Do I have a panhard rod problem?

[John_Progess]

I took the BJ8 Phase I out for it's first extended run Saturday and noticed that upon acceleration and deceleration the rear of the car had noticable side movement. I tightened up the U bolts and got the panhard rod nuts a couple of more turns. Is there something else I should be checking? Thanks and have a good day!

John

 

[GregW]

Are your tires inflated properly? How old are they?

 

[zblu]

Leaf springs are attached to the chassis front and rear both sides, diff is bolted tight to both spring sets minimal side movement :frown:

 

[John_Progess]

Tire pressure is 32 psi rear, 30 psi front. Tires are 165R15 and are michelin xzx but are 8 years old with about 10K miles on them! Plan is to replace them soon. I tried to last week but could not find any suitable tires. What tire size are most people using on their Healeys? My rims are 5.5" wide. I will take it out for another test run today. Thanks for your info and have a good day!

John

 

[nevets]

how about condition of the wheel splines/hubs/bearings?

 

[tahoe healey]

I have an early phase 1 (built Nov 63)and I just tightened the pan hard rod replacing the bushings. They seem to need replacing every 4 or 5 years. That keeps the rear left spring stable. I believe phase 2 (April 64 ?) were different. Check the front sway bar bushings as well.
As there isn't much that can go wrong with the rod, check its attachment to the leaf spring on the left side(two nuts and bolts).

 

[Bob_Spidell]

Polyurethane bushings are available. I put them on our 100M but we're still a year or two from road testing.

https://www.tomsimport.com/new/parts/parts.asp?sect=2&new=1

 

[Johnny]

With all above. It's also important to make sure the leaf springs are properly installed. The bolt head on the lower portion of the leaf springs fit into a rectangular bracket with a suitable hole at the bottom. It's easy to verify by just looking at the springs with a light from behind. If you can see light through the spring the bolt isn't in the hole. While under there check that the drive shaft isn't loose.

 

[red57]

John,

In my experience, if the rear end of the car has sideways movement one direction when accelerating and the other direction when decelerating it usually means the rear axle is "steering" the car. One side or the other is moving forward when accelerating and moving rearward when decelerating. This could be caused by several things; Loose u-bolts (which you tightened), broken or missing center bolt in the spring (this bolt holds all the leaves in their proper locations and also helps to locate the axle in relation to the spring, loose pins & bushings in the ends of the springs, a broken main leaf in the spring, or a broken/cracked front spring hanger/outrigger.

The panhard bar keeps the car body/chassis from shifting over the axle when cornering but has little to do with sideways movement when going straight, and should not be affected by accelerating or decelerating.

Hope this helps,
Dave

 

[glemon]

Make sure your splines are bolted down tight to the brake drums?, mine came loose one one side once and exhibited similar symptoms.

 

[Genos2]

On my '67 MK3, the bushings were bad in the upper radius rods.Caused me to spin out one night after downshifting, ( might have been Quervo). Will really make the rear-end assembly walk under torque& acceleration, almost feels like your going to change lanes when you let up an then nail the throttle. Replaced bushings, no problems. cheers Genos2

 

[John_Progess]

Thanks for the response. The problem seemed to be considerable better after I tightened the u-bolts on the right side. I am going to re-tighten everything and go for another ride. The hubs, wheels, bushings are all new. Wheel bearings were fine. Thanks again and have a good day!

John

 

[andrea]

Controll also your Armstrong's bolts