Trailing arm refit help ,advice anything

[spivvy]

i bought a trailing arm off tvrcaparts as was
and have now got some time to fit it , but the problem is once assembled it doesn't fit

the arm comes in 2 parts and each part fits in the hole correctly and i can put a bolt through no problems
i have tried fixing both ends and then joining where the shim's go but the bolts don't line up , if i assemble and try to fit, the offside bracket is out by 3 to 4 mm which is the part of the bush that sticks out

any ideas the best way to tackle this i thought about grinding down the bit sticking out an putting a spacer on the inside bit
this really is starting to get to me as i had to save up ages to buy the part in the first place

[glenrobbo]

Hi spivvy,
Don't do anything drastic until you get some feedback from the guys on here that have experience with trailing arms.
Have you compared dimensions between the old & new parts?
Is the replacement the correct one? I know the early arms were different to later, S2 onwards.
Is the replacement brand new original part, or refurbed old item, or aftermarket manufacture?
Has your chassis suffered any distortion in the area where the arm attaches?
What is the reason for replacement, corrosion? Could it be refurbished?

It may help if you can post a pic of the problem.
I'm sure someone more knowledgeable than I will be along soon.

[phillpot]

Sounds crude but a big hammer and "adjust" the brackets on the chassis slighty, they will pull back into place as you tighten the bolts.

[phillpot]

Adrian@ said:

Mike...There is no way that the flanged suspension mounts are going to take abusing with a hammer!!

Not abusing, just slight adjustment to allow for manufacturing tolerences


The brackets themselves are far too sturdy to move (unless they're rotton) but the ends will "flare out" a little, hopefully just enough to guide the trailing arm in, with a bit of lube.

worked for me


Guess if things are too far out could the four holes in the adjustable bracket be filed into slots ?

Edited by phillpot on Monday 12th November 17:15

[spivvy]

glenrobbo said:

Hi spivvy,
Don't do anything drastic until you get some feedback from the guys on here that have experience with trailing arms.
Have you compared dimensions between the old & new parts?
Is the replacement the correct one? I know the early arms were different to later, S2 onwards.
Is the replacement brand new original part, or refurbed old item, or aftermarket manufacture?
Has your chassis suffered any distortion in the area where the arm attaches?
What is the reason for replacement, corrosion? Could it be refurbished? -More holes than Swiss Cheese and Distorted so no

It may help if you can post a pic of the problem.
I'm sure someone more knowledgeable than I will be along soon.

- they look identical , unfortunately the old one got bent when we tried to get the bushes out
-Mine is an S3
-Aftermarket
-No
-More holes than Swiss Cheese and Distorted so no

[spivvy]

Adrian@ said:

But surely you need to release/remove the 4 bolts that hold/set the tracking shims (2 are going to be removed in situ to adjust the tracking anyway ..which IMHO if this is new you will have to do anyway) fit separately and the assembly just drops into place, then put a pry into the 3/8 hole down through the threads and gently align one of the holes up and add a bolt (one that allows the shim to slide in) and do the same for the others.
Adrian@
Mike...There is no way that the flanged suspension mounts are going to take abusing with a hammer!!

Edited by Adrian@ on Monday 12th November 16:12

Hi tried to do that ,but they just won't line up , it's mm out also if i have this trouble to get it to line up the poor garage doing the alignment will have the same problem

[tvrgit]

See this bit?

spivvy said:

the offside bracket is out by 3 to 4 mm which is the part of the bush that sticks out

Does that mean that the bush sticks out of the trailing arm more on one side of the housing than the other? If so, can you get a hollow drift (like a big socket) and knock the bush further into the housing (or press it with a big vice) by those 3 or 4 mm so that it fits the chassis brackets?

Edited by tvrgit on Monday 12th November 18:16

[phillpot]

Thinking about this on the way home, the hammer wasn't 100% succesful, plan B was to use a large (12")adjustable spanner wound down to about 3mm, and used to gently tweak the chassis brackets open a little more, far more controllable than the hammer

Final thought was, what state is the old trailing arm in, can you get any measurements off it to compare ?

[Barkychoc]

One of my V8S ones was a bugger to get back together - I think I fitted the 2 parts then used various bolts to pull the halves together. If you are miles off not sure whats going on.

I assume the bushes are central in the relevant bits of the trailing arm?

[glenrobbo]

I like the sound of Adrian@'s suggestion.

I worked on aircraft assembly for many years, and the "podger" or pry bar was always an invaluable allie where holes didn't quite match up.
Amazingly, things that didn't want to line up at all on initial assembly just fell into place after the first flight.

This is all top secret by the way, don't tell a soul.
HTH ,
Glen

Edited for spellin mistook.
I give in, is it ALLY or ALLIE? I need help. Or allies

Edited by glenrobbo on Monday 12th November 23:36

Edited by glenrobbo on Monday 12th November 23:41

[Le TVR]

Bolt the two parts of the arm together (preferably without the bushes fitted) and offer it up to the chassis mounts. Does it fit between them? is the first sanity check.
Assuming it fits between the mounts, you can then visualise how far the bushes need inserting in each side.

[The Big G]

When I came to do the job the first side that I tried fitted together perfectly



Unfortunately when I came to the other side things were not quite so simple and I suffered the same as you.



I spoke to a few people and what I was told on on numerous occasions was that this was normal for a TVR as quality control at the factory measured tolerances in feet not mm. A big dead blow hammer with a soft face, some pry bars, brute force and a lot of patience was required to finally get it fitted.

In the end I very loosely bolted the trailing arm together, forced the bolt through the bush with a hammer to attach it to the chassis. Then tightened the trailing arm together. All at the same time as adjusting the other end too. It feels like three hands are needed at times and each movement throws the other out but you should get there in the end.

[spivvy]

thanks for the advice i will keep you posted

[greymrj]

Just a clarification for anybody with an S1 (or early S2 I believe?). Our trailing arms do not have the adjustable section or tracking shims. If your trailing arms are starting to corrode then get Adrian Venn at Exactly TVR to do them for you, by return. It is essential that they are rebuilt on the jig. Mine tapped back OK, needs a bit of force to get the newly bushed pivots back into the chassis brackets. I suggest you check the brackets while the arms are out. My chassis is good but one of the brackets had some rust at the root, pointless putting a new arm on a rusty bracket!