> I'm not sure
> but I think it was Jack Brooks who came up with a novel way of removing
> the silentbloc from the drop arm. You do need to be carefull not to
> end up bashing the tapered peg on the rocker shaft into the worm on
> the steering shaft. If you get too rough you can create little
> dents in the worn and this isn't good.
Drew,
Yes, it was me. Michael and I spoke about doing this and I recommended that
he query the list this or an alternate procedure, if he couldn't get the
silentbloc out.
For everyone else, I had suffered a catastrophic silentbloc failure as the
car was being pulled out of the driveway, resulting in a total loss of
steering control. I had an inferior silentbloc, which had a very thin
washer on the top of the silentbloc, instead of the 1/8 inch solid steel
ones sold by the big three vendors. They were slated for replacement that
winter.
I had just returned from a high speed run along on the cliffs of the Hudson
River near West Point. It's very scary to consider the consequence of the
failure while driving up there. Please take a look at your silentblocs. If
you don't have a really solid washer on the top, (or the one piece
design)replace them soon. I felt mine were good shape.
There is a Stainless steel/bronze replacement ($80/pr) available from Ken
Gillanders British Frame and Engine, Revington TR and others, which is a
better long term fix and eliminates all the rubber in the part. I installed
them and did not find any additional vibration in the steering wheel, which
was my primary concern. The bronze bush must be pressed into the cross
shaft.
How I pulled the silentbloc out of the drop arm:
I loosened the adjustment on the cam and peg to raise the rocker shaft assy.
I then supported the bottom of the silentbloc on a 1/4 inch thick steel
plate which was resting on a 4x4. The object was to support the silentbloc,
by the bottom of the bolt, with the drop arm as high as possible, in the
steering box. By placing a socket over the silentbloc stud, the rubber and
outside had separated, I could beat on the top of the socket and transmit
all the force downward on the drop arm, through the silentbloc stud to the
4x4, without putting any load on the cam and peg, as the rocker shaft assy
was elevated and had room to move down, without hitting anything. This
worked well for me.
BTW - I rebuilt the steering box this winter and found no apparent damage
from this episode. I did have a really worn peg and cam though. The cam
was dated 11-59, The bushing and all other parts (except the seal) were in
good enough shape to reuse.
BTW - at the time TRF had much better pricing on the steering box parts.
Good luck Michael,
Jack Brooks
1960 TR3A
1974 Norton 850 Commando
Hillsdale, NJ
My car show: http://NJTriumphs.org/westwood/home.html
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