>From: John Hobson <goalie_john@yahoo.co.uk>
>
>
>I was going to get a garage to replace the front suspension (springs,
>shocks & bushes, possibly trunnions & wheel bearings too) but after
>having looked in my haynes manual last night it does not seem like this
>would be too tricky to do myself and the money I save in labour I could
>invest tools (spring compressors etc).
You might want to consider removing the spring/shock assembly in
whole and then taking it to a garage to deal with the spring which
can be dangerous. Since you're doing most of the labor, it shouldn't
cost too much.
You say "possibly trunnions" and I would recommend closely inspecting
them. They are made of a softer metal and do wear which would negate
the advantage of all your other hard work on the suspension. You
can get a rebuild kit which includes trunnions which is much cheaper
than buying them separately.
>Is it a pretty simple job? I
>have attempted supposedly simple jobs before and become frustrated by
>rounded off or stuck bolts that no amount of wd40/pentrating spray will
>shift, bearing in mind that I have no heat available to apply to bolts
>etc. Are there other things that I could do to free bolts that don't
>want to shift?
>
You'll probably have to cut the through bolt for the trunnion bushes
out as it tends to become permanently attached to the metal sleeve
it passes through. A hacksaw will suffice, and leave you with
nice arm muscle definition B-). If you can, try to position
the hack saw so that you are cutting the bolt only and not the
stainless steel hardened sleeve as well.
It's not a difficult job other than as you noted dealing with
stubborn bolts which you may or may not encounter.
As an aside, I don't know if they're available over there, but a
propane torch kit is about ten bucks here and has been invaluable
to me for heating rusted bolts.
>Do I need to remove the hub to replace the trunnion? The haynes manual
>suggests that I should, but I cannot see why I would need to do this.
No, but since you are doing a full rebuild (I'm assuming all the
bushes as well), you may just as well pull the whole thing off
and work on the bench which should be more comfortable. Plus if
you run into a bolt that absolutely refuses to budge, you can
always run the assembly to Ye Olde Machine Shoppe for assistance.
Good luck!
Greg Rowe
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