Knuckle Joints

[plotloss]

Coil overs came in at £225 including the shocks, springs and all the bracketry.

Went for Gaz over Spax on the basis of advice recieved here and the fact they look nicer!

Having trouble getting hold of the dust covers that go over the ends of the upper arms now though

[Paul V]

That’s not to bad then, are you going to the mini world action day at castle combe? It’ll be interesting to see what difference the coil overs make on track.

[plotloss]

I'll try to get there, when is it?

Would be nice to have them on the back for that...

[Paul V]

See here

Would be good to have a Pistonheads stand.

[plotloss]

Would indeed and I think I can get the back ones on by then!

Even if I cant I may nip down for the day, it is but a quick jaunt up the M4 from me.

[Paul V]

Plotloss, YHM

[plotloss]

Right then.

Coils arrived.

Whats the knack to getting the upper arm shock pin out?

Is it threaded into the arm or does it just slide in?

Seems very tight indeed...

[phil hill]

plotloss said:

(snip) Whats the knack to getting the upper arm shock pin out? (/snip)

Hammer, penitrating oil, patience. The pin isn't threaded from memory, but the spacer piece rusts onto the pin over time. It's been a long time since I removed one, when I changed dampers on my old mini special about 15 years ago.

>> Edited by phil hill on Friday 29th August 08:40

[plotloss]

Thats whats happened looking at it.

There are a couple of small sheaths over the thread, a washer and then the spacer and it all seems to be rusted together in one stubborn lump.

Was going to cut the shock end of the pin off with an angle grinder and then punch the stub out. No problem with that is there?

[Paul V]

Just undo the nut and hit the shock with a hammer, should come off fairly easily.

Do the new top mounts fit in the same mounting holes or do you have to drill new ones?

[plotloss]

Got the shock off no worries, its getting the pin out of the arm thats tricky, will continue beating the crap out of it with a hammer though.

Bracket fits through same hole and over the upper ball joint taper.

Now got to go and hire a plastic garage from HSS though - GRRR!

>> Edited by plotloss on Friday 29th August 11:30

[Fatboy]

plotloss said:

Now got to go and hire a plastic garage from HSS though - GRRR!

How much are they, and what do they look like -0 didn't know you could get such a thing? (would have made working on my mini in the rain a lot more comfortable

[Paul V]

Carry on hitting it then

What you want is a gazebo from robert dyres, £17 then get the side screens as well.

[plotloss]

Gazebo was the other option, off to Dyas at lunchtime anyway.

I may have dreamt this rentable garage, sure I have seen it somewhere though....

[Paul V]

Dyas, yep that’s how you spell it

The only thing with the gazebo is you really need someone to help you put it up.

[plotloss]

ARRRGGGHHH!!!

WHY ME!



After much twatting of suspension arm, decide to give up, leave it to the professionals and take them both to an engineer to have the pins either pressed or drilled out.

So I start on the other side, shock off, split ball joint, compress cone, remove trumpet, remove nuts etc go to slide the shaft out of the front and not moving.

Really not moving.

Get a couple of nuts on one end, nothing, hit it with a hammer and chisel nothing, completely and utterly stuck.

Now I dont know what to do in the slightest.

Really dont want to drop the subframe without someone who knows what they are doing.

Any ideas chaps, please?

HELP!

[Paul V]

Is the pin seized into the arm, if you move the arm up and down does the pin move round? If not try working it up and down whilst try to get it out, plenty a WD40 sprayed at each end of the arm of course, if it is seized do the nut back up then work it up and down trying to free it off. A breaker bar can be place between the body and the pin and used to force it out once it is free in the arm.

[plotloss]

Its seized, well and truly in the arm.

I went through the following process:

Placed one of the thrust washers and the nut back on, gave it a good twatting with a chisel against the washer, nothing.

Took the washer and the nut off, then placed both nuts back on locking one against the other so the shaft would turn inside the arm when pressure was applied. This worked, for a while, now when I try that again all that happens is that the spanner bites into the nut and deforms it.

Tried a breaker bar of sorts and all that did was bend.

Idea I had last night was to unscrew the bleed nipple from the arm and squirt loads of Plus Gas/WD40 into the hole.

Could the arm be bent? It seems unlikely its got to be said but that would be consistent with the behaviour.

Whilst I was waiting for oil to work its way in I removed the upper shock brackets, nice of BL not to paint underneath them, I now have a lovely rust issue to sort!

Losing paitence rapidly...

[Paul V]

Sounds like its going from bad to worse, yeah you could try and spray the WD into the bleed nipple hole to free it up, its not likely to be bent, probably just the grease has dried out then it seized. You'll probably need new pins, they aren’t expensive though.

[plotloss]

What I have been wondering is that if I hadnt found it this could have been quite nasty couldnt it?

I'll try the WD40/Plus Gas tonight/tommorow and if that doesnt work then I am stuffed I reckon.

If the pin is straight but seized is it likely to be beyond repair? If so then I'll try to cut the end off it, but with what I dont know, theres no space to get my angle grinder in there (bought friday - what a top toy!) so its going to have to be a lot of paitence and one of them hacksaw blade only handle things I reckon.

Its got to be done ASAP though, driving the TVR to work every day is costing me an arm and a leg!