Morris Minor Owners Club

Damn and blast! This really couldn't have happened at a worse time. However if I can't do it i'll take it off the road, don't want to drive a death-trap! Is replacing it as simple as one would expect? I will have to take it off tomorrow night and examine the threads.

It took me about a day, my first time doing this job, so I was feeling my way somewhat. Removing rusted in split pins took a while!!! It might be worth renewing the entire unit, with both trunnions. ESM seem reasonable at £70 for the kit (plus the dreaded VAT!)

Hmm, may be one for the very near future, but i'm not working ATM due to looming a-levels. However if the threads are worn as you say I will have to do this. So did it take you a day to do the bottom trunion or the lot?

This was for the entire job, top & bottom.

Do make sure that is your problem though. I replaced uprights and trunions only to find the problem was the steering rack

I will have to re-examine tomorrow. If it is the lower trunion as it seems to be, is there anything I should know before replacing? Tips/tricks/words of warning gratefully recieved.

I used the article on Trunnion replacement from the technical tips section of this site. Very useful.

It's all straightforward - and if nothing is 'stuck' it's just a hour or so. You can replace just the bottom trunnion - but that only take up half the wear. Really a complete kingpin assembly is the best way to go.
You need the wheel on there to get the leverage to be able to see the movement. Shop around for best price on a new k-pin assy (check Bullmotif price) - and check if steering arm is fitted or not - they can sometimes be a real "£$%^^& to get out of the old kingpin.

Ok thanks for the advice, had a second look and there is definately movemment in the lower trunion. I will replace just that for now as just having a roadworthy car is the main thing. However i will start shopping around for new kingpin. That can be a little project for after a-levels.

Thanks in particular to Dominic and BMCEcosse!

bmcecosse wrote: and check if steering arm is fitted or not - they can sometimes be a real "£$%^^& to get out of the old kingpin.

Seconded - I don't recall EVER managing to shift one...

i'll definately bear that in mind, if a seasoned mog owner has never managed i won't bother trying!

It's not often I agree with BMC, but this time...

bigginger wrote:

bmcecosse wrote: and check if steering arm is fitted or not - they can sometimes be a real "£$%^^& to get out of the old kingpin.

Seconded - I don't recall EVER managing to shift one...

Thirded. Same here. I have HAD to remove one once from a duff leg and it involved cutting it out of the leg with an angle grinder.

When I last bought a leg it was from Bull Motif and it was fine except that they did not supply the steering arms so I had to order those separately from ESM. This was a couple of years back though so situations might well have changed now. Best to check though...

I managed to shift the steering arm from the kingpin by undoing the nut until the top of it was flush with the threaded part of the steering arm, and then applying a few hard blows with a heavy club hammer. (This was after an hour's soaking with plusgas) This way, the thread remained intact, and there was no deformation of either part. The other "interesting" part to remove was the top trunnion pin from the damper arm. In the end I cut through the bolt as near as possible to the damper arm, thus removing that large washer - like section, and used a ball-joint splitter. The other "interesting" parts were the split pins that had rusted in place. In the end, I just unscrewed the castellated nuts, thus chopping through the pins. The only trouble was then that the holes were completely filled, and threaded to match the bolt, i.e. invisible! I carefully sanded the threads in the vicinity with some 400 grit wet & dry paper, getting deep into the threads. The decapitated pins showed quite nicely as shinier metal dots, which could then be drilled out.
Have fun

Well I've done it, the swivel pin had perfect threads, while at ESM i asked to see a new one and the threads on kine seem exactly the same.

However I've managed to upset the brakes in the process. I think theres must have been a little air in there thats floated up to the wheel cylinders as I lifted the back plate off. So a good bleed tomorrow once I've got some rubber tubing.

Hey thats great news! I managed to upset my brake too. A cylinder promptly sprung a small leak on refitting. Just enough to dampen the lower shoe and cause an interesting swerve when applying the brakes!

Excellent news - let's hope it cures the knock

Yes i hope it does, but even if it doesn't i know my suspension won't come apart. I didn't bother replacing the fulcrum pin in the torsion bar and bushes as after my a-levels im going to fit new bushes to the front suspensions and finally get round to sorting the ride height. Judging by posts on the quality of rubber on sale i think i'll go polyeurathane.

I should - I've just been horribly let down by the rubber ones...

So did it take you a day to do the bottom trunion or the lot?

Unless something is seized, a bottom trunnion should only be a couple of hours but make sure the car is well supported and that you have a spare jack to unload and pre-load the suspension.

The trunnion wont come off until you've removed the brake backplate, however this is just 4 nuts/bolts once the drum and shoes are off.

Make sure you clean up the new trunnion - often they come with swarf inside

And as for the suspension arm - they are a right pig, but I've managed to shift 3! Just use a sledge hammer on a 2.5 foot handle The end result is that the threaded end of the arm gets mushroomed so you'll need an angle grinder to chamfer 1/4" off the end of the thread