How does everyone lock up their rear wheels?

Mine is done simply with 2 bolts on each hub stopping it steering in either direction which although its not on the road yet, didnt seem to be a very good solution, but then I saw locking arms on ebay, is that an alternative way of locking them up?

Anyone got a pic of them fitted?

Do you mean these?

Yep, thats the boys! thanks.

I'll take a pic of what ive got on the weekend just to see if anyone thinks it would suffice.

Thanks

I have the parts in stock.
Please contact me direct if you need any.

On the back of my track only coupe I had a set up like that but with a track rod end at each end of the adjustable tie it did not seem adequate. I do run 8" slick tyres on back of my car and it also knocks out ball joints and I suspect bends the steering arm too. For road use I guess the set up in the photo will work ok.

I am in the middle of fitting a Rossabitz set up to replace the track rod ends with rose joints and it is a very good kit (if a bit pricey) with a lot of rigidty in the top arms - I am having to make a very small amount of modification to fit it to my car.

cheers


David

I used to have the standard lock arms with track rod ends shown in the above photo but have now installed a new type ROSSABITZ set which are far more substantial, uses rose-jointed ends and more importantly illiminates bump steer at the rear due to a design change in geometry. The outer and inner rose joint centres exactly coincide with the centers of the upper ball joint and the top suspension arm fulcrum pin respectively. So unlike the type in the photo the Rossabitz arms trace exactly the same arc as the upper suspension arms during rear suspension movement. Alan Britton of Rossabits (See above reply) can supply the standard arms or the new geometrically modified type which do eliminate bump steer. See the post above from Alan for his details.

Mine had the earlier reversed lower wishbone and tie rod system.



It's not an easy retro-fit though as the swivel hub has to be drilled and tapped to take an additional bracket.

Don't even consider the reverse A-arm lower wishbone - it is useless.

Go for fully rod end jointed Mini tie rod and lower arm plus the rod end type steering locking arms.

Any rubber bushes will give unpredictable handling ( or predictably you will end up in the scenery).....

It is most certainly not useless!

If it is set up correctly it is far better that the simple tie rod replacement system which still produces a degree of bump steer.

My car handled very well and tracked straight but was perfectly comfortable and relatively quiet.



Rubber bushes may not be ideal but rose joints are not really practical on a road car. The produce a harsh ride, transmit road noise and wear rapidly if exposed to adverse weather conditions.

The best system by far though is the one developed by Alan at Rossabitz. This uses a tie rod with pivot points which are concentric with the top arm pivot points so there can be no bump steer at all.

+1 for the above. in my opinion there's nothing fundamentally wrong with the A arm suspension, in fact I think its better than the later system that uses the mini steering arm and twin track rod ends. Also there's nothing wrong with rubber in a suspension as demonstrated by every car that's been in production since the year dot. The real issue is how its used and whether its effect, usually termed dymanic compliance has been understood and accounted for in the overall design. With the A arm suspension the bushes are in line with each other creating a simple axis of rotation and as long as they are in good condition will contribute little in the way of toe steer effect. The key element here is "in good condition" as the twist effect as the suspension moves through jounce and rebound can quickly result in degredation.

That being said Alan's Rossabits system is probably the best of all solutions as it maintains zero toe steer geometry whilst still retaining the standard mini bushings for some compliance. I've fitted it to my Coupe but not had it on the road since to see how well it works.

And how much is Alan's Rossabits system ?

£280.00 -excluding rod ends and adjustable tie bar.

Many thanks David (and everyone else) for mentioning Rossabitz.
The locking kit is £230+vat+postage.
It bolts on to Mini or Metro hubs without modifying any standard parts.
Female rod ends can be used with the original GTM track rod as shown
or male ends used with a tie bar from Mcgill Motorsport.

Is it easy to fit the Rossa Bit setup..?
Does it fit straight on, and is it a tricky job...?
I'd really like to sort out my rear suspension but don't know what option would be best.
Is there a fitting guide for this kit anywhere...?

Whoops, a bit trigger happy on my part there- that sort of answers my questions....