Banjo & Springs

[Robert Kampas]

Hello all, Great discussion about front suspension, wedges, bishops gear, and Mr. Badgers' Datsun. The info about torqueing the front wheel bearing spacer to 80lbs I found very helpful since the machinist who did the work on my front axle assembly left them out!! Anyway, I am currently putting the bits & pieces of a TC rolling chassis back together and have progressed from the front of the car to the rear. I decided to replace the saggy rear springs with new ones from Abington Spares. No problem. Replaced seals, half shafts, bearings, hubs, etc. and now have a very serviceable banjo rear end. No problem. No problem - except that when I bolted the axle banjo to the attachment points on the springs I really had to cinch things down to get the bottom surface of the rear axle mount to mate to the upper spring plate. There was more than 1 1/2 inch of upward spring travel before the surfaces came into contact. Is this normal? The rubber pads on the chassis under the banjo seem quite squashed. I can't remember how it was when I disassemble the gooey mess. I do know that the original springs were made from different material than the replacements, perhaps there is a difference in spring rates. Or maybe I really have "no problem" - and the axle will lift off the chassis when the weight of the rest of the car is finally back on board (Michael Sherrell said the he was always amazed by that). Sure is nice to see all four wheels back on the ground though! Beyond all this, I will need to check the alignment of the rear axle. I will check the wheelbase against the dimensions in the brown book but what is the best method to check if the axle is square to the chassis? Gratefully, Bob Kampas

[Roger Furneaux]

Bob - you answered your own question re. the springs, but for more info. look at the back pages of "Blower" (sometimes erroneously called "Bentley" after the publisher, poor old Eric Blower did not get a mention on the cover...) to check the rear axle alignment, I presume you already checked out the chassis diagonals so you know that is square & straight. then all you have to do is first make sure the axle protrudes an equal amount on each side, then measure from the end of the casing on each side to a point well forward, say the body outrigger. the odd 1/16" difference is probably the best you can hope for... ocTagonally Bob Kampas wrote:

>Anyway, I am currently putting the bits & pieces of a TC rolling chassis >back together and have progressed from the front of the car to the rear. I >decided to replace the saggy rear springs with new ones from Abington >Spares. No problem. Replaced seals, half shafts, bearings, hubs, etc. and >now have a very serviceable banjo rear end. No problem. > >No problem - except that when I bolted the axle banjo to the attachment >points on the springs I really had to cinch things down to get the bottom >surface of the rear axle mount to mate to the upper spring plate. There was >more than 1 1/2 inch of upward spring travel before the surfaces came into >contact. Is this normal? The rubber pads on the chassis under the banjo >seem quite squashed. I can't remember how it was when I disassemble the >gooey mess. I do know that the original springs were made from different >material than the replacements, perhaps there is a difference in spring >rates. Or maybe I really have "no problem" - and the axle will lift off the >chassis when the weight of the rest of the car is finally back on board >(Michael Sherrell said the he was always amazed by that). Sure is nice to >see all four wheels back on the ground though! > >Beyond all this, I will need to check the alignment of the rear axle. I >will check the wheelbase against the dimensions in the brown book but what >is the best method to check if the axle is square to the chassis?