Front Crossmember

Front Crossmember & Suspension Joints

The rubber crossmember mounts were very perished, especially on the right hand side, and the upper outer suspension pivots or trunnions had failed on the last WoF, so I'll do these while I have easy access with the motor out ...

I figured I would be able to just drop the x-member down a little and swap out the mounting rubbers ...   but (shouldn't I have learned by now?) it was not going to be that simple.

One of the locating spigots on the x-member was rusted out - I'm going to have to replace this one.  The rest all need cleaning up and treating as well, so I'll have to pull out the member (said the Bishop to the actress).

Just brake lines, anti-roll bar (swaybar), the steering box pitman arm (drop arm) and the steering idler had to be disconnected in order to drop the x-member out.

Rust on the right rear spigot was pretty bad, but the others looked okay































Cold-chisel and grinder for the old spigot  ....The top of the x-member has some corrosion, but cleaned up okay.

I made a new spigot out of a large washer and a piece of pipe, then centered it up and tacked it in like the originals.

A bit of work with the grinder (because I'm a crap welder) and it's looking like the real thing.









I treated it all with rust-converter, then a coat of chassis paint before reassembly.

The two upper outer suspension pivots (trunnions) have excessive play in them - new ones were sourced from Rare Spares.  

In fact, most of the suspension joints have play in them, but the design is such that it's not really possible to have a super-tight front end (any comments/tips on this point?).  I'll settle for replacing the obviously worn components and cleaning & greasing the others.