MG-Cars.net

Welcome to our resource for MG Car Information.

Recommendations

Parts

TR parts and Triumph parts, TR bits, Triumph Car Spares and accessories are available for TR2, TR3, TR3A, TR4, TR4A, TR5, TR6, TR7, TR8, Spitfire and Stag and other TR models are available from British car spares and parts company LBCarCo.

Triumph TR6 - Goodparts Trailing Arm brackets

Saw these mentioned in "Classic Motorsports magazine". No more messing around with trying different brackets and shims!

Tim
Tim Brand

Here's the link-http://www.goodparts.com/parts_susp_steer.html#trailingarmbrackets
Gene Holtzclaw

At $100 US per set it's a no brainer. I ordered mine last week.

JOhn Parfitt
73 5 Speed.
John Parfitt

Aaaaaarrrrrgggghhh! I checked the Goode parts page not too long ago and these were not listed. Why didn't these show up when I had my rear suspension apart at that time? Would have made life a bit easier.
SteveP

Steve,

I share your pain bro. I'm now removing my rear axles, suspension, driveshaft and rear end to eradicate a case of the shakes. Thing is, I'v had those parts out of it before but too cheap to replace UJoints that looked good at the time....arg

John Parfitt
73 5 Speed up on blocks in the summer.
john parfitt

Hi folks, does anyone know how this brackets actually work?
I'm assuming that the bolts that go through the trailing arm brackets move up & down? (At 90 deg to the ground?)

Aivars Berzins
Aivars Berzins

Based on the picture, it appears one side is allowed to pivot while the other is in a lead screw block. The block and lead screw would alter the angle of the bolt through the bracket relative to the bottom plane of the car allowing camber to be adjusted. Toe settings would still be adjusted by adding or removing shims between the bracket and the frame member.

John, seeing that you've already ponied up the bucks, we expect a full report on delivery with follow on after installation.
SteveP

I'll give a full review apon my return from vacation in about 3 - 4 weeks.

John Parfitt

thanks for the post on the brackets. I am doing a complete rear rebuild due to cracked frame at diff. mounts. once its apart might as well go all the way. Going with nissan 300zx rear 4.10 limited slip (another goodparts idea). the rears can be found on ebay pretty cheap. got mine for around $150. once the initial cost of the goodparts conversion kit is paid for, getting nice rears with limited slip and a choice of gears can be had. Glad i saw these brackets before i threw money at the old design brackets. By the way, High Point Imports aka. Axleworks in Archdale, N.c. does a very nice job rebuilding rear hubs. Had a good price on nos stub axles, I needed both replaced! one was bent slightly and the others threads were buggered up from previous rebuild. he is knowlegable and friendly. phone # 336-884-1455
steve

Hey Steve,

I'll bet those 4.10's will be a wee bit peaky on the highway....

I'm going with the 3.5 R200. Great way to get a limited slip in there on a limited budget!!!!!

JP
John Parfitt

John
yes, but the smiles per gal. will be high.
steve

Steveyboy,

Yes indeed, the smiles come fast and furious when you stab the throttle and swap ends at highway speed.....

Na, that's for those muscle car guys wearing the wife beater t-shirts....

I know I'm much more conservative than all that nonsense (as he places Paypal order for do-it-yourself-fuel-injection-computer....).

John Parfitt

john
Thanks for the warning. It'll be fun attacking the twisting and turning country roads where I live. 50mph is the highest speed this car will see.
steve

For anyone with a bit of patience and/or a desire to keep the old girl "original", the following link might be useful in helping set up the rear end.

http://members.visi.net/~kohout/trailarm.html
Roger H

I too have now ponied up the bucks for these adjustable trailing arm brackets. They are not installed, but here is my take on them. Installation will occur when some other parts make it to the door.

They are some nice looking pieces. One side is slotted to provide some ride height adjustment, the other is a block and lead screw set up. The lead screw sides of the brackets are to oriented toward each other during installation. The lead screw itself is a 5/16-UNC setscrew (i.e., hex headed, but threaded all the way, no shank) with a corresponding nut roll pinned to the setscrew serving as a retainer. Normally, I prefer fine threaded fasteners, but in this application the coarse thread does make sense. Installation is intended for the nut and roll pinned side to go on top. Each turn of the lead screw will correspond to ~1/4 degree of camber change per the instruction sheet. The only thing that I did not like was the pivot bolt for the trailing arm.

It is a 7/16" x 4 grade 8 bolt, but the problem is the shank or grip length puts threads in shear against the adjustment block. This presents my mind with two problems. First, I absolutely hate having threads in shear (overall loading is a combination of tension and shear), threads are not designed to be loaded in shear. The other is that the threads will grind away at themselves and/or the adjustment block in a situation like this. Fortunately, this issue is easily resolved.

A quick look at my handy, dandy chart of AN hardware said that an AN7-40A bolt is the answer. A quick order to Aircraft Spruce later and the chart is confirmed by physical look and see. The AN7-40A has sufficient grip length to move the threads to the outer edge of the adjustment block, yet the bolt is a mere 1/8" longer than the grade 8 hardware supplied with the brackets. (AN - old designation for Army/Navy standard, 7 - diameter in 1/16", 40 - grip length designator, A - undrilled).

Soap box warning:

One thing I always liked about the TRs was that they tended to use high quality hardware and they did a good job of selecting appropriate grip lengths with fasteners sized in 1/8" increments. Unfortunately, even going to your standard fastener house (example: Threads for the South in Marietta) the fasteners come in 1/4" increments. This makes getting good grip lengths and such much more difficult. I have pretty much bitten the bullet and now the majority of the hardware that I use on the cars is AN/MS stuff. Comparing prices between Threads for the South and Aircraft Spruce, there is little difference for the common type sizes and I can get specific grip lengths and overall lengths in 1/8" increments depending on diameter and overall lengths. Often, Spruce is actually lower for AN stuff than Threads for grade 8. Compared to going to the hardware store and buying bits, both Threads and Spruce are considerably lower in price and you generally get better stuff.
SteveP

Steve- Here did you get your chart?
Don K.
DON KELLY

My winter project includes new springs, spacers, bushings and shocks on all four. I have a problem with rear camber.

These brackets look nice, a few extra bucks, easy to adjust, but how often on a car that you drive 1,000 miles per year would you expect to make an adjustment? I haven't priced out the original set up since I saw this post, but surely they would would be less $$.
Mati

Don,

I have a copies of several AN standards. If you are in the USA, you can go to your friendly local Public Depository Library and obtain copies of most government publications for the cost of copying them. I don't know where you are in WA, but think local colleges especially those with engineering schools. Look for DODISS and determine which ones you want. The biggies are the AN series of bolts, AN960 for washers, AN315 and 316 for nuts and half height nuts, AN364 and 365 for nylocs and half height nylocs. Lock washers are to an MS that I do not recall off hand. There is a subset of the information in the Aircraft Spruce catalog and on their website.

Mati,

Current website price less shipping, tax, graft, corruption, etc. from Moss is $17.95 USD to $18.95 USD each depending on which ones you need. If you get an assortment to allow for the mix and match, you are looking at spending about the same or more than the adjustable ones if you go the new part route. It is not so much a matter of how often it would need to be done, it is more a matter of the ordeal of doing it. I don't know about others, but trial and error combinations of brackets and notch orientations involving rear suspension disassembly each time are not my idea of fun or how I want to spend a big chunk of free time. Shipped direct from Richard Good $120 USD total, then throw in another $12 USD plus shipping and tax (if applicable) from Aircraft Spruce for the AN7-40A bolts and for me it is money well spent.
SteveP

Mati, you could always drive it more to justify the cost of the parts!:-)
To justify my TR4a restoration I am going to drive to Florida and back every week for 3 years!
Simon.
Simon

This thread was discussed between 24/07/2004 and 28/09/2004

Triumph TR6 index