Quick question about bottom trunnion removal....

[mattinhertford]

I've jacked up the car onto an axle stand, removed the tyre, supported the bottom arm (?) with the jack, undone the nuts each side of the bottom pin.......next.....do I need to undo the bolts that hold the two parts of the lower arm together (one shown on the right hand side on this pic), so that I can pull them apart to release the bottom trunnion?

[frame][/frame]

I'm fine once its realeased....I'm just not sure on this next steps.

Many thanks.

Matt

[bmcecosse]

Yes!

[mattinhertford]

Hi BMC, do I just loosen them or is it completely undo them?.....and will anything happen to the torsion bar in this process? Keen not to accidentally 'adjust' anything and this turn into a bigger job

Thanks

Matt

[bmcecosse]

You must firmly keep the jack under the rear arm - attached to the T bar. Remove the bolts, disengage the tie bar, and pull the front arm off. The trunnion then slides off the back arm and you can manipulate it enough to unwind it from the kingpin - if that's the aim. BUT FIRST - you must remove the pin going through the trunnion, or it won't unscrew. And note that Left side has left hand thread...

[les]

Be careful the jack doesn't slip off while you juggle getting the pin out!

[mattinhertford]

ok, thanks chaps, will give it a go tomorrow.

Matt

[mattinhertford]

Hi all,

So I made an attempt at this this afternoon but came up against an unexpected step in the process which is that the lower trunnion does not unscrew off because it gets caught on the backplate!! I don't think I've any choice but to remove the back plate, and therefore I guess I need to remove the hub first?

[frame][/frame]

Does this sound familiar to those who have done this job as I can't see how to do it without these extra steps??

Chuffed that all the nuts came off easily though!

Thanks

[philthehill]

To unscrew and remove the bottom trunnion from the swivel pin you will need to remove the hub and back-plate.

[bmcecosse]

Yes - thought that would be obvious.... That's a really strange brake pipe fitting you show there......are these standard brakes??

[mattinhertford]

Still lots to learn I guess

BMC, yes standard brakes, are you referring to the top brake fitting to the brake cylinder, or the pipe bridge? These are the only ones I've seen up close so if I don't know if they're different to the norm

Matt

[philthehill]

What appear to be brass unions at/on the ends of the bridging pipe are what I think bmc is referring to. They are usually steel.

[bmcecosse]

They are unusually short - and yes look like brass/bronze female ?? fittings and copper !!! pipes.... Very odd.

[les]

Yes mine are odd too!

[panky]

On my car the link pipe runs close to the back plate on the other side of the trunnion, If, god forbid, the trunnion failed and came apart is there a chance of it ripping the pipe out in the position shown in the picture.

[bmcecosse]

Indeed - but the wheel buckled under the car will stop you pretty quickly anyway.... You can see in that picture how a simple angle iron bracket bolted through the backplate will 'catch' the trunnion if it does drop off the kingpin. The excellent 9" Wolseley front brakes have that feature 'built in' - the trunnion can't escape ! My worry about the brake fittings show is that they may be 'domestic' plumbing fittings - and not automotive standard - they certainly look very peculiar to me....

[les]

Please tell me what I'm missing----- all I can see is a copper brake pipe with normal fittings except for the fact that they are brass rather than steel.

[bmcecosse]

Must be my eyesight -I don't see any male thread..... I would also expect a 'ball' end on the pipe to fit tightly into the cylinder!

[les]

What makes you think there isn't a ball end on the pipe? You wouldn't be able to see it in the photo as its in its assembled state! I'm starting to think we're seeing different pictures!

[bmcecosse]

Must be me then - looks odd, and the 'copper' look is very worrying....

[mattinhertford]

To unscrew and remove the bottom trunnion from the swivel pin you will need to remove the hub and back-plate.

OK, getting round to this at last (tomorrow).....I now have the correct size socket for the nut holding the hub assembly on.

So, when removing the hub assembly, which will allow me to take the backplate off, which will allow me to unscrew the lower trunnion.... after I've undone the big nut (the one with the split pin), do I just pull the hub assembly and bits off (bearings, seals, spacers etc)? Is there anything to watch out for?

Thanks

Matt