Replacing front wishbone rubber bushes

[nick320]

My lower wishbone rubbers look quite old and the rubber has cracks in. I am considering replacing them. I've read the workshop manual about the replacement procedure, which describes removing the torsion bars and refitting them using the height setting bar. I'm wondering how difficult the bush replacement will be without a pit or 4 post lift. Are there any safe shortcuts ?

Thanks,

Nick
(1965 S1)

[stuarthardy]

Hi Nick

I've just come back into the house from re-fitting the lower wishbones in my Series 1 3.8. I managed to do this without the use of a pit or 4 post lift but I did find myself sometimes wishing for either during the process.

I have my car raised up all round with the back end (now fully assembled) up on long ramps about 8 inches high and the front end is on good strong axle stands (6 Tonne Clarke items from Machine Mart) keeping the sills level and therefore the weight distribution right. Oh yes, i keep getting emails from Machine mart about their VAT free sale, which ends this Sunday so may be a good opportunity to treat yourself to a bargain.

Make sure everything is clean and well lubricated (I used copper grease on all mating surfaces) and they will go in quite easily. I found the trick to be to partially insert the front mounting block and then fit the rear. Use a taper pin to line up the holes and then push an old 5/16" bolt through temporarily to hold it while you line up the front block. This can be a bit tricky due to the alignment of the bonnet frame flanges at these points. My bonnet was off anyway due to the rebuild process so I don't know how much more difficult it would be with the bonnet fitted.

You may also find that fully tightening the nuts on the ends of the fulcrum shafts will shorten the distance between the fulcrum blocks and make it easier to fit them. If you do that then don't forget to slacken them back off again until the full weight of the car is the suspension, otherwise you risk damaging the bushes.

Sorry for the delay in getting this info. to you but I am genuinely writing this immediately after just doing it myself.

Good luck.

PS Do you have setting links?