Changing front suspension upper pivot bushes

[dfyates]

Thought it was an easy job! How does one get the damper arm pivot bolt (No 40 in Haynes Manual) out of the Upper Link ( No 6 in Haynes Manual)?
I have tried a ball-joint extractor, heat and tapping all at the same time !

[bmcecosse]

Welcome to the forum! You don't! Just undo the nut - and slide the top link sideways off the pivot arm. Very easy to do - take the weight of the suspension with a jack so the damper arm is slightly up and off the rebound stop. Hope you are fitting polyurethane bushes here - they make a big difference on this link.

[downsey]

And don't forget to put that special washer back on when you put things back together.

[simmitc]

It's usually very simple, but in the past I have had two where I had to remove the damper from the car and then use a 10 ton bench press. Hopefully yours will respond to heat / penetrating oil / hammer.

[bmcecosse]

Ehh? You DO NOT want to remove that pin! Just change the bushes.

[dfyates]

Welcome to the forum! You don't! Just undo the nut - and slide the top link sideways off the pivot arm. Very easy to do - take the weight of the suspension with a jack so the damper arm is slightly up and off the rebound stop. Hope you are fitting polyurethane bushes here - they make a big difference on this link.

Theres no way the link (presume you mean the trunnion) is going to 'slide' off the pivot arm!

All I have done up to now is remove the track rod end, thinking that if I removed the pivot pin I could change the bushes. Should I have separated the two bottom suspension arms first, as you do when you dismantle the whole kingpin?

[bmcecosse]

I can assure you - it does! Take the weight with a jack lifting the assembly up so the damper arm is off the rebound stop. Undo the nut, remove special washer and wiggle the outer bush off the pin and out of the eye - then loosen the inner bush - and the pivot will twist off the pivot pin. Re-assemble in reverse manner.

[dfyates]

The outer bush is off. Lifted damper arm off rebound stop from the start. Loosen the inner bush ? it wont budge! Are you saying that the kingpin is flexible enough to allow pushing the the trunnion sideways by several inches so it clears the pivot pin? Would need a crow-bar!

Nasty thing is, have already done this job, but was 35 years ago!!

[bmcecosse]

Just loosen that inner bush, keep at it, if ages old may need some heat!! And yes it can pivot/swivel off the pin ok.

[simmitc]

Sorry, I thought that you already had the bushes off, and realised that the pin needed replacing (they can wear) but if the pin looks OK, then no need to worry about it.

Others are correct, the top trunnion can be removed from the pin without any other disassembly.

With the car safely on axle stands and the wheel removed, look at the top bush area. Remove the rear most nut (band the lock tab back first) and the large flat washer - note which way round it goes. Jack up the suspension to take the spring load off. Lever out the rear rubber bush. Now force the trunnion off the front push and the pin. The is enough movement in the pin and trunnion to allow this, although a crowbar would certainly be useful. Now remove the remaining front rubber bush - with the trunnion off, you can use a wrench or a knife. Place new front bush on pin and manoevre trunnion back on. Fit new rear bush, replace big washer. You may need to use grips to compress the bushes sufficiently to get the new lock tab and the nut back on; but that's pretty much the job done. Just do up the nut loosely, refit the wheel, and with the suspension in its normal operating position, tighten the nut fully. You'll probably have to remove the wheel again to bend the lock tab into place, but it is essential that the suspension is correctly loaded before finally tightening the nut.

Hope that all makes sense. Of course, if the pin is badly worn then you're back to the first point. Remove the front nut and drift the pin out towards the rear of the car.

Good luck.

[rayofleamington]

Thirded as regards the top trunnion pivot pin - if it's not worn / corroded / badly pitted then leave it.
As for top trunnion bushes - if the bottom trunnion is unworn then you probably can't get enough movement in the kingpin to release the top trunnion from the pivot.
Two options are:
1) *unbolt damper from bulkhead crossmember so you can move the pin as well
2) ** dissasemble lower suspension arm so you have full movemebt of the kngpin

* when the top trunnion is clear of the damper arm, you can check the dampers for slack and damping ability by hand. They may need to come off anyway if they're faulty - recon dampers are not too expensive as long as they accept your old ones.
** option 2 is what you get for free when you're rebushing the eyebolt at the same time.

[Declan_Burns]

I also had to do the same as Ray describes in option 1) and a ball joint separator was required to loosen the pin on mine-it wouldn't budge otherwise.
Declan

[dfyates]

Thanks a lot folks! I think it was just a case of 'if at first it doesn't budge, you're not using a crowbar big enough' ! I was a little apprehensive putting that much force sideways on the kingpin.

[bmcecosse]

Honestly - I found mine pivoted off the pin quite easily with hand pressure once the old bushes were despatched. And no - my king-pins are NOT worn ! Is the job now done ok ?

[rayofleamington]

Honestly - I found mine pivoted off the pin quite easily with hand pressure once the old bushes were despatched.

some will do, but if there's no slack in the lower trunnion it can't move far at all.