Batmini
168 posts
Joined: 11/03/2007 10:47:54
Location: Kidderminster United Kingdom (Excluding channel Islands)
spax coil over or hi-los???
The knuckle joints are on this site and should cost about a tenner each. Well worth replacing if you're doing the rest of your suspension. As Taff says, the hardest part can be getting the little nylon cup out of the suspension arm. The main part is a doddle particularly if you're fitting hi-los. Just slot the new knuckle in the end of the hi-lo, fit the new nylon cup in the suspension cone and then when assembled, tuck the ends of the rubber on the knuckle over the lip of the nylon cup.
The tool you talk about is used to compress the rubber spring at the very top of the suspension so that you can get the cone and knuckle on and off of the suspension arm. It is just about possible to do the job without this tool, but involves a lot of dodgy levering and wedging of the suspension with a good chance of damaging something or yourself.
Just remember, if you do replace the rubber cones and then fit your hi-los, set the ride height a little higher than desired to start with. After a while the new rubber cones will compress slightly and fit the car better. Lots of people set the ride height, then end up after afew days having to raise it again when the cones have settled.
Fitting all this stuff is straight forward enough and covered in the good old reliable haynes manual (except the hi-lo bit).
Posted: Jan 31, 2009 05:40 PM
Tim
1849 posts
Joined: 18/10/2004 09:40:59
Location: Bournemouth United Kingdom (Excluding channel Islands)
Front suspension height
Yes, you need to drive it around for a bit - preferably over some bumpy roads (shouldn't be too difficult to find some of those!). When you replaced the knuckle joint, did you make sure to dig out all the remains of the old nylon cup?
Posted: Mar 25, 2009 09:09 PM
wheels catching wheelarch
When you replaced the rubber cones did you replace the nylon cups in the knuckle joints? These make a considerable difference to the ride height. There really shouldn't be a problem with those wheels, unless your wheelarch extensions have significantly reduced the clearance?
Posted: May 22, 2010 01:03 PM
Rear cone fitting
Have you made sure that the new nylon cup is fully seated in the radius arm? If you've got the thicker style knuckle joint then obviously you don't need to put the spacer back.
Posted: Jun 30, 2014 06:13 AM
Rear suspension ride height
If you haven't got the nylon cup for the knuckle joint seated correctly it will make a huge difference to ride height. It's a pain to take it all apart again, but it may just settle down after a few miles of bumpy roads.
Posted: Jul 11, 2017 06:35 AM
cooper-man
2 posts
Joined: 18/07/2006 14:01:32
Location: belper United Kingdom (Excluding channel Islands)
Hi Tim thanks for the information, no the neither the knuckle joints or the cups were replaced, maybe in hindsight we should have done. Thanks anyway will give it a try. Grateful for your comments and taking the time to reply. Regards Stuart
Posted: May 23, 2010 07:00 PM
jag_clarke
1948 posts
Joined: 28/05/2006 16:49:46
Location: cambridge United Kingdom (Excluding channel Islands)
re
yes two front two rear, and the knuckle joints go on the end of the orriginal die cast aluminum trumpits and on hilow sets go on then of steel rod. these sit in suspension arms and act as a flexable joint they do often wear. the suspension kits often come with spare nylon cups but the origianal knuckles are often seazed in aluminum (cast iron on first few minis) trumpits. if u have truble getting them out it as things dont always go as planned as things seaze or rubber donut thread can strip then it can be easyier to hacksaw alloy trumpit out. if u lower your mini by about an 1 inch using hilo's ur mini suspension geometry will improve from positive to negative camber. ideally u want about 1.5-2 degrees negative on front (this can be set with ajjustable arm), rear needs a bracket to ajjust camber from positive to negative. toe in and out shouldnt be affected and the other geometry will depend on what wheels are fitted so you cant ajjust.
Posted: Feb 01, 2009 12:38 PM
Tyres Scraping the wheelarches when cornering or hitting bumps!
They're called "knuckle joints" - where the bottom of the cone spring has a round ball that sits in a nylon cup in the suspension upper arm.
But I much prefer "squeakballs"!
There's no provision for greasing the knuckle joint, and if the rubber dust cover falls off then I reckon they can break up very quickly. You will of course need to compress the cone spring to release the upper arm. Make sure you remove every trace of the old nylon cup, and all rust etc. from the seating as otherwise your suspension will sit too high!
Posted: Jul 04, 2006 03:15 PM
Upper suspension arm woes
Thought I'd check over the front suspension on the 88 Red Hot yesterday, whilst the engine and subframe are out of the car.
Driver's side came apart no problem, just replaced the nylon cup in the upper arm, put it back together and greased it up.
Passenger's side, however, was a different story. First, I discovered after compressing the cone, that the bottom (ball) end of the trumpet was broken off in the nylon cup. Then I discovered that the fulcrum shaft was seized solid in the arm, and no amount of heat/banging would remove it. After many frustrating hours, I cut the ends off with the angle grinder and removed it that way. Hoping to be able to remove the remaining part of the shaft today, but if all else fails I'll need a new suspension arm. Anyone got one in their garage?
Looking at the pieces now, I'd say the trumpet wasn't broken, it was deliberately cut. And the oddest thing is that the car was driving perfectly like this!
Posted: Oct 15, 2006 08:13 AM
J. Lyon
214 posts
Joined: 11/12/2006 18:57:13
Location: Colorado springs United States
Rear Suspension Cones
Thanks, I'll have to try that. Just wondering, I did try it when I had the trailing arm down before and I don't think I'd be able to get the knuckle joint out, perhaps it was just getting stuck on the nylon cup? I'm thinking tap it out with a hammer and pry bar?
-James
Posted: Mar 29, 2008 08:56 PM
knutspeed
17 posts
Joined: 13/09/2004 22:14:01
Location: Sarpsborg Norway
Hi Matt - the low pose is likely because of worn steel balljoints that sit between the top suspension arm and the trumpet/cone in a small nylon cup. If they are not greased regularly, or after many miles, they wear and make the suspension drop. Usually accompanied by a loud squeaky noise in bumps. Number two may be the front rubber cones have become flat. This is at least very common on later (heavier) cars - also making the car sit low at the front. I worked around both problems on one of my cars by fitting hilos to the front.
Are the wheels wide? On later cars running the sportspack wheels the wheel opening has been modified at the front. Rubbing can even happen when running 10x6" wheels, esp if the car is lowered. The cutting operation is quite simple - but you'll need arches to hide it.
Posted: Jul 04, 2006 01:17 PM
front rubber cones
They're easy enough to replace provided you've got the proper compressor tool - there is no way round this.
While you're at it, make sure you replace the nylon cups in the knuckle joints, and if you're in the least bit suspicious of your dampers replace those as well. I just did mine at the weekend - the old ones appeared to be OK, but they'd been on there 25 years and looking knackered, so I bought a set of KYB gas ones and fitted those - the difference in the drive is amazing! You get so used to banging and crashing over the potholes that you forget what the car ought to feel like.
Posted: Jul 23, 2007 08:53 AM
mark
397 posts
Joined: 18/08/2005 14:01:28
Location: Hitchin United Kingdom (Excluding channel Islands)
Posted: Jul 24, 2007 07:44 AM
Barry Brown
511 posts
Joined: 23/06/2008 12:08:31
Location: New Barn United Kingdom (Excluding channel Islands)
Rear Suspension
Gareth - what make and model?
If it's a hydrolastic "WET" (mk2) then this is an indicator that you've lost pressure in that side.
If it's "DRY" version then as Tim says, it's either the dreaded subframe rot, a collapsed trumpet or the kncuckle end has pushed through the nylon cup, although that last one would drop you that low unless the car was already on a lowered setup. Time to jack it up and see what falls out.
Posted: Feb 15, 2011 09:32 AM
rubber cone.
Hi Tim, you sure they haven't just punched through the nylon cups?
As if I'd make you paranoid enough about them to have to crawl under a Mini just as the cold weather starts....
besides - we're all more likely to have to change the cr4ppy knuckle dust seals yearly now as all the suppliers don't seem to be able to stock decent ones.
Posted: Oct 16, 2013 09:54 AM
dodgy 21A425 knuckle gaiters
Hi Tim - yep all 4 have the same issue. they have developed oblique cracks about 16th inch apart all way around the 'bulb' where it swells to fit over the nylon cup. Joints were assembled with Castrol LM grease. I've checked elsewhere and although they prefer to pack them with graphite grease they said that LM shouldn't be the cause.
They came out of the packaging in April 2009, were fitted to the rebuilt components which where then fitted to the subframe. The subframe was stored in the garden shed out of direct sunlight until April 2010 when it was put back on the car.
it's frustrating !
Posted: Jan 22, 2011 08:56 PM
Bill Frost
6 posts
Joined: 22/11/2007 14:51:12
Location: Aberlady United Kingdom (Excluding channel Islands)
Rear suspension cones - removal
A final update on the process, should anyone be interested. Sure enough, it was extremely difficult. Didn't want to hammer/chisel hard, to avoid damaging the rest of the car. Inspection revealed that the rubber cone's metal base ring had corroded badly for about 1/8 of its diameter, so I sacrificed the cone - I had wanted to replace it and the damper anyway. How? Electric drill plus multiple bits!
Once the assembly of the cone and trumpet was extracted, in good light on a solid bench with an old wood chisel I was able to pry into the joint between the rubber cone and the trumpet and separate them. The knuckle joint was OK for wear, so I just renewed the nylon cup and rebuilt the joint - sure enough, the socket in the radius arm that it fits into had corroded internally, reducing its diameter so it wouldn't fit back into it - in the end I used a dremel plus flexi-shaft with one of their sanding drums, which did the job nicely! Reassembly of it all wasn't too bad, although getting the knuckle joint into the end of the trumpet on the car was a bit of a levering job.
So now, the back left hand side to do - of course, the petrol tank is in the way of the top mounting point for the damper, so that will have to come out first! The braided hose needs renewing, so I may as well do the job properly!
Bill
Posted: Feb 27, 2008 09:54 AM
Vitamin
Joined: 21/01/2007 15:28:35
Location: Beverley United Kingdom (Excluding channel Islands)
Suspension Knuckle Joint Replacement
Assuming it's a dry Mini then it could be the knuckle joints. The steel ball sits in a nylon cup and if the cup breaks up or wears through that part of the suspension collapses. Yes you will need a cone spring compresor as you have to remove the trumpet from between the cone spring and the upper suspension arm. When my rear ones went they produced a loud clicking noise.
Knock the joint out from behind with a long screwdriver and make sure you put plenty of grease in the new joint and make sure the rubber dust cover seats properly to protect the joint - dirt and water getting in is usually the cause of the problem in the first place.
Posted: Jan 24, 2007 01:14 AM
Switch
Joined: 09/10/2008 13:41:13
Location: Heathfield United Kingdom (Excluding channel Islands)
cheers
Thanks for the advice.
I've solved it, the recon arms came with the nylon cup installed. The knuckles I bought were complete with the nylong cup, so I took the one out of the arms and tested the complete knuckle in the hole...it was way too lose, so I swapped the nylong caps over and all is now good and fitted. Just waiting for next week when the car goes to the mechanic to have it all fitted.
Thanks again!
Martin
Posted: Jan 15, 2009 10:25 AM
95 Cooper rear suspension arm knuckle joints....which ones?
Hi All,
My g/f and I have just taken delivery of all the parts necessary to get the cooper thorugh it's MOT. It's in to my mechanic next week for the work.
However, one of the things that needed replacing was the rear suspension arms and the knuckle joints...I couldn't find any knuckle joint on mini spares which said after 1990 for the rear, so I e-mailed them and was told that this: GSV1264 would be the correct part...even though it says front. So we ordered a pair. I am a little concerned however as they would seem an amazingly tight fit in the nylon cups in the new (well re-con) rear arms. I realise they need to be tight, but I'm still concerned and need to make sure, so we can order the correct parts before it goes in to be fixed up.
Have we got the right ones?
Any answers would be most appreciated!
Cheers,
Posted: Jan 14, 2009 01:56 PM