Link to comment
ggzilla Posted January 30, 2012 Report Share Posted January 30, 2012 Not if you use a commercial grade shaft collar, and torque the fasteners to spec. Don't use a cheap single-split clamp, or a set-screw type. Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted January 30, 2012 Report Share Posted January 30, 2012 Hey Mike, with those split collars, is there any risk of the bolts breaking and/or the collars slipping due to road vibrations, bumps, etc? Mine were rated at 6,600 lbs each so should hold about three 510s...... each. Quote Link to comment
thetimanator Posted January 30, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2012 Caliper seized and can't 'float'. Eventually it's only pushing the pad on one side forcing the rotor over, flexing it... until it fatigue cracked. There was a for sale here with a complete 510 front struts. Check Parts For Sale. Early 710 may work also. Didja ever figure out what cause this? I'm thinking the spindle nut came off Spindle nut is still on there!! The caliper is definitely seized so I think Mike is right. Anyway, its back on the road!! At the moment I'm reusing the original bearings, calipers, and rotors but its making some weird noises. So, i went ahead and ordered everything to replace the used parts. Also I see coilovers in my future. Quote Link to comment
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