Richard,
As I have just recently finished rebuilding the front suspension of my
Bugeye, it is still fresh in my mind about the things you are running into.
I had about the same amount of play in my fulcrum pin, but when I finally
removed it, most of the thread was gone from the bottom half of the pin.
Most of your wear will be in this area. There was little lubrication of the
parts by the DPO. It took most of an afternoon to get the fulcrum pins out
by unscrewing them out a little until they jammed, screwing them back in,
back out a bit more, and so forth. All the while spray Kroil in it. I was
lucky, they were not "welded" to the king pins.
Once you get them out, inspect the threaded bushes in your wishbones.
You'll probably find similar wear of the threads on the bottom half. Several
places can replace these threaded bushes for you. I believe Apple Hydraulics
will sell you the bushes if you are handy with a brazing torch. I had my
bushes replaced for a very reasonable cost by Eric Jones of Deleware, Ohio
(614 363-2203). I could have just bought rebuilt wishbones or new ones, but
I am doing a half-assed concourse restoration and wanted the original
wishbones, without the holes for the anti sway bar, to put back on the car.
A side benefit was, this turned out to be the cheapest solution. Take my
word for it, you'll sleep better for doing this, knowing after all the work
you did to rebuild you front end, you didn't take any shortcuts. It's much
easier to align the front end when everything is tight. And you can still
put a grease fitting on the other end, much esier when it is apart anyway.
Mike MacLean-60 Sprite
Richard D Arnold wrote:
> Well, everything is unbolted from Miss Molly's front suspension: coils,
> shocks, spindles/swivels/kingpins, and wishbones. Calipers are still
> attached to the front brake hoses, but they'll come out today so I can
> replace the lines. The only things left in place are the tie-rods and
> steering rack, and I ain't removing them less'n I gots to. She looks
> kinda naked, but it's a good time to clean her up (OH, NO! The dreaded
> "as long as I'm..." syndrome!).
>
> Removing the wishbones was the proverbial cakewalk. Just a zip-zip with
> the electric impact, a couple of tugs with the pry bar, and they popped
> right out. The inner portions of each bush were in so-so to fair shape,
> ovalled/compressed to the bottom. The outer portions (the part that
> would fit to the outside of each ear on the wishbone) were toast. When I
> pryed the wishbone out, the rubber litterally 'blossomed' out of each
> side as it was released. It appears to have been swollen. Perhaps some
> chemical I used to clean the engine compartment caused this, or the
> Liquid Wrench/PB Blaster/WD40 sprayed in may have had a deleterious
> effect?
>
> To recap, the reason I began to this project was to replace the wishbone
> bushings and shock bushings, and to inspect/repair the shocks. This was
> hastened by the appearance of some horrible cupped wear to the inside
> front of the left-hand tire. I suspected the shocks and the bushings as
> being the cause. When I attempted to rock the tire top to bottom, I got
> little movement and no sound. I'm not sure that the movement I felt
> wasn't the tire 'giving.' Rocking from side-to-side also produced a
> slight movement, and the clicking sound I heard appeared to be coming
> from the steering rack as it began to move.
>
> I removed the coil springs first, then the shocks. The shock bushings
> were pretty much shot: split, pieces missing, and the sleeve was rusted
> to the trunnion. The left hand-shock was almost empty, and the
> right-hand shock was only about half-full (or half-empty, depending on
> your POV). There was no play in the shock arms, nor leaks from those
> areas. As I noted earlier in an earlier post, I have already repaired
> the shocks.
>
> Next, I removed the wishbone and the swivel assembly, and left them
> assembled. Before removing these, I attempted to move the swivel
> assembly in relation to the wishbone. There was a small amount of play
> side-to-side (maybe 1/64"), and no up-and-down movement. Once I had the
> two pieces on the bench, I removed the cotter bolt, and tried the same
> thing. Side-to-side play increased to maybe 1/32", but still no
> up-and-down movement. The cotter bolts did not appear to be fully
> seated.
>
> A closer inspection reveals that the fulcrum pin is probably (OK,
> definitely) stuck like an impacted wisdom tooth. The zerk appears to
> have only allowed grease to the one side. Thus, the collective wisdom of
> the list to drill and tap the welch plug, and insert a zerk on the other
> side will be applied.
>
> Further, the grease is old and dried on the zerk side, am assuming the
> same for the other side, if there is any there at all. This is
> disconcerting because I regularly pumped grease into it. Perhaps the old
> grease hardened to the point where the new grease simply cut a channel
> through it, and didn't do anything other than squeeze out the other side,
> leaving the points that need lubrication untouched?
>
> So, this leaves me with a couple of questions:
>
> * Which dumbass came up with this fulcrum pin design, and can we find the
> responsible party and have him or her shot?
>
> * Is it absolutely necessary to replace the fulcrum pin at this point?
>
> * If it is necessary to replace the fulcrum pin, should I go ahead and
> replace the lower wishbone and swivel assembly at the same time? What is
> the best and cheapest way to do this without me having to do any welding?
>
> Am hoping that my problems were the result of a combination of worn
> wishbone bushings, worn shock bushings, non-functional shocks, and
> non-seated cotter bolts. If that's the case, I have already repaired the
> shocks, and will replace the wishbone and shock bushings. I also will
> clean the old grease out of the fulcrum pin, and install a zerk to the
> other side.
>
> Suggestions, Comments, Criticisms, Name-Calling, Finger-Pointing, and
> Discreet Snickering encouraged.
>
> Rich
> Council Bluffs, Iowa
>
> '74.5 RB MGB "Miss Maggie"
> '78 Chevy Half-Ton "Waltzin' Matilda" (LBC Support Vehicle)
> '79 Midget "Miss Molly"
>
> richard.arnold@juno.com or rdarnold@neonramp.com
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