[Spridgets] Sing: The hub's connected to the wish-bone. The wishbone's connected to the... hmm....

Peter Caldwell peter at nosimport.com
Mon Jul 12 13:21:02 MDT 2010


Chris,
         I need to step in here, but I haven't much time to write a 
dissertation. (I have in the past, and maybe it can be found in some 
archive) BUT...
         The "pin" is actually a shaft. The part you see is a tapered 
spline, and the shock arm (not trunnion) is mated to it with a 
matching tapered spline. The big nut pulls down on a flat thick 
washer and keeps the whole thing very tight, unless what has happened 
to you. Once the arm and shaft have separated and there is ANY play, 
you have essential no shock, and more worrisome, no upper control arm!
         We figured a way to repair the slightly loose ones, but we 
discard the very worn ones, as yours sounds.
         Causes of the condition range from someone thinking it's OK 
to remove that big nut, to no oil in the shock, and something's got 
to give. Neither are safe.
         I know a guy what can rebuild your shocks, but the condition 
of the arm and shaft diminishes the value of the core.

Peter C.
         BTW, a trunnion is a suspension part that is a joint or 
pivot connection enabling rotation and/or tilting. Specifically the 
thing attaching the end of the shock arm to the kingpin. They also 
mate on the full moon on the beaches in Baja, or something.
-------------------------

At 12:26 PM 7/12/2010, Chris Rae wrote:
>Whilst attempting to bleed my brakes yesterday (first time - mixed success) I
>observed something unfortunate on my MK4 Sprite.
>
>As you all know, the shock absorbers are those little magic boxes, connected
>to the hub via a trunion thing. A pin comes out of the shock and goes through
>one end of the trunion. I was surprised to notice yesterday that the trunion
>moved entirely independent of that pin. That made me wonder exactly how my
>shock absorber worked, as I must have misunderstood it.
>
>A brief view of the other side of the car revealed that the pin does *not*
>move independently of the trunion. It has little teeth on it, which connect to
>little teeth on the inside of the trunion. Hmm.
>
>Back to the other side, and my pin has no teeth on it. The trunion looks like
>it's got its ones, but the pin has only a couple of very faint ones and spins
>around gaily. This may account for the fact that my suspension is a bit
>saggy.
>
>My question is: Can I take the shock apart and replace this pin? Would the
>"fulcrum pin repair kit" on
>http://www.mossmotors.com/Shop/ViewProducts.aspx?PlateIndexID=29294 do the
>job?
>
>I thought I'd post here before dismantling the shock and being the object of
>ridicule..
>
>Chris


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