Anyone up for a primer on the Cox Mercedes suspension......

My "disassembly" post didn't receive high (any) remarks so I dunno.  Pretty boring I must agree.

But I press on.



The good news is the suspension actually works.  Not as complicated as some but still interesting if that's your thing.  The bad news is the front suspension is fragile and subject to breakage and lock-up due to castor goo freeze.

The front suspension consists of  a control arm linked to a solid axle pin fixed at the front and secured within the two body halves.  Molded in is a caged multi link apparatus that is there for looks only.   Travel is accomplished and limited by the flex of the control arm and rotation around the axle.



The problem is, once the engine is ran and castor oil is exhausted forward onto the axle, it gets between the arm and the axle locking it up and reducing the travel of the suspension to the flex of the arm alone.  

Only cure is to remove the whole assembly and clean the axle and arm.  Not easy.  Usually the wheel is castor locked too and without heat impossible to remove.  The arm more so.  Mud recommends using a hypo needle and alcohol injected into the arm.  A great idea, but I'm an impatient person and use a heat gun on low heat directed right at the arm while carefully rocking the arm back and forth on the axle until the castor goo is loosened.  A risky maneuver as these arms are fragile.  But, I have done twelve of these using this method without mishap.  





Cleaning the axle before removing the suspension piece helps.

This guy, from a parts car that I bought wasn't as lucky.  



I used hot water to loosen the old glue and scraped the old glue off (he had glued the arm on the spindle upside down) leaving marks.  I re-glued it correctly and it's a perfect if not pretty fix on a part that is almost unattainable.



The rear suspension is easy.  No castor goo to mess things up.  

Same principle, a control arm secured at the front with two pins and free rotation around the real axle.   No caged multi link simulation.  I have covered disassembly in a previous post.

 

This car is a work in progress, and a bad/broken parts magnet. It will be a runner.

Next up - Driveline