I'm in the middle of what was originally a small job of replacing some bushes
The top pivot pin that joins the top trunnion to the damper arm is stuck. I've removed the Swivel pins, and tried a big hammer on the end of the pivot pin. It's moved by a couple of mm but no further.
Is a large hammer the preferred method of removing it? or am I doing something completely wrong?
They can be a pig to get apart - they seem to cold-weld themselves together if they haven't been taken apart for a number of years. Ideally you'd use a special splitter tool on them, but the type they sell for track rod ends usually aren't big enough or strong enough. The first time I did this job on Fenchurch I had to take the dampers off with the pins still stuck in them, put the arm in the vice with the jaws supporting the front of the arm, heat the end of the arm up with a large blowtorch, then beat the end of the pin so hard it wrecked the nut and thread. I did the same job again today (replacing leaky dampers) and the pins weren't stuck so badly - I still had to take the dampers off the car so I could support the arm properly, but I didn't have to use heat or hit the pins so hard as to damage them.
Alex Holden - http://www.alexholden.net/
If it doesn't work, you're not hitting it with a big enough hammer.
But - to replace the bushes you don't need to take the pin away from the damper! Just slide the first bush on (polyurethane I hope!) then the 'eye' of the swivel pin, and then slide on the outer bush followed bythe thick keeper washer and the lock tab and nut. It's a 10 minute job!
