trunnionless uprights

[mpbarrett]

I have brought a couple of Canelys trunnionless uprights from a GT6 (but never used).
So what do I need to fit them to my Herald 13/60?
I guess new hubs, stub axle, hubs, calliper and disks. Anything else, am I missing something?

cheers
mike

[Clive]

The calliper carrier brackets
and don't forget wheel bearings,washers and nuts/bolts etc. Plus the brackets for the hard brake pipes used in the GT6, and shorter hoses. And decent pads....
And don't forget a 0.70 master cylinder....

You may also want to increase the size of the rear wheel cylinders to keep the brake balance correct  Saying that I ran my vitesse with herald rear brakes, and they still locked up when the brakes were prodded hard.

[Nick Jones]

Yeah..... pretty much everything really.  The law of unintended consequences is always alert......  The carrier brackets can be hard to find.

Nick

[Drake]

Sounds pretty involved to make this swap - what's the thinking behind it? Have you suffered frequent problems with the trunnions?

[Alex]

The trunnions is the reliable bit..... the vertical link threaded section is the weak bit.
They have a tendency to snap. They must be inspected to make sure there is no sign of weakness. Fortunately they tend to break a low speeds due to extra strain of turning the steering.

Alex

[yorkshire_spam]

Flog the gt6 kit to somebody and buy the herald/spit version? Sounds like less hassle to me.

[mpbarrett]

Quoted from yorkshire_spam

Flog the gt6 kit to somebody and buy the herald/spit version? Sounds like less hassle to me.

You might be right.
I brought the uprights very cheaply from someone on a boat forum who also had a GT6 but hadn't fitted them.
I have been tidying my garage, getting rid of all the old TR6 stuff, and 're-found' them on a shelve so was mussing about putting them on the Herald along with the bigger disks etc
I was going to fit them to my GT6 but don't have it anymore, in fact I sold it about 4 years ago.

cheers
mike

[yorkshire_spam]

Quoted from mpbarrett

You might be right.
I brought the uprights very cheaply from someone on a boat forum who also had a GT6 but hadn't fitted them.
I have been tidying my garage, getting rid of all the old TR6 stuff, and 're-found' them on a shelve so was mussing about putting them on the Herald along with the bigger disks etc
I was going to fit them to my GT6 but don't have it anymore, in fact I sold it about 4 years ago.
cheers
mike

Having them on my Spit really made a difference to my confidence on runs like the 10CR, very happy with them and would recommend them to anyone.... but with all the additional parts you'd need to fit them on the Herald vs what you could get for them on here or ebay set against the cost of a brand new herald/spit set.... I'd be considering it as an option.

[Rallyspit]

PM sent to original poster

[Clive]

Quoted from yorkshire_spam

Flog the gt6 kit to somebody and buy the herald/spit version? Sounds like less hassle to me.

Even then you need to get the spitfire barrierbrackets (at least I believe so) as the are not cast as part of the upright. Again, not cheap.......
I would think buying a used set of GT6 front uprights complete would be a sensible plan. That would give you either usable parts or exchange items.

[JumpingFrog]

Quoted from cliftyhanger

Even then you need to get the spitfire barrierbrackets (at least I believe so) as the are not cast as part of the upright. Again, not cheap.......
I would think buying a used set of GT6 front uprights complete would be a sensible plan. That would give you either usable parts or exchange items.

The Herald/Spitfire version of the trunnionless kit uses the one-piece disc brake vertical link, not the drum brake style one used on the Vittesse/GT6 and early Heralds.

But this makes a good point, there are of course Type 12/14 calliper mounts/brackets that fit the drum brake vertical link as used on early disc brake Heralds. This would let you keep your existing callipers - if you can find some.

[Pete Lewis]

the uprights only fail due to lack of oil bath and corrosion sets in and cracks emanate from there.

being so unreliable ???  makes you wonder why they have lasted all these years probably with far less failures than modern ball joints and with the trunnion less you need to keep them well lubricated and also very Clean or they will also wear out ,much  better suited  on a track than covered in  every day road debris   and when someone decides where to cross the line with the latest ideas on modified cars is this a step you need to add to the confusion
Pete

[Drake]

Quoted from Alex

The trunnions is the reliable bit..... the vertical link threaded section is the weak bit.
They have a tendency to snap. They must be inspected to make sure there is no sign of weakness. Fortunately they tend to break a low speeds due to extra strain of turning the steering.

Alex

Ah, I see, thanks. When researching my Herald purchase I found warnings about lubricating trunnions regularly on every buyer's guide or Triumph site but I assumed that if they were in good nick and correctly lubed then the links would be safe enough. I can see why one would want to remove a potential weakness (weak link?) but at the same time I have found in the past with other cars that new less predictable problems can be introduced while trying to work around the old ones with non-standard mods. I have also been down the road of swapping endless parts with lots of fettling and labour  
to achieve surprisingly little for my efforts and have vowed to keep things simple from now on, but then I am no engineer.

On the Herald I intended just to replace the vertical links (mine look sound but original) keep the trunnions oiled and leave it at that. I'll come back eating my words if the car ends up lying nose-down on a car park at some point...

[Clive]

Indeed if you fit new standard uprights and maintain them there is no reason to think they will not last many many years.
I fitted trunnionless as the price difference is surprisingly small, and my car does get a hard time.

[Drake]

Quoted from cliftyhanger

Indeed if you fit new standard uprights and maintain them there is no reason to think they will not last many many years.
I fitted trunnionless as the price difference is surprisingly small, and my car does get a hard time.

Thanks for the reply. I'm doing my best to give my car a hard time as well. It's done more miles in the last 3 months since I bought it as it had managed in the previous decade, though it has never been off the road as far as I know. Not a car destined to be a garage queen, in any case. It's presently wearing a lower-half respray of best Somerset mud and having the integrity of my DIY hood replacement thoroughly tested - if it thinks it's going to be allowed to hide in the workshop until the Spring, it's got another think coming.

I haven't introduced myself to the forum properly yet,  I will get around to it soon and post some pictures.

[mpbarrett]

Quoted from Rallyspit

PM sent to original poster

Have sent you an update on a PM.
cheers
mike