Fitting suspension cones

[spoon.450]

In the twelve years of my ownership the ride / handling of my 64 Cooper has always been quite poor really, so I decided to treat it to a set of Minispares evo rubber cones which I thought would be fairly straightforward to fit to the front. At dismantle stage it became obvious that the original ones are much flatter and harder than the new ones, and I was expecting them to come out and refit without removing the top suspension arms. At this point it now appears to me that the arms must be removed as the old ones won’t come out, and the new ones ( being possibly half inch taller) will definitely not go. Can anyone confirm this is the case, and removing the arms also requires removing ( at least ) the brake pipes / hoses, and possibly radiator. Offside inner wing on my car has a hinged access panel ( which I don’t really like from an originality point of view ) that’s been there for years so should make it easier. Any advice appreciated.
Thanks Dave
Also…..the n/s top arm has a square section cast into it on the bump stop area…….anyone recognise that ??

[Spider]

I've seen a few butchers lever old cones out and hammer new ones in, but to me, that's not the right way to go about the job ! It's not like they miss out by a small bit either.

Top Arm needs to come out in my books.

[Fanfaniracing]

To make you life easier take out the Top Arms. I always take them out to replace the Rubber Cones.
If i remember right i eventually did it on the left side with the Radiator in place...

[agricola]

just done one with seized hi-lo despite much persuasion with a hd tyre lever need top arms out Spider is right. And after an hour heating with gas plant the willfit hi-lo now in skip...

[Oneball]

Top arm needs to come out.

You don’t need to remove rad or brakes.

[spoon.450]

Thanks for the confirmation folks ….
Any thoughts on the square section ??

[spoon.450]

Top arm needs to come out.

You don’t need to remove rad or brakes.

Looks tight to get the arm shaft past the brake light switch ….??

[Peter Laidler]

There is a little trick to overcome the brake light switch 'problem'. I hope someone will elaborate but it entails taking the axis pin out rearwards and replacing it from the rear, If I was any good at this sort of stuff I'd be able to explain it all. The right hand side is easier than the left side because of access to the inner retaining bolt on the oval plate

Anyone got any pictures.......?

[Polarsilver]

Are you saying "one" Top Arm does Not have the cast square bump stop area?.. perhaps you have none matched Top Arms .. maybe the reason re Handling ?
Yes i seem to remember shifting the brake pipe stuff on both sides to pull out the pins especially if that oval keep plate is seized onto the pin .
Trumpet needs to come away from the Cone otherwise the Cone with its Trumpet will never come out .. plus a lot of plusgas & swearing helps

Take care of the OE Top Arm Seals as new options will fail within a few months.

[minibitz]

I change cones regularly for customers. Definitely a top arm out job.

No need to dismantle brakes, rad or anything else. Getting to the two 1/4" bolts holding the location plate to the subframe is the only awkward part. Once they are out remove to rear pivot pin nut, compress the cone sufficiently to lever out the trumpet. Once trumpet is removed the pin can be pushed towards front of car. To prevent the pin fouling on brake pipes the arm can be angle downwards at the rear then kind of pivoted out of the way from the rear if that makes sense, this then angles the pin upwards an out of the way of pipes. Refitting is the exact reverse.

I even use this technique on JDM spec injection cars which have terrible top access due to AC, brake booster, ECU an associated guff.

[spoon.450]

Great advice there…….all makes sense. Thank you.

[Rubber Sprung]

If the top arm has a raised section around bump stop its likely to be off a Moke .

[spoon.450]

If the top arm has a raised section around bump stop its likely to be off a Moke .

Ahhh…..interesting. I wonder if it’s safe to assume that they are dimensionally the same, unlike hydro arms ??
I’ll probably replace the top arms with a known pair while I’m at it……

[Spider]

The original Mini Moke Top Arms have an additional lump on top of the Bump Stop Pad, raising it about 3/8 - 1/2". In all other respects, they are dimensionally the same as Mini Dry Arms.

While the Mini Moke Arms were forged this way, in Australian Moke Production, they just welded a piece to a Mini Arm, up to 1979, when they went to ordinary Mini Arms and a longer Bump Stop.

They are there to limit suspension travel on compression. I always remove the welded lump and go to stock or competition bump stops - there's not enough travel in the front suspension as they are, never mind reducing it more !

This is the UK made Mini Moke Top Arm



As far as I am aware, that's the only model that received these that were forged this way.