[TR] Front suspension

[Mike Denman]

Hi group,
    I have a couple of items to contribute to the list (at last). The front
suspension of my wife's TR3 was completely worn out with every single
component showing signs of severe wear and poor maintenance by the previous
owners.
    The first problem was the front left lower suspension fulcrum. Both of the
bushings were rusted onto the fulcrum and the threaded portion of one end of
the fulcrum was broken off. One of the previously owners had managed to drill
and tap the broken end of the fulcrum to accept a smaller bolt with a large
washer. Clever and it must have been hard to do but not the safest idea in the
world. The hole was also drilled quite a bit off center. So, the question I
posed to the list a couple of weeks ago was "how hard is it to replace the
lower fulcrum (which is welded into place) with the body on the car?". I
didn't get an answer from the list but I can now say that it can be done but
it certainly isn't a picnic. I spend an entire morning making some temporary
brackets that were bolted to the frame that would allow me to position the new
fulcrum in exactly the same place as the old one. Of course, if the old
fulcrum has been pushed out of its original position by an accident etc. then
the new fulcrum will also be in the "wrong position" by the same amount using
this approach. However, the brackets proved to be invaluable. The original
factory holes through which the fulcrum passes are oversize (probably to allow
adjustment by the factory welders to compensate for dimensional tolerances in
the frame). So the original holes do not aid in the final positioning of the
fulcrum. Both brackets (one on each end of the fulcrum) must be cut away to
get the fulcrum into place. The brackets are fairly simple so I made new ones
instead of trying to save the old ones by grinding away all the welds etc. The
whole process took me almost three days but the new fulcrum is now in place
and all the suspension components on that side seem to line up correctly. The
final verdict will come, of course, when I have the front end aligned.
    The second "solution" involves the age old problem of rusted on bushings.
I spent 4 hours getting one rusted-on bushing off the bad lower fulcrum. This
was, of course, before I decided to replace the entire fulcrum. Over the years
I have tried all types of "solutions" for this problem of rusted-on bushings
and none of them have worked very well. Today I thought of a new solution.
First I tried out the new solution on the bad fulcrum that I had removed from
the car to see if it would work. I certainly didn't want to make things worse
and the new solution sounds fairly drastic at first. Using my new method I had
the rusted-on bushing off in less that five minutes and I didn't even get
dirty! So what is the magic solution you ask? Well, I would still spray the
rusty bushing with WD-40 or PB blaster or your favorite penetrating oil
solution and leave it over night. Then take an appropriately sized nut (in my
case a 3/4" inch nut drilled out to 19/32") and drill it out to fit over the
bushing. Tack weld the nut to the bushing in 4 places. Don't go crazy with the
welder. It doesn't require a lot of weld and you don't want the weld to
penetrate deep enough to hit the fulcrum shaft. You also need to keep the
flats of the nut clear of weld. Once the nut is welded to the bushing take an
impact wrench and socket and remove the bushing. I was able to get my bushing
off easily with the lowest setting on the impact wrench. It doesn't take much
to break the bushing loose. I think the "big secret" is the impact wrench. The
impact wrench is what makes the difference. I hit upon the idea after reading
an article in the Triumph archives about using a pipe wrench and a lot of heat
to remove the rusted on bushing. The pipe wrench idea got me thinking about
how to apply rotational force to the bushing. Then I thought about how hard it
is to get a generator pulley nut or alternator pulley nut off with a wrench
and how easy the nuts come off with an impact wrench. This solution really
works. Of course, you need enough room to get to the rusted on bushing with an
impact wrench but it is worth a little extra effort to move things out of the
way to allow the use of an impact wrench. Comments?
Mike Denman