Suspension shims

[Eyetee]

Project seems to have turned a corner with chasis and suspension almost ready for rejoining, figuring out the sequence at the moment

 

Point of post is I thought that I had, but hadnt, made a note of how many shims were where, when the suspension was dismantled

There are now present and 99% sure correct

16 large trailing arm shims and 13 small wish bone shims

Seems like rather alot and have yet to find any more that might balance the numbers

At this stage considering 5 inner and 3 outer for trailing arms both sides and 5 back and 2 forward nearside and 4 back and 2 forward for off side regarding wish bone

 

The plan is to go to a proffessional once MOT acquired for accurate alignment

 

The chassis does appear straight and true

 

Any suggestions welcome wih regard to shim numbers and perhaps methods of front suspension rebuild

 

In advance Thank you

 

John

[Richard Crawley]

I assume you don't have a record of what came out? The number of shims will vary from car to car but my Trailing arms were; O/side unit - 4 inside 4 outside; nearside unit - 3 inside 4 outside; its more important to get the wheel centres the same, the actual measurement is not so critical & it's better to go either neutral or toe in when first setting up. Front wishbones were 3 shims both front & rear both sides.

 

You can do a rough setup of front/back wheel centres, rear wheel toe in & front wheel camber angle using crude strings & chewing gum methods which will be good enough to get you going. You should be aware that altering the number of trailing arm shims adjusts the rear wheel toe in, rear wheel camber is adjustted by using different offset, notched brackets. The standard 6 set up is 2 notches outside one notch inside; additional brackets are available to give different offset & they can even be used upside down to give further variations if really necessary.

[paul gardner]

It's worth consulting the Moss cataloque, because the notched brackets changed in 1971-from CP52867. Thereafter, the outer was a single notch, the inner was 3 notch.

Paul

[Richard Crawley]

It's worth consulting the Moss cataloque, because the notched brackets changed in 1971-from CP52867. Thereafter, the outer was a single notch, the inner was 3 notch.

Paul

I'm not entirely sure why they changed the brackets on later cars, weather this was due to small changes in the chassis or rear wheel geometry I don't know. The catalogue gives a bassis for what the car should have been fitted with originally but it does become a little irellavent if the trailing arm chassis members have been repaired or replaced. What's more important is to understand what the notches mean & how to combine the various bracket combinations to get the correct geometry on a renovated car; there is a definitive list of the brackets available (Buckeye Triumphs I think) & the effect the various notch combinations will have.

[IanR]

Hi,

Yes Paul is correct there was a change to the bracket but it does not make a great deal of difference (0.2 degrees less negative camber in fact). There is a calculation on Buckeye Triumphs as Richard suggests, you can find it at http://members.visi.net/~kohout/trailarm.html.

 

With just a three bracket combination you can can have the camber any where you want it, but when they are on the car its a labour to change >

 

Cheers

[Eyetee]

Alright then I shall evenly distribute the shims which means 3 and 3 at the front and 4 and 4 at the rear. The brackets that came with the car are 3 and 1 notches and I seem to recall reading in the 6 restoration manual that the 3 is the inner all notches up, from the chart that would give the rear wheels on the car tested an 8 degree camber. Respect goes to Brian Lanoway for persisting with his quest for the perfect camber.