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Car Forum / MINI / November 2005off-side supension problem
Hi, I have a '91 Rover mini cooper and the offside suspension seems to be very low, the wheel arch is almost touching the tyre with only about a centimeter of clearance, if I try to put my weight on the wing the suspension hardly moves but when driving hard around corners or going over big bumps you occasionally hear the tyre rubbing on the wheel arch. Incidently the A panel is rusted on that side and coming away at the bottom corner near the door bottom. I've had the wheel off and the car jacked up (which affected the closure of the driver door slightly while on the jack but back to normal after!? ) but not sure what I'm looking for re: faulty cone etc... should I just replace the cone? Anyone in west london want to lend me their compression tool : ) or alternatively can anyone reccomend a reasonable mini specialist in west london who would do the job - if thats what it needs... The suspension doesn't appear to have been lowered, the near side appears normal. I dont know much about this cars history so I'm having to find out all the problems as I go, managed to get a years mot so hoping its not too bad, wish me luck. Any help much appreciated. Regards, Gwilym. The plastic knuckle joint cup in the top arm has probably worn through. These only cost a few pounds. But you will need the suspension compressor tool to fit one. At the moment you'll probably find the top suspension arm is sitting on the bump stop if you turn the wheel and have a look.  SignatureClive www.minisquad.tk > Hi, > [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > moves but when driving hard around corners or going over big bumps you > occasionally hear the tyre rubbing on the wheel arch As Clive said it's probably the knuckle joint that's gone. However, Minis made in the 90's are notorious for having cones that go soft or collapse. If you're going to go to all of the effort to replace a knuckle joint you should change the cone as well. If you're going to all the effort to do one side, you might as well do both. You'll find that after changing the first side that the car leans the opposite direction. In addition this is a good time to add Hi-Los. It never stops does it. The bottom line is that making these changes will transform the handling of the car. Well worth it. Do it once and be done with it. Cheers, Kelley >Hi, > [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] >Any help much appreciated. >Regards, Gwilym. I've got a 90' Mainstream Mini Cooper, i.e. it's got a carb and not injection so I guess it's the same as yours, but ours was down a bit on the near side when we bought it and it's bum was up too. Well we just fitted Mini Sport adjusta-rides all round back in 1996 and have had no problems since. Taffy > As Clive said it's probably the knuckle joint that's gone. However, > Minis made in the 90's are notorious for having cones that go soft or [quoted text clipped - 35 lines] > >Any help much appreciated. > >Regards, Gwilym. Ok, I've had a look again at the suspension now I understand a bit better how it should be. On the dropped side the bump stop is missing but the gap between the upper arm and the chassis is about the same as the other side (where the upper arm is resting on the bump stop). I'm going to go to mini spares on saturday and buy the cheap tool (M14 studding is actually quite hard to come by and expensive - the tool is only £17), a pair of knuckle joints, a new bump stop and a pair of hi-lo's. If that doesnt do the trick I will replace the cones next week : ) Do I need a ball joint seperator or is the Haynes tool tip using a hammer sufficient? Let you all know how I get on. Cheers, Gwilym. > As Clive said it's probably the knuckle joint that's gone. However, > Minis made in the 90's are notorious for having cones that go soft or [quoted text clipped - 35 lines] > >Any help much appreciated. > >Regards, Gwilym. they will come out without splitting the ball joint, you may need a large screwdriver to aid removal after the cone has been compressed, Steve. > Ok, I've had a look again at the suspension now I understand a bit better > how it should be. [quoted text clipped - 67 lines] >> >Any help much appreciated. >> >Regards, Gwilym. Saturday morning up to Mini Spares, some two and a half hours later back and ready to start, thought I'll just quickly fit these new spotlamps cant take long (wiring all present simply replacing one functional and one smashed)... some two hours later lamps fitted and finally functioning, I vow to one day soon go through all the wiring and replace all connections as a minimum! Next to fit the Hi-Lo's, car jacked up bonnet and wheel removed, remove the subframe mounting bolt... nice of the Haynes manual to pre-warn of the 1,5/16" socket required to release it - in fact according to Haynes there are two. Job abandoned in favour of the Football. Sunday, armed with a newly purchased 1,5/16" socket I set to work again. As expected everything conspires against me in particular the plate remains of the missing bump stop that I needed to remove to replace with new one - even if it wasnt rusted up, what a sh*t of a position to get to with the nut inside the chassis tower allowing only a very small spanner. Finally get one side of the suspension done but its now pitch black, lower the old trolley jack (finally, it jammed and wouldn't go down - add an extra half an hour) and hey presto the coopers ready to go to the Paris-Dakar (on one side anyway), ok so its far too high even though I measured it against the original cone as described in the instuctions. Here we go again, I dont have a spanner big enough to adjust the Hi-Lo,... adjusted gingerly with molegrips trying not to damage the nuts, subsequently took ages. So now I have one Hi-Lo on the mini and it has done the job, all I need now are some more tools and a day maybe less :) to do the other side. If anyone is thinking of doing this I would say it is incredibly easy but make sure you are prepared with the correct tools and expect it to take longer than you budget, at least for the first one. Suggested tools: Mini Spares Tool07 spring compressor metric only (just £17 and did the job fine) A decent socket set ** 1,5/16" Socket** An impact driver (to remove the rubber stop below the upper arm to maximise droop) 11mm short ring spanner (to remove the cone shaped bump stop - or is it AF...can anyone confirm this?) Spanners to adjust the Hi-Lo - Can anyone confirm the sizes? I got 1,1/4" and 26mm with the Verniers. (Nice of them to not include that in the instructions) I suggest you get new knuckle joints at the same time as their cheap and save you trying to remove the old ones from the aluminium trumpets that you're replacing. Thanks for everyones input. Gwilym. > Ok, I've had a look again at the suspension now I understand a bit better > how it should be. [quoted text clipped - 61 lines] > > >Any help much appreciated. > > >Regards, Gwilym. Thanks a lot for the advice Clive and Kelley, I'll try to get the parts (and tool) for the weekend then give it a go. Got the Haynes manual anything particularly tricky I should know about, or other special tools I'll need? www.dsnclassics.co.uk have a good page on knuckle joint replacement, they suggest the arm hole can be damaged but have a solution involving filling the hole imperfections with contact adhesive prior to inserting the knuckle cup - has anyone tried this? Hopefully it wont be necessary but sods law dictates it will. Regarding the cones it actually works out approximately the same to buy a pair of Hi-Lo cones and extension rods as it does to buy a pair of standard cones, what are the pros and cons of switching over to the Hi-Lo's? Cheers, Gwilym. > Hi, > [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > Any help much appreciated. > Regards, Gwilym. The knuckle tends to wear through the plastic and into the metal arm, just refitting the plastic cup usually means you will be replacing it in a few months if it is really bad. You can use body filler in the hole to even it out, just mix it up( not too much!) and whack it in before the plastic cup, then reassemble everything and let the spring pressure squeeze any excess out! You can make a spring compressor with a bit of threaded bar (I think M12, or M14 can anyone clarify as I can't find it at the moment :-) You just need a few nuts and a bit of ingenuity! earlier cones have an imperial thread so if yours doesn't fit reasonably easily then you may need to use that! Does that help? miniman > Thanks a lot for the advice Clive and Kelley, > [quoted text clipped - 42 lines] >> Any help much appreciated. >> Regards, Gwilym. By a good quality tool , like the Sykes Picvant with both the early & late threads , why spend the whole weekend trying to concoct something & end up with grazed knuckles, bent spanners & chipped paint work, been there done that, Steve, > The knuckle tends to wear through the plastic and into the metal arm, just > refitting the plastic cup usually means you will be replacing it in a few [quoted text clipped - 70 lines] >>> Any help much appreciated. >>> Regards, Gwilym. Mini Spares in potters bar do a metric only version for £17 so I think I'll go with that as its not something I plan to use often. Somewhere in the middle of the two extremes : ) The haynes manual isnt great for describing the procedure of changing the knuckle joint in particular there isnt a decent diagram of the system, does anyone know where I can find one on the net perhaps? Thanks for everyones help, I'll let you know how I get on. Regards, Gwilym. > By a good quality tool , like the Sykes Picvant with both the early & late > threads , why spend the whole weekend trying to concoct something & end up [quoted text clipped - 77 lines] > >>> Any help much appreciated. > >>> Regards, Gwilym. >Mini Spares in potters bar do a metric only version for £17 so I think I'll >go with that as its not something I plan to use often. >Somewhere in the middle of the two extremes : ) >The haynes manual isnt great for describing the procedure of changing the >knuckle joint in particular there isnt a decent diagram of the system, does >anyone know where I can find one on the net perhaps? see: http://drcwww.uvt.nl/~bogaard/manual/fronsusp/6.htm >Thanks for everyones help, I'll let you know how I get on. >Regards, Gwilym. good luck, Theo van den Bogaard >"Steve68s" <steve68(remove)@btinternet.com> wrote in message .. snip .. I agree with you Steve, use the right tool and you will have it done in no-time, although the threaded bar suggestion is a good one, I would only use it as a last resort, Fitzy > By a good quality tool , like the Sykes Picvant with both the early & late > threads , why spend the whole weekend trying to concoct something & end up [quoted text clipped - 82 lines] >>>> Any help much appreciated. >>>> Regards, Gwilym. It is M14, I just checked! I always thought that the SP compressor was just a bit of threaded bar with a few nuts and pipes attached in the right places, the one | made does the same job, cost £3 and took ten minutes to make properly! It was either that or drive around looking for one on a sunday:-((( > I agree with you Steve, > use the right tool and you will have it done in no-time, [quoted text clipped - 72 lines] >>>>> Any help much appreciated. >>>>> Regards, Gwilym. the sp one I have is a few years old but has a handle thing on it so you dont need any spanners, always remember a little bit of grease on the thread too, Steve. > It is M14, I just checked! I always thought that the SP compressor was > just a bit of threaded bar with a few nuts and pipes attached in the right [quoted text clipped - 99 lines] >>>>>> Any help much appreciated. >>>>>> Regards, Gwilym. > the sp one I have is a few years old but has a handle thing on it so you > dont need any spanners, always remember a little bit of grease on the thread > too, > > Steve. On your 91' Cooper, (like mine) the cones have a course thread. Taffy > > It is M14, I just checked! I always thought that the SP compressor was > > just a bit of threaded bar with a few nuts and pipes attached in the right [quoted text clipped - 99 lines] > >>>>>> Any help much appreciated. > >>>>>> Regards, Gwilym. |
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