Nothing special to post today - Just a couple of tips when pulling down the subframes...
A cone compression tool is a necessity for removing the cones/trumpets from the front subframe. The workshop manuals always say that you compress the cone, remove the trumpet, decompress the cone and remove it. Yeah right - in a lot of cases, the trumpets are rusted solid to the cones so you probably need to the compress the cone, CUT the trumpet in half and maybe even remove the upper suspension arm before being able to get the cone (with some top section of trumpet still attached!) out.
In my case, I was taking everything apart anyway and will be replacing the trumpets with Hi-Lo adjustables. To get the upper arm out, undo the nut (facing the rear of the subframe) of the upper arm and tap out the pivot shaft out with a hammer. In the pic below, I had already cut the trumpet.
The rear subframe was quite rusty so not all nuts came off freely. The best way to remove the radius arms is to remove the pivot shaft (shaft running through the radius arm) inner nut first and then remove the 4 small bolts that hold the radius arm onto the subframe. For me however, the inner nut would not budge - as soon as I got outer nut off and attempted to remove the inner nut, the entire pivot shaft simply rotated within the radius arm. So I took off the bracket (holding the arm to the subframe), welded the outer nut directly onto the pivot shaft and used a spanner/socket to remove the inner nut. The pivot shaft and needle bearings will be replaced with new ones.
A cone compression tool is a necessity for removing the cones/trumpets from the front subframe. The workshop manuals always say that you compress the cone, remove the trumpet, decompress the cone and remove it. Yeah right - in a lot of cases, the trumpets are rusted solid to the cones so you probably need to the compress the cone, CUT the trumpet in half and maybe even remove the upper suspension arm before being able to get the cone (with some top section of trumpet still attached!) out.
In my case, I was taking everything apart anyway and will be replacing the trumpets with Hi-Lo adjustables. To get the upper arm out, undo the nut (facing the rear of the subframe) of the upper arm and tap out the pivot shaft out with a hammer. In the pic below, I had already cut the trumpet.
The rear subframe was quite rusty so not all nuts came off freely. The best way to remove the radius arms is to remove the pivot shaft (shaft running through the radius arm) inner nut first and then remove the 4 small bolts that hold the radius arm onto the subframe. For me however, the inner nut would not budge - as soon as I got outer nut off and attempted to remove the inner nut, the entire pivot shaft simply rotated within the radius arm. So I took off the bracket (holding the arm to the subframe), welded the outer nut directly onto the pivot shaft and used a spanner/socket to remove the inner nut. The pivot shaft and needle bearings will be replaced with new ones.
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