Margaret Watson "Chick Racer" writes:
> I'm getting ready to replace the front shocks and all of the bushings. The
> upper A arm looks pretty straight forward. The lower will be more of a
> challange. Do I HAFTA take off the hub to get to the trunniun?
Which car are you talking about? On Spit/Vit/Herald/GT6 the answer
is no, but as you're doing all this it'd be silly not to pull the
hub and repack it with grease. It's actually dead easy.
Just pry (prise) off the grease cap, pull the cotter pin from the
castle nut, remove the nut (can often be done with fingers) and
the big thick load washer (or whatever it's called). Then just
yank off the hub. Mind the bearings.
If you're going to remove the trunnions you do it with the hub off,
because it conceals the bolt heads that hold on the backplate
protecting the brake disc, and this prevents the trunnions from
being fully rotable (I like that word, don't you?). Take off the
backplate, noting that this releases the steering links also. Now
you can rotate off the trunnion. Remember trunnions are handed, so
don't confuse them. Reassembly is the reverse bla, bla, bla.
When reinstalling the hub (everything is clean and regreased, right?)
hand-tighten the nut just to the point where there's no movement
or "clunking" when you pull on it. Then back it off about one flat
(1/6th turn) or so to the nearest point where you can put in the (new)
cotter pin.
None of this is hard, it's just drudge. The bad part is removing
the A-arms when one or more bolts are rusted into their sleeves.
The lower rear bushes are the most susceptible because of their
splash position. If this happens, the easiest way work it out
is to take the whole mount point off the frame, put it on a bench
and get busy with a hacksaw...
Good luck
- Dan Parslow
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