Failed (bent) WEVO Spring Plate - cause? - Page 4

coloradoporsche · 10-09-2006, 03:11 PM

Quote:

In the middle of all this, does someone have a new WEVO spring plate set of pieces you can photo? How about Sway-a-Way (SaW) and the Factory parts? Are there others?

Here are pics of the Sway-Away set I bought (next to the factory set), both before and after having them re-welded to correct the spline distance from the plate so that they would actually fit properly...a solution to

this thread

I post here not to open up another can of worms or hijack this thread, rather for the images as they may help with the issue at hand.

before:

After:

beamonk · 10-09-2006, 05:13 PM

We built our own adjusters on the factory plate. We made the hole bigger on the clamping bolt and left the bolt in place. I have used them several years and have had no problems. Lots of adjustment and didn't cost anything.

ZOA NOM · ZOA NOM's Garage

What about a simple block welded to the outside of the block that the adjustment screw goes through, and long enough to provide a slot for the screw stop to ride against?

LARRY SHARP · LARRY SHARP's Garage

I am thinking that with the Metal bushings replacing the Rubber doughnuts that maybe there is more suspension travel because of less "stiction" and maybe the Springplates bottomed out on the Chassis. Which caused the seperation of the outer arm of the springplate? I know when Hayden put his springplates on his 72 911 the car was way to soft at first for that reason.

jaydubya · 10-09-2006, 07:26 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ZOANAS
What about a simple block welded to the outside of the block that the adjustment screw goes through, and long enough to provide a slot for the screw stop to ride against?

I like that one

Would have to be taller though to ensure that things didn't get misaligned when the car was jacked up.

ZOA NOM · ZOA NOM's Garage

The pic shown is with the car off the ground.

911pcars · 10-09-2006, 11:11 PM

"Would have to be taller though to ensure that things didn't get misaligned when the car was jacked up."

The spring plate isn't going anywhere when you jack the car up. Even if you manage to go airborne off a straight jump, I don't think contact with earth will separate the set screw from the stop (other things might happen though).

Although bench-engineering keeps us preoccupied, maybe we should wait for the prognosis before we break out the drill bits and welding rod.

Sherwood

Elombard · 10-10-2006, 02:36 AM

Chuck just to be clear I was talking about the factories compromise, not yours. I think your products are excellent.

jaydubya · 10-10-2006, 04:37 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by 911pcars
[B]Although bench-engineering keeps us preoccupied, maybe we should wait for the prognosis before we break out the drill bits and welding rod.

Don't worry, I don't plan to do any modification of the WEVO parts myself. Just thinking a little bit about options.

Cheers,

Jeff

armandodiaz · armandodiaz's Garage

I had the same problem 2yrs ago with a set of Sway-A-Way only on one side. I found it while installation, so it was machined wrong. The retailer called S-A-W they they made it sound like this had never happened before. I had a DE that weekend so I just installed them and hoped for the best. Come to think of it, I never readdressed that issue. I will probably bolt the two plates together:

911pcars · 10-10-2006, 08:51 AM

I hope this isn't too common (their QC dept. didn't catch this). The angle between the splined tube and the adjustment lever should be 90º. It looks like they welded it at 87º. If it's off the car, I'd send a consumer unhappy-type letter to WM and see what they say. Don't hold your breath though.

While a nut and bolt would work, rewelding it would be preferable (IMHO).

Sherwood

lally911 · 10-14-2006, 04:10 PM

Any word from Wevo on this issue yet? Having just put these on my car I'm interested in the root cause.

jaydubya · 10-14-2006, 07:20 PM

My car was picked up at the track and taken to the shop yesterday. Hayden was in contact with the shop and gave them a list of things to check. More next week.

ZOA NOM · ZOA NOM's Garage

bump for followup

jaydubya · 10-21-2006, 08:32 PM

Spoke with the owner of the shop yesterday. He has been in communication with Hayden. The owner gave my car's rear suspension a clean bill of health. He is going to talk with Hayden again next week. I don't want to get ahead of them...

Plavan · Plavan's Garage

Anything new on this topic?

jaydubya · 10-30-2006, 10:06 AM

Yes, thanks for the reminder.

As I mentioned, nothing was wrong with my car, tub or rear suspension pieces. Installation was fine.

Hayden, the shop owner and I have all communicated on this. The decision was to replace the current units with new ones and return the damaged pieces to WEVO so they can take a closer look.

Hayden thinks that the adjustment screw may have "walked" across the platform over the course of successive loadings, then finally the adjustment plate fell off the platform and was then deformed as seen in the pics. This may have been facilitated by the large amount of adjusment screw that was exposed in the installation on my car - there was enough adjustment to lower the car several INCHES, according to Hayden.

The new units will come with shorter adjustment screws, since that much adjustment is not needed for height adjustment and corner balancing.

In the meantime, WEVO is going to work on a design modification to the plates that will prevent this from happening in the future. When those are available and they have completed testing them, he'll send me a set for my car.

I don't anticipate getting my car out to the track again until next March or April, so perhaps the new ones will be ready by then.

The best part about this whole thing was the way that Hayden/WEVO handled things. Not only am I getting replacement parts for free from them, but they are paying for the installation of the new parts and a new corner balance / alignment! Hats off to the best racing parts company that I have ever dealt with!

For those of you with either the WEVO or Sway-a-Way plates, I think as long as you keep the adjustment screw low enough you will be fine. Bolting them together is not an acceptable solution in my mind since it precludes the easy adjustment of ride height for corner balancing and/or accomodating different tires in the rear, which in my mind is one of the big benefits of the design over the factory. Perhaps one of the other modifications suggested in this thread would work as an alternative to keep the screw from walking off the platform.

Cheers,

Jeff

lateapex911 · 10-30-2006, 10:14 AM

Jeff, I can't say that I'm surprised. Hayden has always been top notch in my book.

This is one of those cases where it could have been easy for a lesser individual to blame the installation, or even the weather, LOL.

I have learned that wnen something is needed for my porsche, WEVO, is one of the first companies I look to for a solution.

We are lucky here on Pelican that we have quite a few "Haydens" to do business with who also post their expertise.

Thanks for the update!

Steve@Rennsport · 10-30-2006, 10:32 AM

Hi Jeff:

Glad to hear that you will be "whole" again.

I'd affirm what you said about Hayden & WEVO. IMHO, these people have set the "Gold Standard" for customer support & standing behind their products.

Nobody does it better and I do wish that other manufacturers would follow their example.

Plavan · Plavan's Garage

Anyone know if WEVO is shipping a newer version now? I was hoping to get a set before next race season.