Allegro Club International

[neal carpenter]

hi again . after all the advice i have had i am going to release the pressure out of the systems and start again . from different bits of advice i take it i should have the car on flat ground with hand brake off and release both valves .
how do i know if the arms are set at the right height ??.
last time i filled the system the car was on stands with all hubs hanging down . then put the wheels on and let down on to its wheels and put some more pressure in to get the right height at the front .
am i going about this the right way or am i confused again + any body got simple to understand instructions for a churchhill (ex bl garage ) pump .

thanks neal

[Colin T]

Yes, level ground with handbrake off, but I did it with all wheels on the car and car resting on the bump stops with no jacks or stands underneath.

The radius arm assembly dimensions are in the workshop manual or Haynes, I think the measurement goes from the lip at the top point of the wheelarch down to the centre of the wheel hub.
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Hell has frozen over...... the car formally known as 'Heap' is back on the road!

[Laurence]

The arms should be set to the given dimensions during installation prior to filling the suspension system so as to give a pre-load on the pivot bushes when the trim height is obtained.

If there is no pre-load on the bushes, the suspension will not perform correctly.

The front upper arm position is measured using tool 18G 1245 during installation, then the pivot bolt is tightened.

The radius arm as Colin says is measured from the wheel arch to the hub centre during installation, then the pivot bolt is tightened.

You have to make sure no air is trapped in the system during filling, normally the air in the system is evacuated prior to the system being filled.

I slightly overfill the system, then release the fluid until the fluid emerges with no air in it & the trim height is obtained.

[Colin T]

Ah, I didn't know that the front upper arm had a pre-load - presumably if this is set incorrectly then the car could be too high at the back and should be reset just in case this is the culprit?
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Hell has frozen over...... the car formally known as 'Heap' is back on the road!

[Laurence]

At the correct trim height there is no pre-load of the front upper arm bushes, but if the upper arm isn't positioned correctly during installation ie too far up or too far down there will be a pre-load which will adversely affect the suspension.

When the car is driven & the suspension travels up & down, the upper arm bushes are 'loaded' rather like a torsion-bar which assists the suspension so the upper arm setting height is very important.

The radius arm assembly dimension differs between the saloon, early estate cars & later estate cars, saloons being 257mm, early estates 298mm & later estates 368mm.

[neal carpenter]

thanks all .
suspension now sorted .
the car sits great and looks great .

now see my other problem i have under parts required
thanks again .neal

[Laurence]

Cool, what did you do to fix it/what was the cause of the problem?

[neal carpenter]

laurence
it was a matter of what most people advised . let the car down then roll it around pump it back up again let the air bubbles out . job done .thanks

[Laurence]

Nice to know the result, glad it wasn't anything worse