Last night I continued with dissasembling the other side of the front
suspension. This side seems to be in worse condition than the other side
and has presented itself with a different set of obstacles.
First bit of oddness was that the upper wishbones seemed to be stuck in
place - if I press down on them they would just spring back in to place,
came apart ok though. On dissasembling the hub I noticed that a
different stub axle had been fitted, still the right one they just look
diffent - the middle bit between the bearing race was not smooth and
nicely turned like the other side.
And now to the main problem/oddness: I can't get the bolt out of the
trunnion. It is completely stuck tight in there, turning the bolts
appears to turn the bushing and sleeve as well. I have taken a big
hammer to it and tried pressing it out with a g-clamp and socket, sprayed
on plently of wd40/penetrating oil but it won't shift. The lower
wishbone is actually slightly bent from the force that has been applied.
I am now hacksawing the bolt out, this may take a while as the bolt is
quite tough and the hacksaw blades are not.
I can only assume that this has been like this for quite some time and
with this limited movement in that side of suspension I am worried that
the vertical link may be bent. How can I tell if it is bent or not? I
have checked for signs of stress fractures etc but can see anything
obvious. There was some oil in the trunnions and the threads appear to
be in good condition.
Also the bushes on this side of the suspension seem to be in slightly
better condition and I think that copper grease has been used for the
assembly. The castle but was tightened down too tight, the grease cap
had been hacked about a bit previously and I found a bearing sitting in
the cup on the inside of the stub axle - I have yet to invistigate where
this came from.
So how can I check to see if the stub axle/vertical link are bent and
what could caused the apparent mess that this side of the suspension is
in?
cheers
John & Saskia (1977 Spit 1500)
http://www.spit1500.co.uk/
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