Cliff,
I envy you the confidence you show in having attempted a job that still
seems beyond my capabilities. Are you a professional mechanic?
Besides having a manual, what were the one or two approaches you took to
assure that you got it all back together properly?
Thanks.
John Cowan
At 10:31 PM 5/17/98 -0400, you wrote:
>
>At 08:36 PM 5/16/98 EDT, you wrote:
>>
>>So, folks, if the body of the trunnion moves up and down, independent of the
>>lower wishbone a distance of, say, 3/8ths of an inch and is accompanied
by an
>>icky clunking noise, that's a bad thing, right?
>
>VERRRY BAD! This is not safe. The machined hole through which
>the trunnion bolt passes is fairly close tolerance, if you have that
>much movement then that hole is 50% larger than normal. I suspect
>that the trunnion bolt is worn also, you really don't want this
>to break under stress. Think about 35 degrees of negative camber...
>
>>Moreover, if the upper wishbone balljoint assembly is capable of moving
>>laterally (ie, perpendicular to the centerline of the car), independent of
>>the upper wishbone, again accompanied by said icky clunking noise, that is
>>likewise an ill omen?
>
>Yup. New ball joints, pronto.
>
>>Are the front wheels on the way to falling off?
>
>No, but you are risking your vertical link to greater than normal
>stresses, if it snaps, you'll lose the wheel and a great deal of money
>fixing destroyed parts.
>
>>Can I assume a rebuild is called for here? The car will be seeing some
track
>>time in the next several weeks, if I ever stop finding things needing to be
>>fixed. If it's likely to fall apart, I guess I'll have to tear it apart or
>>have it done.
>
>Yes, absolutely, tear it down and renew.
>
>>Who makes the best replacements for these parts?
>
>I did a complete front end on my TR4A last winter. Its almost the
>same as the TR6, most parts are exact matches.
>
>You'll need trunnions, ball joints, and new a lower suspension hardware
>kit that includes new trunnion bolts. Going that far into it, its easy to
>renew the control arm bushings, the lower outer should come with
>the kit, you may have to buy the lower inner bushings separate,
>and the upper inner bushings you will have to buy separate.
>Many people opt for polyurethane bushings instead of the
>stock rubber; I did, I like the solid handling and the idea of
>not replacing them again three years from now. Shocks,
>brakes, wheel bearings, are also very simple, since its
>already all apart. I did the shocks and brakes (complete,
>including new disks and rebuild the calipers.)
>
>Here's where I got my parts and prices at the time (from memory)
>trunnions British Parts NW $35 apiece (2)
>ball joints Victoria British $25 apiece (2)
>suspension kit Victoria British $60 for lower
> $20 for upper
>polyurethane bushings BPNW $42 for all
>new pads for spring local $4 apiece (4)
>shocks, stock Woodhead Victoria $50 for both
>brake pads local $20
>brake rotors local $45 apiece
>caliper seal kit local $15
>caliper pistons TRF $22 apiece (4)
>various paint, cleaner, lots of nyloc nuts $40
>
>You'll need one special tool to compress the spring. You can buy
>one from Moss for $45 or make one for about $10. I posted a description
>about 3 months ago, I've since lost all those files. You may find
>it in the digest. Basically you need 18" of 5/8" coarse threaded rod,
>2 5/8" coupling nuts (regular nuts WONT work), several big-ass
>washers, and one piece of something (wood, flat steel, junk part)
>about 2"x3" to push against the bottom of the spring pan. I like
>the idea of a piece of 2x4 drilled to fit over the shock mount bolts.
>
>Oh, and you will need a manual. There are numerous torque settings
>that are important, as well as knowing the sequence that the bits
>fit together on the trunnion assembly.
>
>Plan on 10-30 hours of work, depending on how much cleaning and
>painting you will be doing. I managed to stretch the job into 3
>months of 1-2 evenings a week, but I painted everything and
>did brakes as well.
>
>Good luck.
>
>
>Cliff Hansen
>chansen@exis.net
>1966 TR-4A CTC 64615L (on the road daily)
>
>
>
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