techno toy tunning tc rods

[gnosez]

I have had the TTT TC rods on my street car for near 5 yrs now and 20,000 hard miles. My 240 is in no manner stock and would likely be considered harsh by some. JR Mitchell (he build the Newman 280ZXTT) and Bob Sharp have driven it and really liked how it handles. I have not noticed any different in road input from the poly or aluminum/delrin ball-cone TC rod bushings.

As to caster being just right (Mike W's post), I now have just around 4 degrees of caster on the street 240 and just under 6 on the race 240.

Mike W - what was just right?

[Jeff G 78]

That's good to hear gnosez. If they truly don't increase the loads much into the body or make it harsher, I would be very interested for my street car. My car was hit hard in the LF before I got it, so the caster is off. I added a few washers to the TC rod which helped, but it's still not even side to side.

[tlorber]

So is there no way to fit in a bushing at least on the front side of the body with the TTT rod?

[Jeff G 78]

So is there no way to fit in a bushing at least on the front side of the body with the TTT rod?

Can't do a bushing since the rod already has a joint in it. A bushing would cause it to buckle under load.

[John Coffey]

As an aside, I had to run a test once where we disabled the ABS and hit a pothole at 45 mph with the brakes locked. After three passes, the front wheel centerline was noticeably pushed back and the front subframe was bent. This was on a production car. Needless to say, we saved that test for the end of the vehicle's useful life.

I agree that the longitudinal loads with a locked wheel hitting a pothole will be high. But we're talking about a rolling wheel here. I also agree that a 4" deep pothole will put more longitudinal load into the car then a 1" deep pothole. But again, if we are setting up the car for 4" deep potholes then we need to look at what the rally folks do. If you're consistently hitting 4" deep potholes with locked wheels then it doesn't matter what TC rod setup you've installed, you're going to **** your car up.

I can come up with extreme examples to support pretty much any point I want to make.

[John Coffey]

BTW... TC rods with urethane bushings or solid rod ends DO increase ride and NVH harshness. By not letting the wheel move back just a bit when a bump is hit adds a lot to the harshness of the ride. All modern cars have some amount of rearward compliance built into the front suspension.

[kully 560]

I guess for those who need adjustable tc rods you could remove the helm joint from the rod couplings and make adaptors from the rod couplings to the frame mount and use the stock bushings again

[jmortensen]

FWIW, I've seen a lot more bent TC rods than I have control arms. That should say something. As to ride quality, I took my dad for a ride in my Z about 10 years ago. He was in his early 70s then, the car had 200/250 lb springs, Illuminas, MSA bars, heims TC and LCA pivots. His comment when he got out was about how comfortable the Recaro seat was.

[30 Ounce]

I have TTT lower control arms front & rear and TC rods, Tokico springs & Illumina shocks, Dunlop Direzza Star Spec 225/50-16 (usually have 27 psi front & rear). I don't know if it's just this combo works well together (with the shocks set on 2)or what but it is NOT harsh in any way. Even the wife says it rides and drives way better than before. With the shocks set to 3 or more it gets pretty stiff. I use 4 or 5 at the track and it works great. I did everything at once so I'm not sure how much the TC rods contributed by themselves.

[Jeff G 78]

That's good to hear 30 Ounce. I have the same springs and dampers and also use 225/50R16 tires. I usually run my Illuminas on 1/3 to keep the ride balance right. Anything lower in the rear and it wallows a bit in the back. I really like the idea of the TTT setup all the way around. I have too much rear toe and would like to adjust it.

[30 Ounce]

N

That's good to hear 30 Ounce. I have the same springs and dampers and also use 225/50R16 tires. I usually run my Illuminas on 1/3 to keep the ride balance right. Anything lower in the rear and it wallows a bit in the back. I really like the idea of the TTT setup all the way around. I have too much rear toe and would like to adjust it.

That is exactly why I got the rear control arms was to correct my rear toe!

[WW2Winger]

If your Heim joint is absorbing shock loads, you need higher quality Heim joints. That's what they are for; to eliminate slop in the suspension.