The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

Hmmm! that could have been a lot worse, glad you were only going slow.

Only problem is, I can't get the track rod end unbolted from the upright, its undone most of the way, but the ball-joint is spinning in its socket!

Get a 'G' cramp on it and clamp it back into the tapered hole if you can, then very gently turn the nut.

Carl wrote:Complete second hand vertical links/stub axle/trunnion assemblies here in North Hampshire. Came off our Spitfire MkIV when I converted it to Canleys Trunnionless Caterham front suspension. Good condition £30 the pair

Thanks for the offer, but I think I've got a deal on an almost brand new pair.. if that doesn't work out, I'll let you know

Reg wrote:Wow Howard!.. That could of been very bad indeed mate..glad you wasn't in the fast lane!

I have to say, it broke very gracefully.. no bang or jolt, just a gentle sliding drop which gave me a "hang on a minute.." moment. Then when I realised what had happened, I was trying to see if I could see the wheel bouncing off into the distance! All happened in a split second.. but I'm very glad I wasn't going faster - I had just literally been going through the Blackwall Tunnel and then 50 down the A102 - heaven forbid if it snapped in there

Hopefully got a good lead on two new vertical links and trunnions (fitted to a car for 12 miles). I'm going to take the wishbones off tomorrow for a good old cleanup and paint, and I've ordered a front suspension polybush and bolt kit..

Although the lower wishbone is okay for now, it will ideally need replacing as the ground flattened it off slightly!!

The other side is definitely getting done too, I think the reason it failed was due to someone filling the trunnions with grease rather than oil, and they gummed up. I certainly don't want this to happen again!

So good your okay.
This has always been common on Spits.
Early TR's no probs but the 5&6 ripped the lower wishbone out of its mounting on the top of the chassis after a redesign by BL
Stags rip their anti rollbars off.
Stag, TR4A, 5 & 6 diffs rip out.
Why none of this is written by Classic mags I will never know, but it is true.

trackerjack wrote:So good your okay.
This has always been common on Spits.
Early TR's no probs but the 5&6 ripped the lower wishbone out of its mounting on the top of the chassis after a redesign by BL
Stags rip their anti rollbars off.
Stag, TR4A, 5 & 6 diffs rip out.
Why none of this is written by Classic mags I will never know, but it is true.

I've never heard of it happening, but on Club Triumph they seem rather unfazed and say it's a common problem.. It's not a common problem I would like to happen again!

I guess it's mainly down to bad maintenence of the trunnions, as you can see by my car, I'm probably the only one who has ever looked after it

Oh well, new bits all round and I'll look after them in the proper way.. so should be trouble free from now on. Anyway, it was always my plan to rebuild the front suspension.

You can get these from Canley Classics, which is a Caterham unit..



But for £300/pair they're rather out of my budget!!

Welcome to the world of the AA, many a time i have been to breakdowns where they have been waiting hours because a transit turned up followed by a spec truck when the have told the AA what the fault is and it need a flat bed truck.
The AA just assume that they know better and send the cheapest option vehicle first which is one of their own 'experts' out first.

When you're oiling your trunnions, it doesn't hurt to jack the front up at the chassis so that the wheels hang down with no weight on the suspension. This means that the threads in the link/trunnion are contacting on the opposite faces from usual and the fresh oil gets a head start at penetrating the bearing surfaces.

Eek, glad you're OK Howard.

Howard81 wrote:I've never heard of it happening, but on Club Triumph they seem rather unfazed and say it's a common problem.. It's not a common problem I would like to happen again!

What? They didn't say rip it out and put a small bearing unit in and then go off on whether you should use dellorto or webers for 3 pages?

If memory serves (it occasionally does) we tried to oil these at MOT time and couldn't. I've a picture in my head of a snapped grease nipple, was it this?

The utter, utter, UTTER, b'stard part of doing wishbones is that the inner end bolts almost always rust to the bush tube. While you have easy access slacken the nylocks and attempt to turn the bolts, if they turn get straight down the newsagent and buy a lottery ticket. And another for me. In all likelihood you'll need heat or destructive methods to get 'em out. You might be lucky if they are knee deep in that goop all over the bottom of the car.

tinweevil wrote:Eek, glad you're OK Howard.

Howard81 wrote:I've never heard of it happening, but on Club Triumph they seem rather unfazed and say it's a common problem.. It's not a common problem I would like to happen again!

What? They didn't say rip it out and put a small bearing unit in and then go off on whether you should use dellorto or webers for 3 pages?

If memory serves (it occasionally does) we tried to oil these at MOT time and couldn't. I've a picture in my head of a snapped grease nipple, was it this?

The utter, utter, UTTER, b'stard part of doing wishbones is that the inner end bolts almost always rust to the bush tube. While you have easy access slacken the nylocks and attempt to turn the bolts, if they turn get straight down the newsagent and buy a lottery ticket. And another for me. In all likelihood you'll need heat or destructive methods to get 'em out. You might be lucky if they are knee deep in that goop all over the bottom of the car.

One was missing a nipple, the other you couldn't get your oil gun on. I managed to fill a small oil-filled grease gun (cleaned out of course!) on it, but could hardly push and oil in as it kept coming back out. Same on the other side after I fitted a new nipple. Now I know why!!

I managed to get the wishbone bolts out okay! The top ones were slightly rusted in, but nothing too bad. I couldn't get the front lower wishbone bolt out as this had rusted in and you can't get any leverage on it as the steering rack is in the way! You can just about get the bolt off though. I had to remove the bracket from the chassis.

Suspension rebuilt will be continued in the resto thread: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=14436&start=90#wrap

Glad your okay Howard!

Strange when you think this is now regarded as a common problem with no "recall" or "redesign" from BL at the time,and the only modern upgrade is silly money.

either way,glad you and the little spitfire are making good progress and i have to say those steel wheels look way,way,way tidier than those wires

do dolomite's have trunions ? or other suspension parts that need oiling ?

Keep us all posted Howard

Rob

boybiffa wrote:.........do Dolomites have trunnions ? or other suspension parts that need oiling ?

Grease should be squirted through the ball joints if yours have nipples. I know that you know this, but hey, nipples is a nice word for a Wednesday at tea time.

Seriously though Rob, there's a grease nipple on the pinion housing on the Dolomite steering, you could squirt oil through that instead of grease if you must squirt oil somewhere.

1300dolly wrote:Welcome to the world of the AA, many a time i have been to breakdowns where they have been waiting hours because a transit turned up followed by a spec truck when the have told the AA what the fault is and it need a flat bed truck.
The AA just assume that they know better and send the cheapest option vehicle first which is one of their own 'experts' out first.

Never had a problem using a spec truck myself, and I did loads of them on Heralds, Spitfires and Moggy 1000's and all the rest back in the day, although I have to say your description of the AA would be correct as a general rule.