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Triumph TR6 - Lower Front Wishbone Brackets

Discovered my lower front wishbone bracket has broken away from the chassis on my TR6. Moss Motors sells a repair and strengthening kit which requires welding by a competent chassis repair shop. Anyone experience this and what did you end up spending to fix? Thanks in advance for info sharing. Shawn.
Shawn

Hi Shawn

What years your car? Almost all have had the supports added if newer than 70? If you have no supports I suggest doing all of them.

Is the mount broken away totaly or just one side?


To repair you may need a new mount and the supports depending on damage? Or the weld one side may have only broken. If thats the case and the mount is not bent in any way have cleaned up and rewelded. Plus supports added.

Not Likely?

The entire suspension on that side needs to be removed to do properly. In my opinion there would be too much stress otherwise. Decompressing the spring and dropping the lower wish may do. Depends on the welder.

They will have to remove Rad/wheel/brake/Brake line/tie-rod/anti-roll bar/steering rack/ cut away supports from steering rack mount etc. The steering rack mount should be checked for damage while there if this was not found instantly. Clean up bracket and frame area align and re-weld. Think that covers it? Depending on cars condition shop may want to remove bonnet and grill for safety and convenience.

On a 30 year car any of those can be a problem getting apart and back together due to rust. Depending on previous service? That will add to your costs due to time and parts.

Check with your local club to find an experienced shop. Will save a lot of time and maybe money.

Depending on the shop rate in your area I would guess between $300 to $600. Depending on what they see? Maybe less maybe more.

I did this once for a friend and would not do it again for less than a grand! I don't have a full shop so it was a 3 day project but the car is still fine after 10 years.

For general knowledge I now have 3 frame front sections. My original 72 has nice consistent welds through out. The others are 74/75s and the original welding on mounting points are fine the rest is garbage. May have been a cost cutting measure? Let Fred do the welding we can be sued for and that other bloke with the one eye do the rest.

Bill







Bill Brayford

Bill,

Thanks for the feedback. The TR is a 74. One side has a small crack in the face of the mount where the bolt secures it to the frame. The other mount has pulled the metal away same spot where bolt is thus creating a 2 inch pulled away hole. Thank goodness I discovered this in the garage not while driving! I bought a hardware repair kit today ($250) from MOSS motors and am now looking for a repair shop in the Boston area. I bought all four mounts and bushings recognizing only two need repair.

Shawn
Shawn

Hi Shawn

Just so were on the same page you are describing a 2" hole in part # 855-405 page 46 moss?

Bill
Bill Brayford

Bill,

That bracket would be the one. I told the folks at MOSS how appreciative I was to have learned of this weakness via their publication. The wishbone connecting bolt pulled an entire 2in hole out of the backet. It is currently hanging on by a thread. I believe your note described changing them all out, hense, requiring the removal of so much. Fortunately the problem bracket is the rear, so I am hoping the degree of work you described will not be required. Any other thoughts on this would be appreciated. Shawn.
Shawn

Hi Shawn

Rears are a bit easier. The brake caliper/spring/swaybar/shock etc will still need to be removed. Thats my opinion. Upper stuff may be OK intact. Big thing is giving the welder enough room to do a good job. If your in there take a real good look at the front ones.

Never seen one that bad? I think someone rammed a curb with the old girl in her past life.

Go looking for a body shop for estimates. Rather than a mechanical. They may be able to pull the shock and compress the spring well enough to cut out the old bracket and weld in new?

If that moss kit included the backing plate and the bolts ok. Remove the nut and put the plate in back and tighten. If all else is secure the wishbone should stay in place but watch. That will make it safe enough to take for estimates.

Bill
Bill Brayford

Bill,

I had the work completed last week. I can not believe how well the car drives now. It is like another vehicle. Cruises at 60-70 without any wobble or vibration. Takes bumps well too. The cost all together was $350 for the welding and alignment at a frame shop, $50.00 in brackets via MOSS. The welder did not want to spend my time or money replacing all the front end bushing so that will need to take place later. He rebuilt the original brackets with the Moss brackets due to the fact the core stock brackets were in good shape short of where the tears on original metal occurred. Will check often to make sure they do not pull away again. Thanks for all your advice.Shawn.
Shawn

Good stuff Shawn!

As with any 30 plus car its always a good idea to keep an eye on the under pinnings.

We tend to forget were not dealing with the family runabout. Plus taking the van through a hard corner leaves something to be desired..:)

Bill
Bill Brayford

This thread was discussed between 24/07/2004 and 09/08/2004

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