> I've really never rebuilt a front suspension before, however, it seems fairly
> straight-forward if one has a Moss Catalog diagram to go by. I've ordered
> new seals (and boots, etc.) and heard that it's best not to tighten everything
> until the front end is 'loaded' and on the ground.
I disagree. The only thing that needs to be left loose are the nuts on the
upper inner pivots, where the rubber bushings are. And my preference is to
tighten those while you've got the springs compressed with the special spring
compressor, since they're a lot easier to reach then.
I would definitely suggest you get a shop manual, and don't just rely on the
exploded view in the Moss catalog. I've seen Haynes copies go for as little as
$10 on eBay.
> Is this a misprint?
> 'Slacken the nuts and retighten to a torque load of 4 lb.ft.'
I suspect so, but it would help if I knew which nuts you are talking about.
The only place there are "interesting" torques are the nuts on the ends of the
shaft through the trunnion. You should fully assemble the lower A-frame first
and check that it moves freely up and down. Then tighten those two nuts evenly
until the joint locks, ie you can't move the A-frame up and down at all. Then
each nut gets backed off some amount (ISTR it's 1.5 to 2 flats) to provide
clearance for the thrust washers. Some of the later books say to tighten to a
certain torque instead of until the joint locks, but that can give bad results
if you've replaced the thrust washers. The center of the outer washer gets
deformed by the splines on the end of the shaft, and the specified torque may
not be enough to seat the washer.
But either way you do the initial tightening, it's essential to back off the
nuts to provide the clearance.
Oh yeah, since the nuts are not tight in normal operation, they have to have
some other method for retaining them on the threads. The originals were
castellated nuts with cotter pins through the shaft, but some replacement
trunnions don't have the holes for the cotter pins. You can either drill the
holes yourself, or use Nyloc nuts (which should be replaced every few times they
are removed).
> I question the usefullness of assembling everything with goobs of wheel
> bearing grease (as I think I've seen done) because it will proably squeeze out
> when tightened. Is this correct?
Don't grease the rubber in the upper inner pivots. The lower pivots all have
clearances built into them, which will carry some grease, so I would suggest
applying a thin film to all rubbing surfaces. The outer pivots of course have
grease zerks that should be greased after assembly, but smearing a film
beforehand ensures that grease is on all of the surfaces.
Randall
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