Trunnion oiling

[dougbgt6]

I have never jacked up the car when oiling the trunnions. I use a grease gun. Never had a problem, simples.

The grease gun forces the oil down the inside of the vertical link under the end and up the threads. The only reason to lift the car is if you’re pouring the oil in from the top. Why would you do that when you could use a grease gun?

I did have a vertical link snap when I first bought my car, but that was because the PO hadn’t oiled for 5 years. 😡

Doug

[Colin Lindsay]

31 minutes ago, dougbgt6 said:

The grease gun forces the oil down the inside of the vertical link under the end and up the threads. The only reason to lift the car is if you’re pouring the oil in from the top. Why would you do that when you could use a grease gun?

I agree you need a slight - very slight - degree of pressure when putting oil in, but even a cheap pump oil can pressed into the grease nipple aperture will provide sufficient pressure to blow the oil out under the rubber seal, and I've seen it press grease out too. Some people spend pounds on Wanner grease guns, some £1 on a plastic oil can, but at the end of the day they seem to work well enough. I don't use a grease nipple as they cause more problems than they're worth if dry or rusty; just pump oil into the hole and seal it with a blanking plug after.

[dougbgt6]

19 minutes ago, Colin Lindsay said:

Some people spend pounds on Wanner grease guns,

 I bought a Wanner off the Bay of Fleas, because everybody raves about them.  It had no insides. The spare parts were twice the price I paid for the gun. So it sits on the shelf smirking at me.

I bought the club shop oil gun, ridiculous price, even more money now. The picture doesn’t show how ENORMOUS the Pumpinator is, in fact SO big there’s not enough room to fit it on the nipple. You need the additional flexible connector, kerching!

Doug

 

[Pete Lewis]

what you do with your pumpinator is restricted to the other site 

places like toolstation machine mart  screw fix have a wide selection of quite cheap pumpinators for oiling and greasing   £12

eg    https://www.screwfix.com/p/hilka-pro-craft-manual-grease-gun-set-6-pieces/4744r

[DanMi]

4 hours ago, dougbgt6 said:

The only reason to lift the car is if you’re pouring the oil in from the top. Why would you do that when you could use a grease gun?

To be honest Doug simply because it is easier to lift the car (couple of pumps on a trolley jack) than turn the steering with the car on the floor to reach the oil hole and I only have a 4 cylinder. plus I want to check wheel bearing play and other suspension joints as part of the maintenance.

[Badwolf]

Oil, grease, nipples, I wanner get out of this parallel universe and back to normality....but then.......???

[68vitesse]

10 hours ago, Badwolf said:

Oil, grease, nipples, I wanner get out of this parallel universe and back to normality....but then.......???

But what is normality?.

Regards

Paul

[Pete Lewis]

jacking releases the load on the wear side of the threads , aids turning the wheels  aids air/oil locks  but jacking has always been a requirement 

no WSM gives any reasons as to why  just refers to see you handbook which i dont have one now 

typical triumph wsm  always hide the one little   clue t you need 

Pete

 

 

 

[Peter Truman]

A Wanner grease gun full of oil should displace the hard grease and freely expell oil thro the top trunnion seal.

But removal of the bottom trunnion bolt and unscrewing the trunnion and cleaning both the vertical link screw thread and trunnion isn't too hard, I've never bothered to jack the wheel up to take the load off. If oil is expelled thro the top seal I've always assumed it's lubed, mind you I give it a good flush. I oil the trunnions twice a year its messy but that's what paper towels & old newspapers are for. 

[Colin Lindsay]

Difficult to do on my cars without removing the whole brake disc shield too, four bolts and tab washers on the early ones and three nylocs on the later, so a lot more work on some cars.

If the trunnion has been greased and it's possibly dried out, and you can't easily remove it for a full clean, then just give it whatever oil it will take, drive for a day or two, and repeat. The oil softens the grease so that it will eventually all be driven out by fresh oil. 

[Peter Truman]

so long since I cleaned both the Vitesse & Spitfire trunnion cap and thread I cannot fully remember Colin, but as I cleaned them all and have lubed frequently with brass acceptable oil it's not an issue, I also soldered the bottom steel trunnion sealing washer to the brass trunnion body so the oil doesn't leak out ie there's a reservoir of oil kept in the trunnion.

I have a spare set of assembled front suspensions on the spares shelf sans backplates and discs, I looked at those, in fact I popped the trunnion bolt out and slid the trunnion out of the lower wishbone that's why I thought it was so easy! My error.