db9 suspension upright / knuckle

[ian448]

My 2005 DB9 is currently at works for the battery cable recall , whilst doing that they gave the car a quick safety check and found a problem with the front NS upright.
The hole in the upright where the track rod end goes into should have a steel insert / sleeve, apparently mine didn't resulting in there been excessive play.
I have been told in no uncertain terms that the car is too dangerous to drive and needs a new knuckle. I've been quoted £860 plus vat for the job , although this does include pricing in a new hub bearing as i'm told the old one which is in good condition can be difficult to remove from the knuckle , I'm hoping they can get it out.
Has anyone heard of this issue, would it result in the car been too dangerous to drive and does the costing sound reasonable ?

[craig elam]

i wonder how and where the track rod end was removed the insert lost and then rebuilt without it, it seems the insert cannot be bought separately ( shocker!),
i dont know if you can arrange this but i would take the other side off ,remove the insert take it to local engineering shop and have one turned ,ive seen this insert and its nothing special.
seems a shame to replace a perfectly serviceable hub assy for a £50 machine shop job, then you can spend the other 800 on something else more fun!!

craig

[ian448]

I havn't really taken any notice of the knuckle but would presume that the inserts are pressed into the aluminium cast and would therefore take a lot of force to get out ?

works really laid it on with regard to how dangerous it was and shouldnt be driven, I would have thought that without the insert there would have been some free play in the track rod end but how that would materilize into a danger to drive is beyond me.I hadn't noticed any problems when driving the car.

Maybe someone with a better knowledge of steering geometery could enlighten me

[BamfordMike]

There are 3 inserts in the front upright, top arm, bottom arm and track rod end.
Without the insert fitted it’s pretty much impossible to tighten the nut of the track rod and secure to upright. Without the insert fitted and not properly secured, returning a ‘bit’ of slop / backlash would be a massive understatement! Fred Flintstones chariot would have more precise steering feel, so the fact you never detected anything strange makes this whole story even stranger!

[ian448]

thanks for that Mike, certainly is strange.I changed the track rod end about 5 months ago, have done dozens over the years, used a scissor splitter to get the old one out and there certainly wasn't any sleeve forced out with it . Fitted the new one and was able to torque it up to 70nm .
Since then have driven about 2k and steering was fine.

I've asked works to keep hold of the old part so I can have a look.From your description it sound like trying to turn the car into a corner would have been near impossible