27 replies to this topic

[sheepy89]

we are in the middle of replacing the suspension cones on the front of my 1986 mayfair and have come to a problem. how do you get the cone out of the subframe??

do you have to remove the bottom arm or can you do it with it still attached.


cheers

sean

Edited by sheepy89, 12 February 2011 - 12:24 PM.

[nicksuth]

we are in the middle of replacing the suspension cones on the front of my 1986 mayfair and have come to a problem. how do you get the cone out of the subframe??

do you have to remove the bottom arm or can you do it with it still attached.


cheers

sean

If you have compressed the Rubber Cone enough you should be able to pull (or prize) the knuckle joint out of the socket then lever out the Alloy Trumpet? If it's all seized up then it can be easier to drop the top arm. Are you replacing it with HiLo's, if so you can just destroy it to get it out?

[lorry]

Compress the cone with a cone compression tool, then you should be able to take the trumpet thing out (cant remember proper name),carefully uncompress cone and remove. Something like that, shouldn't need to remove upper arm

[Cerberus]

When I was recently doing this, a number of people on here said that you didn't need to remove the upper arm to get the rubber cone out.

I had to, there was no way it was going to come out with the upper arm in place.
I wasn't so keen on this the first time we were attempting it, as we were on limited time and had to drive the car home at the end of the day, so we didn't do it.

Did it at home over Christmas in about two days.
Not too hard to take the upper arm off, just awkward.

[sheepy89]

we have the knuckle and trumpet out we just cant get the actual cone itself out. we are just putting it back the way we found it just with new knuckles and new rubber cone

[nicksuth]

we have the knuckle and trumpet out we just cant get the actual cone itself out. we are just putting it back the way we found it just with new knuckles and new rubber cone

You need to remove the little bump stop and maybe drop the shocker off to get the top arm to drop further?

Have a look at this thread - Linky

[Dan]

a number of people on here said that you didn't need to remove the upper arm to get the rubber cone out.

As with a lot of things, these are usually people who have done it once and got lucky, or haven't done it at all and are guessing. You do usually have to remove the top arm to remove a spring, it's part of the workshop procedure for the job and isn't hard.

[sheepy89]

that guide doesnt say how to get the cone out altogether tho.

[Dan]

No, some of the people replying seem to think you are talking about taking out the trumpet.

[sheepy89]

o no we did that part easy enough. it literaly just the cone itself that is still in the subframe and we dont know how to get it out.

how do you go about taking the top arm out?

cheers

sean

[Dan]

Yes but I'm afraid I have literally no time. Search the site or use Haynes, or someone else will post it. I'll be back when I can.

[L400RAS]

should be of help:

[Cerberus]

Removal of the top arm requires the large nuts at both ends to be loosened, then the thrust plate at the front end to be removed, You can leave the nut on the shaft at the front end to make things a little easier, the arm should have enough movement in the hole where the thrust plate was, to be able to angle the arm and slide it off the shaft.

Just be careful with it as there are the roller bearings inside the top arm, and try and keep as much crap off the shaft as possible.
When reassembling it, give it a wipe to remove all containments, then put back on the same way you took it off, and re-grease everything.


That's what we did.


oh and you'll need to split the top ball joint from the upper arm too, to be able to remove the arm. It may well be possible to not do this, but we did it anyway as it doesn't take much longer, and things aren't hanging around all over the place then,

[sheepy89]

just been out to buy a ball joint splitter and it doesnt fit over the ball joint enough to screw the screw down onto it to split it. are all ball joint splitters the same size?

[nicksuth]

just been out to buy a ball joint splitter and it doesnt fit over the ball joint enough to screw the screw down onto it to split it. are all ball joint splitters the same size?

It may need a little persuasion with a hammer to knock the open end over the ball joint, leave a nut on the thread of the ball joint to help locate the bolt of the splitter.

can you post up a photo of what you bought?

I assume you have bought this one - link