Hi List,
As with most of the repairs on these cars everything is much easier
once you have been through it. Thanks to all who took the time and
effort in providing their insight and expertise. A special thanks to
Stan Foster. After all the emails exchanged I think we are on each
others Christmas card list.
As it turns out, the sheer bolts were much less of a pain then I
thought they would be. I tried the dremel routine but the one cutting
disk I had broke about ten seconds after I started using it. Even
though there was just a slight nick in the sheer bolt I was able to use
a very small, thin screwdriver to unscrew the bolt. The other side
proved to be a little bit more of a challenge. I ended up using a
small drill to put two holes on opposite sides of the sheer bolt then
used a punch to rotate the sheer bolt out. Yes, an easy-out would have
worked slick and easy. Guess I will have to buy some of them.
The rest of the procedure was pretty straight forward. Although I read
the Bentley manual many times I ended up just putting it back together
by memory of how I took it apart. Of course since my memory isnt what
it once was I had to undo a few things in order to get it right.
I also learned during this repair that the light switch is quite flimsy
and if you arent careful how you put things back together the switch
can end up in a position where it comes apart very easy.
And the final lesson was that while the steering column bushings did
need to be replaced they were not the cause of my unintentional horn.
That little problem was caused by the interior horn ring pulling out on
one side since one of the retaining tabs had broken. Luckily there
were two other retaining tabs that were intact and in fact hadnt been
used to that point. Bending them down secured the horn ring and now
everything works as it is supposed to.
Lastly, the repair makes a world of difference in how much steering
wheel play is removed with the repair. Surprisingly, the best and most
surprising result was the improvement in the ease of turning the
steering wheel at very slow speeds.
Cheers,
Aaron
Aaron Cropley
71 TR6 (Throttle Body Injection!)
http://www.triumphowners.com/108
Topsham, Maine
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