Eyebolt removal without disassembly?

Post by **Bluesman** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 11:19 am

Guys - I will need to rebuild my front suspension after the front end welding job is done.

One question: Can the eyebolt be loosened and taken out *without* disassembling the lower wishbone and/or torsion bar? My LHS suspension has 3-4 extra spacers that I want to take out. They screw up the wheel alignment.

Can it be done?

Cheers /R

Post by **Orkney** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 11:38 am

Got mine off without removing the torsion bar, took some doing - the lower wishbone was disassembled though so made it possible to lever the torsion bar out from the chassis.
Seem to remember the eyebolt nuts were teh worst of all on teh front rebuild to get the nuts off of.
Oh yes and mark them before you take them out with a spot of paint so you can see which is top or bottom - mine had ovalled slightly on top or bottom (sorry cant remember which) but put them back in 180 degrees around as the opposite side was perfect so hopefully get some years out of them yet.

Whilst your there Richard you should just strip the lot and replace the bushes - cheap for a complete car set. Bull motif top Q rubber. What a difference to drive !
Took one day to do 1st side, 1/2 day the second.

Post by **chickenjohn** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 11:40 am

I don't think so, but now you've got the Whitworth tools, it should only take a couple of hours to strip the lower wishbones/ loosen torsion bar etc. The bushes can all be renewed while its apart and the hub/ steering joints left in place (suppoerted of the top trunnion on the damper arm.)

With the wishbones/ torsion bar off the eye bolt, the eyebolt can be unbolted and the pin and bushes replaced as needed. You can also renew the tie bar bushes while its all apart. There are good instructions on how to strip it down in all the manuals (Old Haynes, club manual, BMC workshop manual )

Unless someone has a trick, shortcut way of doing it?

Post by **Orkney** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 11:52 am

Sorry forgot to say - when lower bone is off and the pesky nut off the back of the eyebolt I managed to lever the torsion bar out from the chassis - used a 18" nailbar and slid a block of wood in to keep it out.
Its just doable with a bit of thought and only use a small enough lever so you dont permanently bend the torsion bar. It does have enough flex to get the eye out without distorting.

Post by **Bluesman** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 11:54 am

It´s the trick I need

- I just wanted to make sure that I have the steering geometry reasonably right after the welding job. I wanted to do that before I do *any other job* on this car...just for peace of mind.

The RHS is already out/disassembled with the hub still hanging on the top part. Well, maybe it´s sensible to bite the bullet and do the full suspension overhaul here and now. Nuts are no problem, Orkney, they´re all coming loose fine.

I have a mix of new rubber and poly bushes, but not all of them. Pics later today.

Edit: Orkney: "permanently bend the torsion bar" -

- I am actually more scared to bend the crossmember it´s attached to....

Edit II - I decided to take the plunge and do a full service. I will start up another thread to avoid confusion.

Cheers /R

Post by **chickenjohn** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 1:14 pm

Sounds like you're doing a good thorough job! Might as well clean up all the parts and paint them

Post by **sii803** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 2:20 am

I have managed to do it levering the torsion bar out of the way (I reccon from memory I only had to pull it). It was easy enough getting hte eye bolt out with the worn bushes, however putting it back with new ones was more of a challenge. Eventually I replaced the eyebolt with only the rear facing bushing

in place. Then once it was in place i put the forward facing bush in. It made all the difference doing it this way round.

Post by **Bluesman** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 6:48 am

Hmm..."only the rear facing eyebolt in place" - you must mean "bushing" here. OK - that´s solid advice. Thanks!

/Richard

Post by **chickenjohn** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 7:03 am

Its not that hard a job to take it all apart,, especially if the bolts are undoing easily as you said, you can just loosen the nut on the torsion bar to crossmember. Much easier than fiddleing around levering things risking damage etc.

Post by **Orkney** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 7:05 am

Actually Richard what sii803 said about the re-assembly, reminded me.
Putting it all back together did take a little persuation on a couple of them.
A large woodworking G cramp was very useful for putting a little compression on some of the new bushes to enable the washer & nut to go back on.
So cramp pressure applied fom the eyebolt head to the inner side of teh chassis leg.
Had to do similar on the front tie bars too.
Little bit of lube helps also when putting the new bush in the dry metal to stop it binding.

Post by **sii803** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 1:42 am

I remember now

I didn't want to force anything and did take the nuts off holding it to the cross mecmber, without difficulty, as suggested by chickenjohn. However even with the bolts loosened the torsion bar didn't move easily. I recon it was the paint holding it all together

.