rear droplinks
Discussion
Hi, just one job on the winter list to sort out. A few years back i fitted the latest rear drop links as Tvrparts and racetech sell but never been able to get the orientation right. They don't fit vertical so the rubber bushes either side of the wishbone are on an angle. All i can think is the replacement ones are too short. Anyone else noticed this? And are the longer ones off a Mondeo a better fit? Cheers. 
Edited by DVR V8 on Friday 4th March 16:24
My initial comment saying that original brackets failed at the welds was incorrect
looking at my notes I see that my brackets actually failed through the metal brackets themselves cracking.
Uprated replacement droplinks from TVR parts did appear to hang at a strange angle when fitted but as Alun has said above after driving a few miles seem to have centred themselves.
Unles you are driving your car in competition the rear AR bar appears to not make a great deal of difference.
looking at my notes I see that my brackets actually failed through the metal brackets themselves cracking.
Uprated replacement droplinks from TVR parts did appear to hang at a strange angle when fitted but as Alun has said above after driving a few miles seem to have centred themselves.
Unles you are driving your car in competition the rear AR bar appears to not make a great deal of difference.
Interesting.
I had one fail through the bracket cracking across the pick up hole.
Here’s a bespoke set sold by a chap in Scotland, Caddy shack maybe. I’ve had them a few years now so can’t remember
Notice the length of them from the pinching point between the two rubbers so the bracket on your lower wishbone and centre point of bolt going through rear ARB.
I record that as around 80 mm once rubbers are pinched up but ive left a gap to show where bracket would sit in relation to this drop link.
It comprises a bolt,rubbers, washers and one lock nut. You need to use the lock nut to pinch up the rubbers and hold tight on bracket. This then means you have to wind the bottom section with rose joints rubber cap up to locking nut or it’s sort of loose on its threads. This will reduce this distance from bracket to ARB to maybe 70-75 mm
You can simply lengthen that bolt and if long enough another lock nut so you can keep both rubbers pinched and bottom section tight in its thread using second lock nut.
As it stands I can only see you being able to use the lock nut to pinch rubbers on wishbone bracket and unless you want to leave the rose jointed section loose in the threads you can’t lock it off. The bolt is not long enough to add another nut.
So my question is how long are the Tvr sold rear drop links using these points to give a rough measurement. They look to be 100-110 mm long from the picture above.
The longer they are the more stiffer I’d expect the Arb to be if my vague knowledge of geo is correct.
With these shorter drop links I’d expect them to work but slightly later in the travel of the suspension so the car should be marginally softer. If I lengthened the bolt and created more pressure on wishbone point I think the car would feel stiffer and the arb work as soon as any weight is transferred onto one wheel. The arb resists body roll by transferring weight from the outside wheel onto the inside one so as the arb set up would be less pressured it stands to reason the car will still have an Arb but just less effective especially out of T junctions and the like. I removed mine because I had a cracked bracket and found I liked the car’s more sensitive feel on each rear wheel without it.
If I could be bothered and it’s a right game getting any of these drop links connected up I think these might be just the job.
I’m not sure I even kept the receipt but if you type in something like rose jointed rear drop links for Tvr these might just come up.
It says something that I’ve not bothered using these yet though.
I find I drive at speed limits and that’s not very fast.
I ordinarily drive my car or did,,, around town and found myself on local roads mostly and the softer rear end is just more compliant for me. It’s looser sort of thing.
If I wanted to drive fast and hard into corners I’d put arb on. I like cruising mostly and for that the car feels just as good if not better without it. It’s a very stiff car at cruising speeds after all.
I find the front arb is enough to keep the car pretty level into corners unless spiriting on. It’s a very personal choice though and this thread has made me want to fit them a little bit more just to find out. I drove my cars a good Two years without arc so it will be noticeable when I do.
I had one fail through the bracket cracking across the pick up hole.
Here’s a bespoke set sold by a chap in Scotland, Caddy shack maybe. I’ve had them a few years now so can’t remember
Notice the length of them from the pinching point between the two rubbers so the bracket on your lower wishbone and centre point of bolt going through rear ARB.
I record that as around 80 mm once rubbers are pinched up but ive left a gap to show where bracket would sit in relation to this drop link.
It comprises a bolt,rubbers, washers and one lock nut. You need to use the lock nut to pinch up the rubbers and hold tight on bracket. This then means you have to wind the bottom section with rose joints rubber cap up to locking nut or it’s sort of loose on its threads. This will reduce this distance from bracket to ARB to maybe 70-75 mm
You can simply lengthen that bolt and if long enough another lock nut so you can keep both rubbers pinched and bottom section tight in its thread using second lock nut.
As it stands I can only see you being able to use the lock nut to pinch rubbers on wishbone bracket and unless you want to leave the rose jointed section loose in the threads you can’t lock it off. The bolt is not long enough to add another nut.
So my question is how long are the Tvr sold rear drop links using these points to give a rough measurement. They look to be 100-110 mm long from the picture above.
The longer they are the more stiffer I’d expect the Arb to be if my vague knowledge of geo is correct.
With these shorter drop links I’d expect them to work but slightly later in the travel of the suspension so the car should be marginally softer. If I lengthened the bolt and created more pressure on wishbone point I think the car would feel stiffer and the arb work as soon as any weight is transferred onto one wheel. The arb resists body roll by transferring weight from the outside wheel onto the inside one so as the arb set up would be less pressured it stands to reason the car will still have an Arb but just less effective especially out of T junctions and the like. I removed mine because I had a cracked bracket and found I liked the car’s more sensitive feel on each rear wheel without it.
If I could be bothered and it’s a right game getting any of these drop links connected up I think these might be just the job.
I’m not sure I even kept the receipt but if you type in something like rose jointed rear drop links for Tvr these might just come up.
It says something that I’ve not bothered using these yet though.
I find I drive at speed limits and that’s not very fast.
I ordinarily drive my car or did,,, around town and found myself on local roads mostly and the softer rear end is just more compliant for me. It’s looser sort of thing.
If I wanted to drive fast and hard into corners I’d put arb on. I like cruising mostly and for that the car feels just as good if not better without it. It’s a very stiff car at cruising speeds after all.
I find the front arb is enough to keep the car pretty level into corners unless spiriting on. It’s a very personal choice though and this thread has made me want to fit them a little bit more just to find out. I drove my cars a good Two years without arc so it will be noticeable when I do.
Edited by Classic Chim on Saturday 5th March 12:02
Edited by Classic Chim on Saturday 5th March 12:02
Edited by Classic Chim on Saturday 5th March 12:20
And if my musings are correct ( please feel free to correct me )
This picture shows I would require a longer bolt and extra lock nut so I could get around 100 mm centres.
With these that’s easy to do.
So if someone can confirm how much drop link shows from bottom of bracket to centre of arb bolt I might have an idea how to use these. Thanks
This picture shows I would require a longer bolt and extra lock nut so I could get around 100 mm centres.
With these that’s easy to do.
So if someone can confirm how much drop link shows from bottom of bracket to centre of arb bolt I might have an idea how to use these. Thanks
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