>After much procrastination, I finally began rebuilding Sarah's (my
>TR-4A), front suspension. After a weekend's work, I pretty much have
>everything disassembled, and have assessed the damage.
Good luck. I just finished doing this (FINALLY!) after my car
sat with it's nose in the air for 9 months.
>Damage? Yes, damage. Sarah was in an accident at least 10 years ago,
>probably longer, that did some damage to the right front suspension. The
>lower A-arm attachment brackets are visibly bent, and the wheel sits too
>far back in the wheelwell. I've been procrastinating because I didn't
>know what I would find, and was afraid of it.
Yup, mine hit a curb. similar sorts of damage. It's a real
pain.
>And one of the bolts that holds the lower A-arm to the frame bracket
>onthe damaged side was 1/8" too small! Now wonder there was shake at
>speed. (I'm glad I didn't try to autocross her before doing this work.)
Mine got real nasty at about 50-55 (of course it still does, but
nowhere near as bad now. What it needs now is a proper alignment, and
maybe some realignment of the RF shock tower. And of course a rear carb
rebuild, since it just started leaking gas all over. I had anticipated this,
and already have both rebuild kits and gross-jets.
>Why are trunnions made of brass?
I think partially to reduce friction, no rust, and (mostly) so that
the trunion wears out instead of the threads on the vertical link.
>(My trunnions actually seem to be in good shape -- there's a touch of
>play, but I'd guess it's within .001". I have to replace one, though --
>as mjb predicted, the steering stop bolt sheared off and I can't extract
>it. Should make a nice paperweight :-)
I had no trouble with this.
>How do you get out REALLY recalcitrant bolts? I had real difficulties
>with the bolts that hold together the vertical link, caliper mounting
>plate and tie rod lever, on each side. The very long bolts were rusted
>to the parts they pass through.
You really have no need to remove them. I looked at them, looked at
the rust, fiddled a little with one, and decided I didn't really have any
real need to remove them. It's real easy in a project like this to
disassemble everything in sight, even if there's no direct reason to, often
causing even more problems than you started with.
>The upper A-arm brackets on both sides are bent, in a funny way. Not in
>a way that distorts the suspension geometry -- rather, in a way that
>makes it difficult to get at the ball joint bolts. The upper brackets
>are basically C-shaped in section, stamped from steel. (The lower
>brackets are cast iron.) On both sides, more on the left than right, the
>top part of the C is chewed up, pressed in (making the C more like an
>O). I'm curious: what could have caused this? Too much suspension
>travel? There's nothing to hit! Also, any suggestions for repairing
>this?
What happened (at least on one side) was the the vertical link
was bent, allowing the wheel to hit the upper a-arms. Mine had eaten part
way into one, and was working on one of the ball-joint bolts. Wider than
stock wheels (and/or more inner offset) can also cause contact, or other
things that change steering geometries.
>Tomorrow, I'll order parts and see just how much is backordered. Sigh.
Just don't get your vertical links from dr bobwrench. ;-)
While I was in there, I decided to fix everything that might
bite me, since it's a pain to get in there. I replaced all the bushing,
all the joints (tie rods and ball), rebuilt the calipers (pretty easy, and
they could use it), new boots and mounts for the steering rack (since my
old ones were dead), new rubber brake hoses (piece of mind for auto-x),
new bearings (why not), new discs (since one definitely needed it anyways),
etc.
Cost me a bit more in parts, but may well have saved me a bunch of
future time disassembling and reassembling again, plus hassle.
Randell
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