10 replies to this topic

[langers2k]

I have two questions that have come up while I am changing the suspension cones on my mini.

The n/s upper arm came out with out any problems, however on o/s the front nut, not the rear began to loosen first. With this nut attached I cannot remove the upper arm!

I have tried locking two nuts together on the front and heating it with a blow-lamp, yet the rear nut still refuses to move in the slightest! Is there any other methods to remove the nut or not? I am getting to the stage where I am going to either cut or grind the nut off and then replace the upper arm pivot.

This leads me on to the second question, I have found the upper arm repair kit at minispares and it includes shims and rubber seals. However my mini currently has neither, I have attached a picture of how my arms are fixed in place (artisticly made in paint ), what order to you put the shims and rubber seals back in?

I am guessing this is a classic case of previous owner syndrome? My upper arms were free to move forward and back on the pivots so I guess this would also explain the banging that occurred during acceleration and breaking even after I replaced all the engine mounts and steadies? Also would it lead to more ball joint wear which would have caused one of them to fail recently?

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[Udo]

The shims as you have called them ie the 2 big washers with the offset grooves in them in the centre and centre bottom of the right picture between the arm and subframe ie between the black and yellow/blue bits in your picture

The seals then go over the top of them and seal between the subframe and the body of the arm

Sorry the top arm nut is one of them things ive found they either do or dont come off easy, I usually remove the nuts before loosening the retaining plate

[mk1leg]

Take loose nut off apply a drop loknut to thread and do up tight wait 10mins than undo other nut this should solve problem..........good luck.................

[langers2k]

Cool will try and scout out some loknut tomorrow.

Cheers for the info on the washers and seals, once they are all in place am I right in thinking there is very little, if any movement of the upper arm along the pivot ie it should only rotate around it and not move along it?

[mk1leg]

when you use new stuff from minispares you will need to ream out brass bushes, but you can cheat if old spindle is not worn reuse and just put new washers and seals worked for me ................

[Ethel]

Everyone seems to have their tuppen'th worth to throw in on this one - here's mine

Yes, missing thrust washers, those groovy ones, would make clunks and wear your balls.

The thrusts are part of the bearing really and,as said go on the end of the arm, inside the subframe turret. The grooves face inward, they're for grease, the seal rubber sits over the join between the thrust washer and arm - exactly the same as the radius arms, assuming they haven't been buggered about too!

The locktite sounds like a decent plan, also if the thrust is missing there might not be enough thread on the pin for the nut to clamp it to the subframe. Put a thrust washer under the free nut and retighten it.

[bakker110]

The same thing happened when i did mine but its not a problem! Just take 1 side nut off then clamp the end with mole grips. If its not too tight you'll be able to undo the other side without damaging the thread. I think that will be easier.

[mini13]

Christ!!

Someone left the Shims out!!!??? thats really bad.

BAAAAD PREVIOUS OWNER!!!

I assume the rear nut is still done all the way up so the pin won't rotate, asuming this do the front nut up tight and then try undoing the rear one, use plenty of wd40. I all else fails destroy the nut, theres not a lot of room but from memory i reckon you can cut along the nut up to the subframe so it spils and loosens off the thread. Once the rear nut is off you can either undo the front one or undo the nuts and bolts right next to it and withdraw the pin along with the retaining plate.

when refiting I found that stretching the rubber seals onto the cast part of top arm, then assembling and then sliding them back into position worked well.

[langers2k]

Bad previous owner indeed, when I got the car it banged when accelerating or breaking so I assumed it was the engine mounts, I replaced them and it still happened, added gearbox steadies + ultimate steady, no change so I changed my driving style... Looks like them leaving the shims out may have caused the banging and increased the wear on the ball joint until it sheared just before xmas!

I have already removed the retaining plate, just the rear nut that is holding things up. Think I will end up destroying the nut and probably the pivot too, going to get two upper arm repairs kits on Monday so I don't care about the old pivot any more. All four knuckles were shot, the front ones were full of water instead of grease! The cones were past there best, the shocks were junk, exchanged the hilo's for genuine ones as well as replacing all four ball joints.

Hopefully given a couple of days I will have a decent ride for the first time since I got my mini last February!

Only other problem I am having at the moment is the n/s front hub nut... Removed the split pin and the nut won't move, again had a blow torch on it, used various tool and even slid a 6ft piece of scaffold over them... Nut doesn't move, tools snap! Hopefully my friendly garage owner will be able to help.

[mini13]

I have used a chisel with good success to get off stubborn hub nuts, once you get a good puschace a few good whacks seems to shock them undone, if not keep chisiling until the nut is thin enough to break.

Just be carefull of the cv joint thread!

[Ethel]

Put on your stoutest bar then put a jack under it - if the wheel starts to lift much bounce on the wing. If a friendly mechanic can be persuaded to attack it with an impact air tool it should give in easy enough.