front hi-lo nightmare
Turbo Mini Forums

hi all.

decided to do the front hi-los on my car today (attempting for 1st time). it has turned itno a bit of a nightmare

i compressed the rubber cone using the cone compressor. the rubber cone has lifted, leaving me with the alloy trumpet which can be moved by hand.

however, the grease knuckle is stuck fast in the top arm. no matter what i have tried, i have been unable to remove this.

am at the end of my teather with it now.

i have tried jacking the alloy trumpet up evenly (extensions on both sides), have undone the shock, have hit fuck out of the top arm but it still wont budge

its as though the hole is too small for the knuckle to come out of.

does anyone have any ideas? iv had enough of it now. is there something im missing here?

many thanks

Have you taken out the rebound buffer from under the top arm?

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no. this only looks to give a couple of extra mm?

i've had the knuckle joint get stuck in the socket before; i ended up using a crow bar to lever it up out; you should be able to lever between the top arm and the ridge where the rubber boot sits

it gives enough extra mm, as i recall....

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ok, cheers for the replys. going to pop back down and give it another go.

Edited by Brett on 24th Jan, 2010.

Yes i moved to the darkside

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As above, if the knucle won't come out of the trumpet or out of the nylon bush in the arm, just undo the big nut and small retaining plate bolts and pull the whole pivot shaft out, then the top arm will come out with the knuckle and trumpet as one.

Schrödinger's cat - so which one am I ???

yea, have ahad another look/go and was thinking this would be what il have to do.

may go and have another look in a min. thanks

if only that easy rod!

undone the nuts and retaining plate, the pivot shaft wont budge. im starting to hate this car.

its starting to look like i may have to drop the subframe to tap it through from the body side. if thats the case its getting a bit much work just to lower the car at the front by a very small amount.

Edited by welshdan on 24th Jan, 2010.

The large pivot pin has a large nut either end.

At the back it holds the pin to the subframe tower but at the front only to the retaining plate.

So provided you ONLY ondo the one at the back, then take the small bolts out of the front retaining plate, you should be able to lever the pivot pin forwards and out just by levering the retaining plate.

I have done this to dismantle a late subframe (metric threaded springs) as I only have an imperial compressor so it can, as Brett says, be done without the compressor if the lower bumps stop is out too.

If the pivot pin doesn't move it implies it is seriously worn so the needle rollers have dropped into a wear type groove in the pin, or the whole upper arm is seized on the pivot pin.

Schrödinger's cat - so which one am I ???

thanks rod. this is now clear. today hasnt been a good one!

i got the car with 17k on it, put about 25k odd thousand on it before i laid it up a few years ago to restore it.

the ball joints have always been tight, so have had to split them on the big nut in the middle as we used to do. hopefully will be able to remove the top arm pivot alond with the strut and remove when off the car.

hopefully can get at least the pass side dont this week. many thanks everyone for the advice.

why not just smash the trumpet with a bfh if you're fitting hi-lo's?

should give you more room then to get at the knuckle.

Edited by Nick on 24th Jan, 2010.

sounds like you need to wind some more on the cone compressor. Just be absolutely sure that ALL the threads on the tool have engaged in the nut of the cone.

The rebound buffer need to be removed.

If you need to get the nylon cup out, there should be a small hole in the bottom of the socket in the arm, so using something of a suitable size you can knock it out from underneath

hi sprocket.

the cone compresser was fully wound in. rebound buffer has been removed.

i think the nylon cup is causing the problems. not sure about the hole that you mention, i didnt see one. will have a look when i go back down

Ive always smashed the trumpet when running into difficulties! Just hit it on the end where the nuckle sits in the trumpet with a hammer! Trust me it works! Plus you get to relieve to pent up aggression!!

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