damper removal

[cadetchris]

whilst the engine is out the car, i am going to strip out the engine bay and repaint. inorder to do this to my satisfaction, i want to have the dampers out, cleaned up and the the area behind painted.

so how does one take them out?
i know its obvious to jack the car up to take the weight off them, undo the 4 bolts, but how does one take it off the top trunnion whilst the bottom is still attached to the tiebar?

[chrisryder]

you will have to have the front up on axle stands. take up the load of the suspension while you disconnect the damper arm from the top trunnion.

you can just turn the dampers enough to get them out with the link pin still fitted.

[Fingolfin]

This job is hell on many Minors. I didn't even bother on Mog (after trying one bolt and seeing it just spin), and the front dampers became the ONLY removable thing left in the car when I did the full strip-down. For painting the engine bay, I wrapped them in newspaper and forgot about them.

It is only four bolts, but oftentimes those bolts have deteriorated to the point where they just turn, and it's very very difficult at that point to get them out. I'm not trying to discourage you -- go on and have a try -- but just know it's almost always a bigger job than it seems.

[cadetchris]

well i tried.
lower wishbone off (stripping a trunion treat in the process) and then to slip the entire king pin away from the damper arm.

EASIER SAID THAN DONE.

would that pin slip out of the damper arm socket. no. i tried hitting it, prying it off, oiling it with wd40 and some penetrating oil,and finally heat. all i did was manage to set the underseal on fire and make all the grease in the top trunion run out, so all in all not the most successful attempt.
so i just put the suspension back together and left the dampers in place.

silly idea to begin with

[chrisryder]

you don't need to take the pin out of the damper. you just have to remove the nut at the other end of that pin, remove the washer, and the one bush, and you should be able to lever the top trunnion off the pin.

the damper can then be removed with the pin still fitted to the damper.

[cadetchris]

ahhh, that makes much much more sense. well i wont be thinking about fiddling with the dampers again. i have cleaned them all over and topped them up with lovely SAE 40 oil.

job done

[beero]

Taking that tapered pin out of the damper arm is VERY difficult. I had to use a really heavy duty hydraulic puller and it eventually let go with a hell of a bang.

[bmcecosse]

You need to drain them - and then refill with SAE 40 to get best result.