Re: [AMC-List] 69 Vs 70 suspension

[<francis.swygert@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Date: Friday, August 25, 2006 04:37 PM
From: Tom Jennings <tomj@xxxxxxx> 
> i have heard of '69 amxes converted to '70-style front ends, so the

Why is this desirable?
----------------------------------------------

Just to get rid of the trunnions. For road racing they can be a bit of a
problem, they don't take the stresses of really hard competition driving
that well. I recall the TA drivers complaining about some deflection --
but that's seriously hard driving! The 70+ suspension has some anti-dive
built in. But for most people it's the mistaken belief that ball joints
are somehow "better". The trunnions accomplish the same thing in really
a safer manner -- I've seen an upper ball joint break, but never a
trunnion. Even the old style lower trunnion won't break. 

The stories where the steering knuckle actually lifted out of a lower
trunnion are true though. It's basically a coarse thread 5/8" bolt.
Anyone ever seen a nut worn to the point it will pull off a bolt? That's
how badly worn an old style lower trunnion has to be to lift out. 5-10
years and TENS of thousands of miles of serious neglect -- no grease!!

So it's just a matter of beleiving that the trunnion is "bad". I'm not
the only one to state that modern rebuilt trunnions for the 64-69 small
cars with polyurethane bushings are vastly superior to the originals
with synthetic rubber. Spend the $500 to replace the old ones instead of
as much plus lots of work to get a 70+ suspension that probably needs
rebuilding anyway. You'll not notice the difference, and the trunnion
suspension will be a bit lighter to boot. 


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