TR6 Grease job

Taking the TR6 into a shop tomorrow to change the gearbox oil(probably never been done in 40 years) and lubricate drive shaft, etc. Manual calls for removing plugs on water pump and steering rack. Assuming shop has the correct grease fittings, shouldn't I just leave Zerk fitting in there? Also - lower front suspension calls for oil. OK to use grease? (Again assuming a fitting can be used). Will also check differential oil if he can get the plug open. How many grease fittings should there be on a '71 TR6? I can't lay under a car anymore. I'll be 83 in 16 days.

All I can add to this discussion is a Happy Birthday! (15 days early).
how long have you had the '71 TR6?

Best regards

By coincidence - car was purchased on November 11, 1995 for $2,500.00. About 96,000 miles showing on odometer. Car was not running. Towed home by me at the end of a rope from about 3 miles away. I fell for a pretty face. Car had been recently painted (paint job still looks good 21 years later). Battery had been installed backwards, frying alternator, many other problems and missing parts, all corrected by me except for an electrical short that I could not find and took to a local shop (same one I'm going to today for work under the car), a new top installed (too tight?) by a shop in Norwalk, a set of rechromed bumpers exchanged for mine by a Massachusetts plating outfit that my wife and I could not make fit and which took two strong men to bend into place and bolt up,a small section welded up on the frame near the trailing arm by a local welding shop (no longer works on cars) and a stainless steel exhaust system installed by my shop. Drivers seat has a small tear - still there. I replaced the stock shocks with a TRF tube shock conversion. One shock turned out to be bad and was replaced with another one from Rock Auto by a friend and TR6 expert. At one point, I installed Crane electronic ignition but removed it as it cut out in hot weather and I've been running stock system for years. Tires were replaced about 3 years ago with Michelins, battery is at least 9 years old and still starts the car in less than 20 seconds once I adjusted the carb linkage, differential was replaced about 6 years ago by a shop I will never use again, brakes and lines replaced along with thrust washers in 2014 and hardened valve seats and new valve springs were replaced along with a few exhaust valves and a set of new hoses the same year. Last year, I replaced a new TR6 heater valve with one from Auto Zone and soldered up an eye on the end of a new cable. It works much smoother than the Triumph valve. Despite Lucas, car has never broken down in 21 years, never overheated, gearbox seems perfect, tiny bit of rocker rust that hasn't spread. Compression down to 85 lbs. in one cylinder, up to 150 when oil squirted in cylinder and some day it will need a bottom end overhaul (where do I take it?). Odometer now shows almost 105,000 miles, being driven 9,000 miles in 21 years. I think the mileage is correct.

On the steering rack, IIRC, the plug doubles as a bolt for the ground strap so it needs to be replaced (or you may have troubles with the horns not working sometimes).

Grease in the trunnions has been a hotly debated topic in the past; earlier cars (like my TR3) were only set up to use grease. Seems to work well enough, so I doubt you'll notice the difference. But the theory is that they wear slower with gear oil instead of grease.

Here's the lube charts from 72, I assume 71 is similar. Of course things change over time, for example your car might have greaseable U-joints in the driveshaft or no plug in the water pump.

Thanks, Randall. I have the workshop manual and made copies for the shop of the relevant pages. I believe my driveshaft has grease joints and I told the shop to hit them with some grease. I also told them if they replace the trunnion bolts with a grease fitting to leave it in place so I can use a grease gun on it from time to time. Ditto the water pump. The steering rack has the ground strap like you said. I hope these guys do the job right. I had to show them how to open the bonnet using the additional release under the right side of the dash since my factory release cable is so tight as to be almost inoperable. Why they didn't just run the cable under the glove box on the US cars I can't understand. Any American owner who doesn't install the "emergency" opener is asking for big trouble considering the low cost and ease of installation. BTW, I dropped out of the VTR some years ago because they had no column devoted to tips and advice in their magazine. When I had my last Corvair, their publications were filled with ideas, tips and advice that proved valuable such as using a Cadillac heater motor to increase the meager heat output of the stock Chevy motor.

By coincidence - car was purchased on November 11, 1995 for $2,500.00

Click to expand...

any conciliation: I've been down a lot of your repair road.......but I paid a lot more for my TR's pretty face!

hope your shop comes thru for you.

Everything done. They even found an oil filter cartridge at NAPA - last one. Steering seems easier now. Total bill $209.09.
Cold this am - 32F at 8 am. Still can't get my top up. Need another pair of strong hands.