Suspension

Another Night With Fulcrum Suspension

19 October 1999

Club members came from all directions for the Fulcrum suspension trade night, held in October Graham and Rex Hood made the trip down from Gympie, Rik C and Doug T came from the Sunshine Coast and Peter G did the trip from Tweed Heads.

Graham Smith the principal and owner of Fulcrum started the night off. Fulcrum started off in 1976 at its present site at Moorooka, specialising in repairing and selling steering and suspension systems. Fulcrum has now grown to become a multi faceted business, which not only repairs vehicles but also wholesales steering and suspension components to a supportive trade and customer base throughout Queensland and Australia. Fulcrum now also manufactures and distributes Australia wide and exports Super Pro polyurethane suspension bushes. Super Pro is a polyurethane elastomer based material that incorporates the best features of rubber and plastic.

Fulcrum also manufacture a large number of products for the whole Subaru range, including the Super Pro bushes for all MY, L Series and Liberty models. If they are not currently made they will be in the future. Longer travel replacement front strut legs are available for all MY and L Series models as well as rear shocks and front and rear springs. For the air suspension model Liberty's, they sell cost effective replacement struts using the existing legs with the air bag unit removed and replaced with shock inserts and with coil seats welded on. Replacement adjustable strut legs are available for the WRX.

Another side of Fulcrum's business is reconditioning steering systems, both power and manual, in a specially sealed air-conditioned room. Graham suggested a good preventive measure for power steering systems, is to change the fluid every 20,000 km by undoing the low pressure pipe off the pump and putting it into a collecting container, with the engine disabled so it will not start wind over the starter until the new replacement fluid appears in the container. For EFI engines it is best to disconnect the drive belt off the pump and wind it over by hand.

We were split into two groups. Darren Buchanan took one group over to the "Shaker" where Barry Beard's L Series was used as the test vehicle. This machine consists of ramps and moveable plates that move in and out, powered by compressed air. It gives the whole suspension system a thorough work out to check for worn components that are easily identified and then replaced. The other group were taken to the wheel alignment machine where Cameron N's MY wagon was used as the test vehicle. Fred Seidel is the chief operation of this high tech computer controlled four wheel alignment machine, with a digital read out screen where incorrect readings appear in red. Interestingly they don't always set alignments to manufacturer specs. From experience, slightly different settings can transform a car's handling.

Also Fulcrum have a branch at Nundah, managed by Dave Ainsworth and don't forget Fulcrum do free suspension checks, where a written report and quote is done.

The night concluded with refreshments. It certainly was an informative evening.

Thanks to Graham and the Fulcrum team.

David Martin SC180