Removing front suspension

Post by **markattard** » Thu May 03, 2007 2:34 pm

I'm about to remove the front suspension as well as the steering rack of my 803... obviously better to tidy and paint the underside, would anyone please point out the best procedure to go about this?

Are there any notes I should take before dismantling so as to make things easier to re assemble?

Post by **chickenjohn** » Thu May 03, 2007 2:52 pm

Make sure you use the correct size Whitworth spanners and sockets- it makes taking the suspension apart 10X easier!

Soak all the nuts and bolts with penetrating fluid for a few days before dissasembly.
Best to get a manual, but from memory you need to jack the wishbone rear half to release the front half during stripdown.
Mark the wishbone and torsion bar across the splined join so you can set the correct ride height easily on re-assembly.

Post by **Matt** » Thu May 03, 2007 3:59 pm

DONT SCRIBE THE TORSION BAR!!! Its a stress raiser and *could* (not that ive heard of it happening) promote premature failure! Far better to use a bit of paint...

Post by **chickenjohn** » Thu May 03, 2007 5:28 pm

I've seen torsion bars with gouges fron incorrectly fitted M/C bolts and they still worked, but yes, better to be safe than sorry, though I doubt a tiny scratch near the splines will cause failure.- someone will doublessly come on here who has had a broken torsion bar due to a scratch, so I wait to be corrected. but this is somewhat off topic- the splines in that area on the torsion bars are effectively deep gouges so if they were to fail would it not be the splines themselves and not a tiny scratch?

If removing the whole front suspension to clean the area the torsion bar will have to come off. Inspect it for damage while off. Keep them to the same side of the car.

Post by **bmcecosse** » Thu May 03, 2007 6:18 pm

Make sure the torsion bars go back on the same side they came off!