trunnion oiling, greasing and inspection. and now trunnion v trunnionless ??

[steveo]

Reliant must have thought it was a good idea, they used Triumph front suspension on the GTE. 

[johny]

Yes Lotus did as well but I suspect in both cases it was what was available at the time and at the right price. Dont get me wrong its not a bad suspension but would have been so much better with two ball joints...

[Peter Truman]

I moved on from Sprites as it’s front suspension was so archaic king pins and top wishbone being the levers from a lever arm shock the Triumph suspension was such an improvement and a twice yearly oil of the trunnions is no hardship

Maybe a bottom ball joint didn’t give enough side rotation or did a bottom ball joint the same as top cost a penny more?

The fact that both my Vit and Spit are still original vertical links and brass trunnions after nearly 60 years with replacement trunnion bush’s say every 5 years is good enough for me!

Tell me if I’m wrong but aren’t the trunnion less vertical link/upright bottom ball joints missing a rubber boot  how does that work with all the road dirt?

[Colin Lindsay]

2 hours ago, johny said:

Cor it says they were phased out in the 30s so dont think any competitor of the Herald etc was still using them!

They were used much more recently, MGBs, VWs, Morgans and others used them, including 2CVs until relatively recently. My father's 1962 Minx had them. I read an article claiming that VW owners prefer kingpins to balljoints in some beach-buggy vehicles as they take more abuse. Another interesting one about cost from Ford:

 

 

[johny]

Ha, sounds like we should have Henry Fords kingpins in our cars!

[Pete Lewis]

i remember at tech college one lad had an old morris oxford  with smoke puring out of the n/s wheel  the trunion had dropped off and was running on the inside of the wheel rim 

pulled the wheel off and that all flew apart that ended his night out 

Pete

[alan.gilbert_6384]

Found this interesting article.  Thoughts anyone ?

http://www.gt6mk2.com/Articles/Technofile - the Alford & Alder upright.pdf

[Pete Lewis]

sounds like a good reason to keep them 

Pete

[Gary Flinn]

2 hours ago, alan.gilbert_6384 said:

Found this interesting article.  Thoughts anyone ?

http://www.gt6mk2.com/Articles/Technofile - the Alford & Alder upright.pdf

That's a great article Alan, thanks for sharing.

It just goes to show what a good design it was, even better now with the new Trunnion less versions?

Gary  

 

[johny]

Yes interesting! However still doesnt explain why it had the threaded lower trunnion design☹️

[avivalasvegas]

Just fitted Canley's Trunionless conversion and found it to be money well spent. Dramatically reduced steering effort (feels like tyres went from under-inflated to over-inflated) and a more pliant front side ride quality. 

The peace of mind is also a plus! 

[Peter Truman]

It always intrigues me there is no rubber boot on that ball joint even the factory upper wishbone tapered ball joint was fitted with a boot.

[johny]

Yes, can only think its stainless so, like the new suspension bushes offered now, no longer need seals....

[NonMember]

But surely the rubber boot isn't there just for water. It serves to keep grease in and to keep abrasive dust out. Neither of those needs are removed by stainless.

[johny]

No grease on the polybush trunnions nowadays and not recommended for that lower ball joint conversion either. Perhaps if grease was used gaiters would be required to prevent a grease/grit mix? Goes against the grain but got to move with the times I suppose...

[Clive]

Doesn't seem needed. Over 30k miles and no issues. The very occasional squirt of WD40 as recommended by teh mnaufacturer. Nothing else required. 

[alan.gilbert_6384]

All now installed, just need some nice weather to try them out.

[Peter Truman]

I've got to ask and you can call me a cheeky B! but what's the technical thought behind brand new top greaseable ball joints & a non-greaseable & non sealed bottom ball joint? only asking?

Great looking job by the way, I'm jealous!.

[Clive]

I have no idea about the top ball joints being greasable, they were always sealed for life. But I guess teh old fashioned greasable idea appeals to a lot of classic owners. And h=can do no harm.

As to teh trunnionless VLs, they are what Caterham have been using fort years. Stronger than the original trunnion type, with excellent longevity despite requiring virtually zero maintenance. I can attest to all that, I have squirted WD40 on a few times in the 30+ thousand miles and they are as good as gold. I am no engineer, but I can see a good idea when I see it. Especially when it has OEM origins. 

[alan.gilbert_6384]

39 minutes ago, Peter Truman said:

I've got to ask and you can call me a cheeky B! but what's the technical thought behind brand new top greaseable ball joints & a non-greaseable & non sealed bottom ball joint? only asking?

Great looking job by the way, I'm jealous!.

Cheers Peter,

I ordered new top joints because I thought in for a penny in for a pound.  They were from Retro spares ltd, cost £11.54 for both.  I was surprised when they arrived and discovered they were grease nipple type, I thought I was ordering the cheaper sealed ones part number GSJ155, hey ho 😁

[johny]

Believe the trunnionless jobbie is stainless steel, unlike top ball joints, so the difference in protection.

I think youll find the top ball jointer gaiters will fail very quickly. Mine, with very little use, started cracking within six months so it was out with the ball joint cracker to replace them with new gaiters from balljointboots.co.uk. These seem more quite a bit more substantial and hopefully will last longer....

[Peter Truman]

Agree re ball joint gaiters as usual aftermarket new one’s are generally useless!

if special vertical link bottom ball joint has lasted 30yrs  it’s obviously durable, I’d be interested Re confirmation it’s stainless?

 

[johny]

Yes there seems to be a risk with any replacement rubber components for our cars now, that the material will disintegrate rapidly without exposure to sunlight or useage, almost as if its biodegradeable!

I got the stainless bit from the Canley page:

Developed by us following Formua series racing practice of the 1960/70s. We were running early versions of our kits on our Triumphs back in the early 80's back when they were more usually seen on the race track.  Initially our kits were sold with a imperial spherical ball joint, but later modified by us to take a modern metric stainless steel, and PFTE bearing surface spherical joint.

[MikeS]

Reviving this one, does anyone know the ‘difference’ between the Canley Classics trunnionless kit and the one Rimmers sell? Give the description on the Rimmers site is word for word the Canley description I’m thinking the same supplier.
 

Only Rimmers have them on offer at the moment for £370 ex vat and Canleys are listing them out of stock. Just wondering whether to bite the bullet and get the trunnionless kit and a pair of alloy hubs for my 1500, after 12 years it’s time for a refresh of the front suspenders

thanks

Mike

[johny]

Like most after market stuff nowadays there is only one manufacturer (either here or abroad) as there isnt the demand to make it profitable for multiple companies to get involved. This means prices and worse quality are fixed but at least the items are available😊

However saying this it is still worth shopping around as there are differences in prices at different suppliers because by buying wholesale they get the items at a discount and then decide how much of that to pass on....