chassis leg replacement, suspension dismantling

[Dean Moriarty]

Hi there.

I've been reading the "replacing eyebolt bush" thread with interest as I'm doing a similar job albeit a bit more involved.

I need to replace the drivers side chassis leg as it is severely corroded.

[frame][/frame]

I pulled the engine out yesterday and got the car nice and high on axle stands to give good access for when I begin drilling out the spot welds holding the flanges to the upper face of the leg.

After taking measurements re location of the eye bolt centre line I welded a bracing bar across the chassis legs.[frame][/frame]

Next step is to remove the eye bolt from the chassis leg so that the lower 3 sides of the leg box section can be removed. Following the instruction manual I jacked up the rear section of the lower arm, ( there are axle stands under the end of the sills btw), expecting the suspension arm to lift up and the damper to lift clear of its rubber stop. Unfortunately, the whole car is now lifting. Is this because there is not enough weight in the car with the engine removed?[frame][/frame][frame][/frame]

Bit stuck now. What should I do next?

Cheers

[fussyoldfart]

Well! That's a good heads-up. I'm looking ahead to doing exactly that operation on my car. I shall follow with great interest what you do to solve this. Could you ask someone to sit on the wing while you unbutton the lower arm and remove the trunnion? Even so, you would have the same problem on re-assembly.

Darrell

[Dean Moriarty]

Its a bit of a catch 22 situation, (although I'm sure there is a solution). I could not leave the engine in place and undo the suspension as then I wouldn't have been able to move the car to manoeuvre the engine out!

I've been told that I need to undo the rear end of the torsion bar and tap the whole suspension arm and torsion bar unit back until its clear of the eye bolt. I think I'm missing some key info.... Its all a learning curve

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I aim to get it back on the road by New Year.

Cheers

[David53]

You need to take the tension off the suspension before you can dismantle it. The tension comes from the torsion bar. So you need to jack up the lower suspension arm, with the jack under the rear part of the arm only (the part that connects to the torsion bar). Jack it up until the damper arms clears the rubber stop where the damper arm comes through the wing. If the whole car is lifting due to lack of engine then I can only suggest a couple of mates sitting on the front crossmember, prvided the car is very secure on stands.

Once you have the back half of the arm securely lifted with the jack you undo the three bolts on the forward part of the arm, and remove the tie bolt arm. Then you can remove the front part of the arm completely. You then undo the top trunnion assembly and wiggle it off the pin. Once this is free you slowly lower the rear part of the suspension arm, with the rest of the swivel pin assembly coming down down with it. (You should also have undone the flexible brake hose).

Now tension has been removed you can easily dismantle the rest of the suspension. Just don't do as I have done and mix up the torsion bars! The torsion bar is removed by undoing the bolts at the rear, tapping the lever arm forward until it clears the splines and sliding the arm backwards through the hole. You can remove the eyebolts without doing this by undoing the eyebolt bolt behind the chssis leg and wiggling the rod and eyebolt but given you need to do some welding on that side prob best to remove the bar altogether.

Hope this helps.

[bmcecosse]

David has it! Fat mates are the answer.

[beero]

Yes, I had this problem putting the front suspension back together with no engine and gearbox weight. My weight (14 stn) in the engine bay was enough though

[mike.perry]

Mark the position of the arm on the spline, then you can't get the torsion bars mixed up, unless you clean off the marks

[Dean Moriarty]

Thanks for the advice guys.
Im currently experimenting with laying some extra metal box bars across the chassis legs then putting some big heavy stuff in the engine bay. An engine weighs about 180kg so Ill have to find something suitable. I'm considering one of those big Rhino buckets which I can fill with water What could possibly go wrong.....

[bmcecosse]

You only need the weight for about 2 minutes - just get someone to sit on the wings!

[Dean Moriarty]

That sounds far too sensible....

[Dean Moriarty]

Seriously though, surely 2 minutes relies on everything coming apart nicely. I'm anticipating everything being seized solid.
I've been Plusgasing as much as possible but it took me about 15minutes just to get the tie bar bolt out of the lower arm.

[katy]

An engine weighs about 180kg

Methinks 110-120Kg is a more likely weight than 180.

[Dean Moriarty]

Mines a B Series

[bmcecosse]

Loosen all the nuts - and remove the tiebar etc first - then weight on - remove front arm and king pin complete - and wind the jack down till the T bar is unloaded. Simples. After that - you don't need the weight anymore!

[MarkyB]

You only need enough weight to move the damper arm off the bottom stop, it doesn't have to get to the "normal" position.

[Dean Moriarty]

Thanks again for your advice guys. Clocks ticking.

I'll take another look tonight.

PS I found this site today with what looks to be good prices for suspension bits, (should anything get damaged during dismantling).
http://www.morris-minor.org/morris-mino ... 06dd9ac739

Anyone used them? Good/bad?

Thanks

[bmcecosse]

Not heard any bad news - I think people speak well of Jones.

[Dean Moriarty]

Ok I'm going to get cracking on this job tomorrow.
Apologies for sounding really stupid over this but I'm not quite getting the procedure

Loosen all the nuts - and remove the tiebar etc first - then weight on - remove front arm and king pin complete - and wind the jack down till the T bar is unloaded. Simples. After that - you don't need the weight anymore!

I've removed the tie bar and front of the lower leg nuts all loose- ok
Front of arm off tomorrow - no problem
If I try to remove the king pin complete at this stage, isn't it still going to be attached to the upper trunnion by the lever arm?

[David53]

If you are ready to remove the front part of the arm make sure the weight is off the torsion bar - ie: jack the rear part of the arm up until the damper arm clear the square rubber stop in the wheel arch hole. Then remove the front part of the arm. Then wiggle the lower trunnion off the pin which is attached to the rear part of the arm. You can now carefully lower the rear arm again and remove the jack. The swivel pin is now simply hanging from the damper arm. Undo the nut holding the trunnion and wiggle it off. The pin can be removed after you have either removed the brake backplate or disconnected the brake hose.

[Dean Moriarty]

Thanks David

I'll give it a go.