So having refitted the axle and panhard rods I then suffered a typical problem.....

The steering wheel is not straight! - the picture below shows it when the wheels are driving straight ahead!!!

 

So with the axle fitted, the ORA Leading arms fitted and the car sitting on its own wheels at last there are just a couple of small jobs to do to finish off the car.

With it sat on its wheels, the first activity was to loosen off the bolts holding the leading arms in place and re-tighten them. This comes from a discussion with Darrell around the fact that the arms and bushes were installed with the axle hanging down and the car body supported on axle stands. We agreed that this could result in the rubber bushes being tightened with torsional tension them when the weight is put back onto the axle. Therefore I loosend them off before applying the car weight and then tightend them when it was sitting squarely on its wheels.

 

Marat has just bought a new Jimny, its a different style to those we get over here in the UK.

So the rebuild work continues on the front axle.

You will recall that the leading arms were bent...the yellow object is a spirit level and the arm curves away nicely.

 

I had a few hours free today to move it on a bit.

 

If you recall the mounting holes in one of the Leading Arm mounts were worn oval. Therefore I needed to sort out a repair. This was pretty straightforward. I got hold of some 12mm Repair Washers and ground off the plating (its poisonous to weld them)