Trunnionless suspension kit.

[Sparky_Spit]

Hi Colin - just seen your comment on my VL failure; the VL in question was a new one that was less than a few months old. I bought a pair, including new trunnions, from Fitchetts but I'm sure that they are the same items as all the other suppliers sell. What was odd with the one that failed was that the oil hole which runs up the VL was drilled off centre, by quite some degree. My immediate thought was that was the cause the failure.  However, after seeing some close-up photos of the breakage, a chap on the Sideways forum (who is a metallurgist) concluded that the off centre drilling was unlikely to be the root cause of the failure, but a defect propagating from elsewhere. There is a long forum thread on Sideways somewhere, with pictures and comments.  I sent mine back to Fitchetts and I'm told that they took this up with their supplier, although I heard nothing more from them beyond that. I had a full refund from them and bought trunnionless from Canleys (and new underpants from M&S).  I won't be buying a "new" set of VLs again.

[Colin Lindsay]

35 minutes ago, Sparky_Spit said:

I won't be buying a "new" set of VLs again.

That's interesting in that I too got hold of a 'new' VL which came with a car I bought; it was suspiciously shiny, almost as if chromed, and the threads were terrible. They sort of faded out towards the top. I reused a couple of good old versions after careful inspection; nothing like having your own safety in mind when debating fitting parts to a car you'll be driving...

[Paul H]

I bought a new set of VL for my Vitesse and one of them wouldn’t line up with only 2 bolts fitting . Canleys exchanged ok . 
Paul 

[ahebron]

I will put my hand up and say 'My name is Adrian and I own an Adventure Motor Bike'

 

[Nick Jones]

19 hours ago, ahebron said:

My name is Adrian and I own an Adventure Motor Bike'

Guessed right then….. 🙂

[Sparky_Spit]

19 hours ago, ahebron said:

I will put my hand up and say 'My name is Adrian and I own an Adventure Motor Bike'

 

I used to have one of them. Bloody great big heavy thing. I dropped it once in a car park and it took me and two bystanders to pick it up. That was its last adventure before it got sold and I vowed to never to watch anything featuring Charley Boorman ever again. I now pootle about on something befitting my age, an Enfield Bullet 500.

[ahebron]

Nothing wrong with an Enfield, they are making some great bikes these days

Here is my bike during an adventure. Its current adventures are garage based where it has sat since I last rode in in January. I refuse to ride to work and at present do  not have the mindset to ride in winter.
Recent farkles are heated grips and TPMS.

[Roger K]

After a lot of consideration, I fitted the Canley kit to my GT6.  Way back, I had a trunnion shear on my Vitesse when it was around 6yrs old.  On my way home from work in the dark and snow, driving over a cattle grid at walking speed as about to turn right.  Bang - and the steering had moved the broken trunnion, effectively locking my car into the cattle grid.  The police just put bollards around it until the next morning.

For the GT6, I did buy new VLs and trunnions, the best I could find - but I was not impressed with the quality of the machining, no matter what they had stamped on them, so didn't use them.  The fact is that new, original parts from the 60s and 70s would probably be fine, but these days quality comes a very poor second to price.  Complaining to the suppliers is pointless - Rimmers seem to have forgotten all about the cheese wheel studs they sold me a while back.  The Canley ones haven't snapped yet...