So, I'm in the process of tearing apart the suspension on my '74. I've got the left-side completely disassembled except for the driveshaft. Just need to work on cleaning up everything before I ask the local Mini guru if I can use his blasting cabinet.

Luckily the only thing I broke was the tip off my Craftsman pry bar (aka big *** screwdriver). Which oddly enough I don't think I've ever seen used for anything other than a pry bar. The plate on the end of the upper arm shaft was stuck to the subframe like no other.

Nothing was terribly difficult to remove either, altho the 2 bolts on the outboard side of the upper arm shaft weren't exactly easily accessible.



Replacing all kinds of parts (with commentary!):
ball joints (buy one of these! best $ you can spend - couple turns of a wrench and kapow! it's seperated - pickle forks are for pickles!)
steering rod ends (moves in an ellipse rather than a circle)
steering rack boots (still intact but for how much longer??)
tie rods + bushings (not exactly bent but not exactly straight either)
knuckle joints (looks like the nylon cups were still there....phew)
shocks (no significant dampening happening here)
upper arm rebound bumpers (old ones had no rubber left)
rubber cones (who knows how old the current ones are)
wheel bearings (no real problems here, but as long as i'm in there...)
upper arm shaft (bent the support plate removing it)
lower arm pivot pin (seems ok but might as well replace)
lower arm bushings (better safe than sorry)
inner cv boots (seem ok but fresh grease in there couldn't hurt)
outer cv boots (current ones in good enough shape, but as long as i'm in there...)

I think that's it...hopefully...
Doug from Heritage Garage and Whatshisname from GB Car Parts must love me!

Now I just need to seperate the strut trumpet from the old cone and the knuckle joint from the trumpet and make sure it is still usable. You wouldn't believe what was inside the trumpet - will post pictures tonite.

 

While you have all that off, why not add Hi-Los? never have to deal with sagging suspension on one side of the car ever again!

Best of luck with the tear-down and rebuild!

 

I'm thinking about it - depends on what kind of shape my alu-mini-um trumpets are in.

you can do hi-los and rubber cones, right?

 

Yes - I believe the Hi-Lo replaces the trumpet (but please don't quote me on that). I believe that the rubber should still be replenished every few years for best performance, but many minis are still driving on decades-old rubber, which shows how durable they really are. I feel sorry for anyone getting hammered by a 30 year old suspension though.

 

Yea, I guess i don't really see any reason why you can't put Hi-Lo's on cones, and considering that I can get a full set of Hi-Lo's for less than 2 front trumpets, they call that a no brainer.

 

The benefit is the ability to adjust the ride height... For me, for instance, I wish I could RAISE mine, as I scrape the many, many tall speed bumps all around my local area. It would be nice to lower it again on days that I know I'll be driving on winding back roads. And of course, there's always the "sagging" issue that lots of classic Minis seem to have - one of the rubber cones starts to wear more than the other, resulting in an unattractive, drunken "lean" to one side - this can easily be rectified by a quick turn of a wrench on a Hi-Low, raising that particular corner back into true with the other 3.

The price is non-trivial though, I agree... If I were going to do it, I'd do it proper and replace the trumpets with hi-Los and the rubber with slightly firmer springs all in one go. that runs about $450 IIRC. You already have the front end off though, which I'm told is the hard part of the install - the rear sounds really simple by comparison.

 

I wouldn't call it a drunken lean but preparing for the next bend

I'm going to keep it with cones as I don't really see the need for springs, but that's just me.

I'm gonna see what my trumpets look like and go from there (if I can ever get them off of the cones)

 

The benefit of springs in MY application, from what I've heard is longevity - basically they don't need replacing like rubber cones do. But, like I said, lots of people keep rubber cones in service for WAY longer than recommended in the Haynes manual. so... Plus, you can get springs in a variety of firmness, from near-stock to "race firm". I personally would go for the ones that are slightly firmer than stock, since I only occasionally turn "spiritedly" and never AutoX or race my pathecically underpowered 1275. =)

 

If you are in need of a pair of front trumpets, I have a pair of take-offs in pretty decent shape that I'd be willing to part with for a reasonable price.
Let me know.

 

As long as the trumpets are not corroded inside they should be good. Watch out some have huge pits that make them unsafe. If you got extra $ get hi-los.

Seperating the cone froma trumpet can be "challenging" The dissimilar metals seize up. Drive a big chisel between the two and spray with a rust penetrant (not WD40)

Once the cone is off you can take a long rod to drift the knuckle joint out from the backside.

 

OMG... is it just me, or is it hot in here? GrrrrrrrrOWL!

 

I may need to take you up on that, we'll see what they look like on the inside after I get them off the cones. I may just go for the Hi-Lo's, but we'll see.

The trumpets would make a great addition to the sculpture I'm going to make out of all the bent, broken or otherwise worn parts from my Mini.

Here is what was inside the one trumpet after I got it out, nearly a 1/4 cup of sand? dirt? bits of aluminum? and even a couple pieces of glass. This is what happens when you don't have a cover on the big hole between the subframe bolts! GEEZ!
Who knows how long that cover wasn't on there. Luckily the other side has a cover so it should be a much better situation.

 

So I partially succeeded in separating the cone from the trumpet. I managed to remove the rubber of the cone from the metal spherical insert that sits on the trumpets. The trumpet and cone were seized together like no other. Looks like steel ice cream on an aluminum cone. FUN!

Looks like I'm getting Hi-Los!
Any recommendations as to who has the best ones?

 

I've been looking at the ones on MiniMania and GBCarparts for quite a while... But I admit I've not looked around elsewhere - both suppliers seem to carry the more modern version, which is easier to adjust than the old style (or so they say).


Take pics of the installation as you go! I want to figure out if the install is beyond my capabilities or not.

 

Yea, I'll try and take some more pics of the reassembly, I don't have any of the disassembly.
Nothing was terribly difficult just slightly time consuming due to rusted/seized parts.
Just make sure you have one of these! - best $ you can spend IMO.
Since I'll have mostly new parts, the re-install should go a lot smoother.
Things that were tricky for me:
Getting the upper arm shaft out - the retaining plate was pretty well seized to the subframe.
Getting the cone + trumpet out from the subframe - took some finagling.
Getting the cone off of the trumpet - a near impossibility IMO.

Everything else wasn't terribly difficult. As long as you're in there you'll want to check your ball joints, bushings, and knuckle joints.

 

Is that a shock compressor? Or a cone splitter, or what?

 

it's a ball joint separator - ordered it from www.sears.com
necessary to separate the ball joints from the suspension arms