Brads Tiger

Brad1380 · Post by **Brad1380** » Sat May 12, 2012 6:47 pm

Some rusty bits made shiny & some shiny bits painted.

Brad1380 · Post by **Brad1380** » Fri May 18, 2012 8:37 pm

Bought some lower ball joint boots from the states, so thats saved about £100 or so.

This wishbone is proving difficult to knock out.

Getting there with the underside, another couple of goes for this side, then time to turn it over.

Bought the paint today, going back to Forest Green, good personnal service from trade-car-paints.

meadowhog · Post by **meadowhog** » Fri May 18, 2012 9:45 pm

To get mine out I had to use 10 ton hydaulic press and fabricated frame to prevent distortion. I then made and fitted my own nylotron bushes, not polyurathane.

Brad1380 · Post by **Brad1380** » Fri May 18, 2012 9:49 pm

Got poly bushes ready to fit, though i think this wishbone insert may see a junior hacksaw blade sometime soon.

meadowhog · Post by **meadowhog** » Fri May 18, 2012 10:18 pm

Gas would help, but could be stinky. Always wondered what other people have done when they did it them selves.

Mal · Post by **Mal** » Sat May 19, 2012 1:41 am

Don't they only come out in one direction because of the size of the washers ?.

[/quote]Bought the paint today, going back to Forest Green, good personnal service from trade-car-paints.

Metalflake

0neoffive · Post by **0neoffive** » Sat May 19, 2012 2:47 am

Brad1380 wrote:Got poly bushes ready to fit, though i think this wishbone insert may see a junior hacksaw blade sometime soon.

The inner washers on the A-arm fulcrums are a specific size & thickness to be part of the pressing out process. Properly supported on a length of pipe (tool), the average pressing need is 4-7K psi. Or you could just burn out the rubber and side cut the sleeve in the arm hole. Don't cut too deep or you'll ruin the arm's bushing hole. A bit smelly, but works for guys without a tall press.

Brad1380 · Post by **Brad1380** » Sat May 19, 2012 7:18 am

The rubber bushes have been burnt out on already, the sleeve on the other wishbone came out easier, this one seems to have grown onto the wishbone bush.

0neoffive · Post by **0neoffive** » Sat May 19, 2012 6:03 pm

I occasionally need to make two lengthwise cuts in the A-arm bush outer sleeve about a screwdriver's width apart to start a "peel" point. From there it's just love, patience & cursing.

Sometimes the inner sleeve will grab the fulcrum and be extra stubborn. With a little heat (careful, you need to re-use the fulcrum) you can hold the sleeve against a solid vise and play blacksmith with a steel hammer on the sleeve while turning it. This will distort it enough to break the rust hold, and you can gently "drift" it off.

tigerguy2 · Post by **tigerguy2** » Sun May 20, 2012 5:07 am

Hi Brad,

If it is not yet in your plans, I would recommend you have your presumably stock fulcrum pins magnafluxed for developing cracks before reusing them. Assuming of course you do not have higher strength ones ready and waiting for reassembly.

Also I would highly recommend building the necessary tools and following the shop manual instructions for installing the new bushings. Those ears are easily bent if not properly supported during the pressing in process.

I expect you are quite aware of the desirability of reinforcing welds for the upper ball joint mounting ring. Just be sure to do it before pressing out the old joint.

I personally have had bad luck with a certain company's upper ball joints being too oversized to press in the upper A-arm. I highly recommend measuring the new and old joints' mounting ring diameter before trying to press in the new one.

Cheers,

Gene

Brad1380 · Post by **Brad1380** » Sun May 20, 2012 5:56 pm

Thanks Gents, still on a learning curve here. Are the stock fulcrum pins really that weak?

Also has anyone a picture of the upper wishbone strengthening welds?

Tried heat, lots of it several times, no joy, so one more go then its saw time.

0neoffive · Post by **0neoffive** » Sun May 20, 2012 6:17 pm

Brad1380 wrote:Thanks Gents, still on a learning curve here. Are the stock fulcrum pins really that weak?

Also has anyone a picture of the upper wishbone strengthening welds?

Tried heat, lots of it several times, no joy, so one more go then its saw time.

[/quote

I can send you some pics that may (or not) help from the shop's computer. Send to : willett581@msn.com patience, randy

tigerguy2 · Post by **tigerguy2** » Mon May 21, 2012 6:36 am

Hi Brad,

Regarding fulcrum pin failure, I can only refer you to others. It definitely has happened. Hence my recommendation you have yours magnafluxed as long as you have them out.

There is some discussion of what is going on to cause them to fail on the www.tigersunited.com web site, written by Tom Hall, a mechanical engineer back in 1996. If you go to the site, click on the search function. Enter "Potential Suspension Defects, the Big Picture". When the results come up, click on topic number 1. Scroll down about 6-8 or so subjects until you find the subject header that reads as what you put in the search box. It is a long post covering a lot of things, with part of it addressing the fulcrum pin failures, etc. Hopefully, in all of that is some information still useful today.

Cheers,

Gene

Edited to add underlined step which originally had been left out.

Brad1380 · Post by **Brad1380** » Tue Jun 05, 2012 2:28 pm

Just seen this steering wheel on ebay, good price but would it be correct for the car?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sunbeam-14-In ... 27bf67645a

martin172 · Post by **martin172** » Tue Jun 05, 2012 2:59 pm

That's a nice looking wheel and an excellent price.

sunbeamtiger.co.uk

Brads Tiger

Be careful

More tediums

Upper wish/A-arms