Rear Springs & bushings, TC

[CFritz7001@aol.com]

I'm just about finished installing new bushings on my TC's rear springs. While cleaning the springs, I noticed the following, stamped into the shortest leaf of both springs: MG 99561 PERRY My first thought was that 99561 might be the part number, but it's not the one in the parts list. One spring has never been off the car until now; the other is a replacement I put on in about 1960. Any ideas on the significance of this stamping??? ******************* Based on my experience with this project, here are a few tips which should make the job somewhat easier: 1. ALL of the nuts & bolts need liberal doses of penetrating (loosening ) oil and persistence before they release their hold. Took me almost a full day to get all the fasteners loosened. Start early with the oil. (Alfie, the guy who installed springs at Abingdon, must have been a real gorilla !!!) 1A. When you remove the nut on the large, lower rear shackle, you will find a very thick washer. It may be difficult to budge, but DO NOT try to rotate it!!! The stud and washer have matching "flats" on them which are intended keep the washer from rotating. More penetrating oil, and a bit of prying & wiggling will finally make it yield 2. Place a pair of jack-stands under the chassis side-rails, then put a floor-jack under the center of the differential to take its weight off the springs as you go about slackening fasteners & removing the springs themselves. This really makes things a whole lot easier! 3. You do not need to remove the two smallish-diameter studs which help connect the axle to the spring. Just take off their nuts, and leave them be, but try not to bend them when you remove the spring. 4. I've fitted polyurethane upper and lower shackle bushings from Moss. Moss says that the rubber variety of upper bushing needs to be trimmed a bit before installation--However, they neglected to say that the polyurethane ones MUST ALSO be trimmed. (They are MUCH less compressible than the originals, so it's IMPOSSIBLE to fit them unless they are the right length) You'll also find you'll need to enlarge the hole in the fiber washer that goes between the two large lower shackle bushings. (The ones I got from Moss would not go over the stud.) I chose the more expensive polyurethane bushings on the basis of the Moss claim that these last much longer than the rubber originals. 5. I wire-brushed, de-rusted, and painted the springs, but did not disassemble them, since mine are not held together with removable bolt-on clips. After they were mounted at both ends, but not yet bolted to the axle, I packed high-quality chassis grease into the spaces between the leaves until it came out the other side, and "buttered" the mating surfaces of the three loose leaves. I then bolted them and the bottom spring plate in place using new "grade 8" high-strength bolts and lock nuts. 6. I left all of the shackle nuts and the nut on the silentbloc stud a bit loose, then did final tightening of them after getting the car's weight back on the wheels, so that the bushings were in a "neutral" position before being firmly clamped in place. 7. I used anti-seize compound on all fasteners and metal-to-metal contact points. It'll make it easier next time I do this job (hopefully not for another 50+ years!) ***************** Some of the above is so obvious that I'm almost reluctant to mention it, but it may save someone some trouble, so there it is. Regards to all, Carl Fritz Gainesville, Florida

[Frank O_ The Mountain]

In a message dated 3/5/01 9:20:06 AM Pacific Standard Time, CFritz7001@aol.com writes: > Carl, just fyi, in prewar days, springs were often stamped with the date of the manufacture of the springs.....not the car. Terry