Lower trunnion fitting

Post by **winger300** » Thu Aug 30, 2007 6:04 pm

I'm in the process of refitting the swivel pins, but having trouble with the lower links.

Now I found these Lower link kits in a box of parts I inherited when I bought the car. I assumed they were Morris minor trunnions, UNIPART GSJ213 and GSJ214

They screw onto the swivel pins fin, I'm using the correct side with a L/H thread, and it all looks fine, Following the instructions i'm screwing it all the way down, then back up one turn, but then when I try to fit the pin it wont go through.

When the trunnion is fully screwed down then the pin fits, but it then feels tight when turning. Could it be that these aren't Minor trunnions? All the parts in the kit look identical to the Minor ones, but nothing on the box or instructions confirms or denies it.

It looks like the same ones were fitted before, and maybe this is the reason that I couldn't get them off the Swivel pins when dismantling, and why the pin was seized in the trunnion.

Trouble is, I can't find any reference to this GSJ 214 part on google. Any ideas?

Post by **winger300** » Thu Aug 30, 2007 8:16 pm

Interestingly I just spoke to the helpful chap at Minor developments, who informed me that the Trunnions supplied today don't have a metal collar between the two bushes in the trunnion, and the ones I have are from '83 old stock.

Therefore I've crushed the inner collar and removed it, which gives the fulcrum pin just enough clearance to give the steering angle needed.

I bought the Genuine MOWOG swivel pin, but could it be that the threads have been cut slightly out, i.e the wasted section in the middle not being in the correct location for the fulcrum pin to clear it.

Now i've removed the inner metal collar, the trunnion screws down to the end of the thread, leaving the trunnion 90deg to the stub axle, and with the pin fitted, it gives 180deg swing before the fulcrum pin touches the threads. Is this ok to drive on? The manual suggests you screw the trunnion a full turn back from the top before fitting the pin, but thats not possible.

Post by **bmcecosse** » Thu Aug 30, 2007 8:19 pm

As long as it can swivel without obstruction - it will be fine!

Post by **jonathon** » Thu Aug 30, 2007 10:15 pm

Do you mean the inner brass sleeve in the trunnion?. We have had to ream out several of these to accommodate the bottom pin. If this is removed there will be massive amounts of play.
How many turns of the trunnion are needed to align it with the 'grooved' section of the swivel pin.

Post by **winger300** » Thu Aug 30, 2007 10:24 pm

not the brass sleeve, but the loose metal part between the two sleeves. I'm told the newer lower trunnions come without that part these days.

its only really aligned with the groove in the swivel pin threads when its fully turned down, any turning back and it snags the pin.

Post by **jonathon** » Thu Aug 30, 2007 10:35 pm

Ahha! Not seen that before

. in which case I would believe it to be ok to drive on.

Post by **Roni** » Fri Aug 31, 2007 12:17 am

I had one of these sleeves in a lower trunion too. I could not get grease into that trunion which was dry. The sleeve had moved inside and snagged somehow to become broken and distorted and was blocking the path of the grease. It now is not there and has not been missed.