TR2/3/3A Spring pans, trunions, and lock washers

[sp53]

Spring pans, trunions, and lock washers. I opt for the oem truinons from the TRF, and I need to run the lock washer on to the thrust washer. The part I do not like is that there is no knurling inside the lock washer, so I have to tighten the lock washer up and cut the knurling into it (perhaps I should have used some old ones), but anyways the tighten takes a lot of force and I find that unsettling plus there needs to be some kind of end float on the trunion. One problem I see is when the spring pan is on, the end float would be difficult to obtain because the spring pan pretty much holds everything tight. Any thoughts on this?

 

[TR4nut]

Couple of thoughts-

Hold off on installing the spring pan until you seat the trunnion- you can check for play/binding as you tighten pretty easily that way.

And - watch out if you think its taking too much force to seat the washers. A friend of mine broke the trunnion stud trying to get a new washer to seat. Some of the products out there seem to be made of stouter steel than original and just don't want to go on. Possible fix if that seems to be happening is a little careful grinding of the inner radius of the washer to give better clearance.

 

[sp53]

Thanks Randy that is why I slowed down. I have some old lock washers with the knurl already cut into them that I have collected over the years and that be the way to go. The metal of the lock washers looks softer than the trunnion pin, but how would I know? I guess the old adage tighten it “a ¼ turn before it breaks!”

 

[TR3driver]

Just as a side comment, that is the way the originals were supplied as well. The problem is that some replacement trunnions don't have enough taper at the end of the splines. But the last ones I got from TRF seemed fine. A little grease or assembly lube will help the process as well.

 

[charleyf]

Having just recently assembled a new front end on theTR3. The problem that I found was that the washers supplied by the previous owner of this basket case were apparently of a smaller inner diameter than what they should have been.
After one really difficult washer, I measured the inner diameter of the various washers I had and found the problem.
So I drilled out the inner radius of the washer and after that they went on with what I believe to be the appropriate amount of pressure.
I would chalk this one up to using old washers with a new trunnion. I have never had that problem using TRF trunnions and washers together. Hard to say how old the washers were or where they came from.
Charley

 

[sp53]

Yeh a couple of things, I have been putting them on dry and the suspension kit came with the basket case, minus the trunnions. The part numbers looked like old VB stuff, but they often get there stuff from Moss, so who knows. I am surprised to hear they came that originally. I just figured the knurling was too difficult to deal with for the price. The old ones still might be the way to go that way I will know how tight the float is anyway.

 

[sp53]

Well I pulled off the castle nuts and used a regular nutwith some washers and oiled everything up and they push right on. I did have tochase the treads on one of the trunions because the castle nut was old andstriped out, probably from the pressure of torqueing and not enough thread surface.In addition, I held out the rubber seal with a small screw driver so I couldsee if the trust washer bottomed out.