Front Lower Wishbone Inner Fixing & Torque Settings

[New Cat]

Hi,

 

During my MOT we noticed that the front lower wishbone inside rear bolt was a little loose. This is the bolt that attaches the wishbone to the chassis beneath the oil filter (x-flow) under the nose cone. The car is a 1994 De-dion X-flow.

 

I would like to confirm what washers / locking nuts etc should be there and what the torque setting should be.

 

Many thanks,

 

Jon

 

Edited by - new cat on 27 Apr 2014 13:39:00

[John Vine]

Do you have a copy of the Assembly Guide? If not, you can download one (albeit a K-series one but probably still applicable) here.

 

JV

 

Edited by - John Vine on 27 Apr 2014 14:10:48

[New Cat]

Yes I found one of those and it talks about spring washers and spacers but doesn't give many other details. It also talks about a torque setting of 60 lbft. Sound reasonable?

 

Does it has any sort of locking nut? Should it be locktited?

 

Thanks

[John Vine]

My comments here assume that the Guide I referred to above applies to a 1994 DD chassis. It probably does, but I can't be sure as my first 7 was a 1999 model.

 

Have a look at Section 3, page 2, Fig 2 (about page 45). This shows pretty clearly how the wishbones are fitted. The front mount has a plain washer and a spring washer. The rear mount has a Nyloc nut. 60 lbft is correct for both, and you don't need Loctite. Smearing a little copper grease on the bolt threads is a good idea.

 

The washer combination you use depends on how much castor you want (and whether you have wide-track). There's a discussion here.

 

Hope that helps.

 

JV

[Molecular--Bob]

If you front end is trunnion, then the rear lower bolt is 40-45ft/lb, the front lower is 25ft/lb. In this set up there is a chamfered washer under the bolt head and the nut, which is a locknut.

 

Edited by - Molecular--Bob on 27 Apr 2014 19:55:45

[John Vine]

Ah, trunnions.... Bit before my time, those. If you do indeed have trunnions, my AG comments above won't apply. (Out of interest, does anyone know when trunnions were phased out?)

 

While poking around in some old back-up files just now, I came across a CC Assembly Guide dated October 1988. However, I can't vouch for its provenance, or whether it relates to your car. It's in the form of 19 PDF sections. If it's any help, I can email them to you (just send me a blatmail).

 

Section 05 (Front Suspension) says: Secure the rear lower wishbone mounting with 1/2” x 3 1/2” bolt, washer and nyloc, inserting the bolt from the rear with the washer against its head. A later section on torques says to tighten to 50-60lbft.

 

ETA: Does your car have full double wishbones, or do the upper wishbones include the ARB for triangulation?

 

JV

 

Edited by - John Vine on 28 Apr 2014 12:28:00

[New Cat]

Thanks very much John, no not trunnions!

 

I'll take a look tonight, try to see if I'm looking at the right build manual. I'm fairly sure that I don't currently have a nyloc nut on there for one thing.