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Car Forum / UK Car Forums / Classic Cars (UK group) / October 2003Triumph Trunnions
Hi everybody. I will shortly need to service my Triumph Spitfire for the first time, and was wondering a) What oil do you use in the trunnions (I know it isn't grease) b) How you get it in there The obvious answer to the latter question is to use a grease gun and screw a nipple in, but I've been advised that standard handle pump action grease guns can't pump oil properly. Any thoughts would be much appreciated, David David, get yourself a bottle of EP90 gear oil and a standard pump action oil can with a plastic or bendy spout - fill can with EP90 jack up car - to allow the oil to get right into the trunnion put cloth or plastic sheet on floor unscrew grease nipple from trunnion shove the end of your oil can into the nipple hole pump until oil comes out everywhere and collects in a pool on your cloth - make sure it comes out of the trunnion too wipe up excess, get new cloth, wipe up some more replace nipple lower car and make note to do this every 3000 miles or six months (the manual says every 6000 miles) Alternatively do it in next door's driveway when they are out :-)  SignatureJ 10 countries in a 22 foot long stretched Triumph Herald? They said it couldn't be done - they were wrong! Believe - http://www.canleyclassics.com/10cr OR how about Plymouth to Dakar in two Triumph Heralds, yes really! Visit http://www.team-michelotti.org and see how you can help. > Hi everybody. > [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > > David > David, get yourself a bottle of EP90 gear oil and a standard pump action oil > can with a plastic or bendy spout - [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > unscrew grease nipple from trunnion > shove the end of your oil can into the nipple hole Hi Jason, You're intent on doing things the messy way, aren't you! Get a good quality grease gun, I use a Wanner Abnox gun which I've had for about 12 years. I keep this as a dedicated gun for trunnion oiling and it's always been very effective. The usual problem with pumping oil is the poor quality grease fittings supplied with some guns, they just leak when pressure is applied. When storing the gun full of oil, pull back the lever to release pressure, otherwise you will have gradual seepage at joints. Cheers, Bill. -- Rarebits4classics .......just what you've been looking for PO Box 1232 Calne Wiltshire SN11 8WA United Kingdom http://www.rarebits4classics.co.uk LOL - cheap, Bill I do it the cheap way - well no actually I don't claim this method as my own, it's Leon's I think. I just couldn't find a grease gun that was good enough at this so I went for the existing oil can and it worked fine. I am very tempted by the air fed grease guns - they should have a good seal and if I can regulate the air pressure down low enough that should be great! SignatureJ 10 countries in a 22 foot long stretched Triumph Herald? They said it couldn't be done - they were wrong! Believe - http://www.canleyclassics.com/10cr OR how about Plymouth to Dakar in two Triumph Heralds, yes really! Visit http://www.team-michelotti.org and see how you can help. > > > David, get yourself a bottle of EP90 gear oil and a standard pump action [quoted text clipped - 28 lines] > United Kingdom > http://www.rarebits4classics.co.uk Well having owned my Spit for some 22 years and 120 k miles all I can say is why oil the trunnions? I know its says so in the book but what's wrong with grease? When I was a newbie I used to fart about with EP 90 and get it every where exept thru the nipple. I gave up and went for good old Castrol grease. It doesnt run out and is extremely good at lubrciating things under pressure isnt it? I cant believe the trunion threads are more or less stressed than prop shaft u/j needle rollers. It passes every MoT and I grease them every year or so. I read all the club articles and the prophecies of doom but well I'm not going back. More important is to grease the rear wheel bearings. C'mon tell me why I'm wrong all you Spit heads.... Jonners > Well having owned my Spit for some 22 years and 120 k miles all I can say is > why oil the trunnions? > I know its says so in the book but what's wrong with grease? Historically, older formualations of grease were prone to hardening with age. New grease won't displace dried greasewhen pumped in, it will find it's own channel and pump through that, leaving the dried out grease in place. Grease is also prone to leaving air gaps so portions of the thread remain unlubricated. Gear oil is self levelling so there is no chance of an airlock in the greasegun being causing a bubble where lubrication is needed. Modern greases shouldn't dry out to the same degree as the old formulations, but any neglect will still be felt. Having owned in excess of 40 Heralds and a number of Spitfires, and used them ad daily transport over the past 14years, I've not yet suffered a broken vertical link. I am disinclined to try and be clever by re-inventing a lubrication procedure which I believe the manufacturers got absolutely right, Cheers, Bill. -- Rarebits4classics .......just what you've been looking for PO Box 1232 Calne Wiltshire SN11 8WA United Kingdom http://www.rarebits4classics.co.uk > When I was a > newbie I used to fart about with EP 90 and get it every where exept thru the [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > C'mon tell me why I'm wrong all you Spit heads.... > Jonners > Modern greases shouldn't dry out to the same degree as the old formulations, > but any neglect will still be felt. Having owned in excess of 40 Heralds and > a number of Spitfires, and used them ad daily transport over the past > 14years, I've not yet suffered a broken vertical link. I forgot to mention that many of the cars I've owned and those of customers have come to me with front trunnions and vertical links in a truly dreadful state. Invariably the really bad ones (and particularly the snapped links) have been greased, Cheers, Bill. -- Rarebits4classics .......just what you've been looking for PO Box 1232 Calne Wiltshire SN11 8WA United Kingdom http://www.rarebits4classics.co.uk > Hi Jason, > You're intent on doing things the messy way, aren't you! Get a good [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > grease fittings supplied with some guns, they just leak when pressure is > applied. I have never owned a Triumph that needed its trunnions oiled, so this is off on a bit of a tangent, but... The kingpins on a P5 Rover need oil rather than grease too, and the recommended lubricant was EP140. This is thicker than EP90 but still oil rather than grease, and any grease gun with a flexible spout could pump it. I don't know if EP140 is suitable for a Spit (or even if it is still available!). Perhaps someone in the NG could comment? Jim > I don't know if EP140 is suitable for a Spit (or even if it is still > available!). Perhaps someone in the NG could comment? I think it's available as gearbox lubricant for Seagull outboard motors. Ian "David Balfour" <davebalfour@hotmail.com> realised it was Wed, 22 Oct 2003 13:54:31 +0100 and decided it was time to write: >a)What oil do you use in the trunnions Hypoid 90W was what Standard-Triumph suggested. >(I know it isn't grease) I don't bother with oil, I just pump in a lot of lithium grease very regularly (at least every 3,000 km's). I've had no problems over the last 40,000 km's. >b) How you get it in there http://www.vtr.org/maintain/trunnion-oil.html http://www.belchamber.org/techtrunn.html SignatureY. Grease or oil the age old debate - my answer? It doesn't really matter what lubrication you put in there, just do it and do it regularly. It's the accumulation of road dirt and water that kills the thing. It's something of a misnomer to talk about trunnion failures as it fact the trunnions don't corrode, they are brass - it's the vertical link that fails, it's cast and machined steel. The threaded part that screws into the trunnion corrodes and breaks. If you're lucky it happens at low speed if you're not then it happens at 40 mph with oncoming traffic. I've seen the aftermath of that, not nice. When it fails you run the risk of panel and suspension damage to your car plus whatever you hit when you lose steering and possibly brakes too - all for the sake of 20 minutes with a grease/oil gun. In normal service the vertical link and trunnion are pretty robust, I've ripped the lower wishbone off the front suspension of a Vitesse following a broadside slide into a kerb - the impact totalled a wheel as well as the lower wishbone - the vertical link stayed in one piece. As funds were scarce and I was young and reckless I never changed it - it was still fine 3 years later after the car had been raced for 2 seasons! SignatureJ 10 countries in a 22 foot long stretched Triumph Herald? They said it couldn't be done - they were wrong! Believe - http://www.canleyclassics.com/10cr OR how about Plymouth to Dakar in two Triumph Heralds, yes really! Visit http://www.team-michelotti.org and see how you can help. > "David Balfour" <davebalfour@hotmail.com> realised it was Wed, 22 Oct > 2003 13:54:31 +0100 and decided it was time to write: [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > http://www.vtr.org/maintain/trunnion-oil.html > http://www.belchamber.org/techtrunn.html > Grease or oil the age old debate - my answer? It doesn't really matter what > lubrication you put in there, just do it and do it regularly. It's the > accumulation of road dirt and water that kills the thing. It's something of > a misnomer to talk about trunnion failures as it fact the trunnions don't > corrode, they are brass - it's the vertical link that fails, it's cast and > machined steel. Hi Jason, The trunnions actually wear very badly, but as you say they don't fail catastrophically. A friend had a Herald fail it's MOT on a "N/S trunnion worn", which the garage charged a substanial amount to repair. About 6 months later, the owner swapped from disc to drum brakes and gave me the surplus parts. I could push the nearside trunnion up and down by about 4-5mm on the vertical link, absolutely dreadful. If you ever drive a Herald/Spitfire or similar where there are periodic clunks. seemingly from theneath the floorpan, as you change direction of travel or increase power, that's most likely the vertical link rocking on it's threads within the trunnion. > The threaded part that screws into the trunnion corrodes and > breaks. If you're lucky it happens at low speed if you're not then it > happens at 40 mph with oncoming traffic. I've seen the aftermath of that, > not nice. The friend who introduced me to Heralds had a vertical link snap at 70+mph in the fast lane of the M4 in Wales (yes, it had been greased). This tale made me obsessive about oiling and general trunnion care from day 1 of Herald ownership. > When it fails you run the risk of panel and suspension damage to > your car plus whatever you hit when you lose steering and possibly brakes [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > and I was young and reckless I never changed it - it was still fine 3 years > later after the car had been raced for 2 seasons! > Hi everybody. > [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > > David Two problems kill trunnions -- water and dirt ingress and the gease hardening -- it really dosent matter what you use grease or oil as long as it is done regularly to flush the dirt and oild lubricant out. |
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