HeswallTR3 Posted June 21, 2007 Report Share Posted June 21, 2007 Hi, I think I know what I have done wrong, but in the likely event that I dont here goes, I read somewhere that the drivers side leaf is stiffer than the passengers assuming that the driver is more likely to be there than the passenger>>duh! Well I have put together my rear suspension, only to notice that on the left hand side, currently the drivers side though the plan is to switch to RHD, that the leaf spring was a bit stiffer to engage, only to find on closer examination that where the locating nib is into the axle there is 2 more plates about 3inch by 2 inch. Can I dismantle and switch to the other side to give me that bit of stiffness on the right, or have I completely lost the plot again T Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Don Elliott Posted June 21, 2007 Report Share Posted June 21, 2007 On RH drive cars like mine in North America, the extra spacers were on the RHS or the passenger's side. When I put in new rear springs, they came without the spacers, so I took them off the old spring and put them on the new RH rear leaf spring. So I suppose you can do it too. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
stuart Posted June 22, 2007 Report Share Posted June 22, 2007 Hi,I think I know what I have done wrong, but in the likely event that I dont here goes, I read somewhere that the drivers side leaf is stiffer than the passengers assuming that the driver is more likely to be there than the passenger>>duh! Well I have put together my rear suspension, only to notice that on the left hand side, currently the drivers side though the plan is to switch to RHD, that the leaf spring was a bit stiffer to engage, only to find on closer examination that where the locating nib is into the axle there is 2 more plates about 3inch by 2 inch. Can I dismantle and switch to the other side to give me that bit of stiffness on the right, or have I completely lost the plot again T No problem just switch it to whichever side you are going to drive on. As Don says the repros dont have this feature and are the same for both sides. Stuart. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Menno van Rij Posted June 28, 2007 Report Share Posted June 28, 2007 Perhaps I didn't read the threads realy well, but I'm not sure I understand it correctly, so let me try to put in my own words: The leaf spring on the drivers side must have the extra spacers due to the weight of the driver. Please correct me if I'm wrong! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Don Elliott Posted June 28, 2007 Report Share Posted June 28, 2007 No - Just the opposite. The extra spacers go on the passenger's side for cars with the driver on the left side as in North America and Europe. The driver sags that side of the car and any crown or slope across the road will make the edge of the road lower than the center of the road so that the rain water can drain to the ditch along the side of the road. The spacers were supposed to lift that side of the car to make the car appear more level. They only put them on cars from some time starting in the TR3 production and into the TR3A series. If I'm correct, they stopped putting the spacers on the rear spring on later TR3As - if I'm correct - but I can't confirm. I think it's explained in Bill Piggott's book. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Menno van Rij Posted June 28, 2007 Report Share Posted June 28, 2007 Thank Don, very useful info! As you can see, I've posted a new update about my restoration-adventures. This morning, the leaf springs came off the car just as you discribed! I asked this question because I became confused about the answers to the initial question of this posting (well, my interpretation off it) and reality on my car. All is fine now! Menno Quote Link to post Share on other sites
HeswallTR3 Posted June 29, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 29, 2007 Thank Don, very useful info! As you can see, I've posted a new update about my restoration-adventures. This morning, the leaf springs came off the car just as you discribed! I asked this question because I became confused about the answers to the initial question of this posting (well, my interpretation off it) and reality on my car. All is fine now! Menno I also now confused, so what we are saying is that for a right hand drive model the spacers go on the passenger side i.e the left Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Don Elliott Posted June 29, 2007 Report Share Posted June 29, 2007 That's my understanding. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
HeswallTR3 Posted June 29, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 29, 2007 There has been no work done this afternoon, as a result of this thread, there is a serial petrol head who advises as follows- Wikapedia quotes "Cars with unusual handling problems American cars in general are notorious for not being able to "take a corner". Certain vehicles can be involved in a disproportionate share of single-vehicle accidents - their handling characteristics may play a role: early Porsche 911s — suffered from treacherous lift off oversteer (where the car unpredictably leaves the road tail first); also the inside front wheel leaves the road during hard cornering on dry pavement, causing increasing understeer. The roll bar stiffness at the front is set to compensate for the rear-heaviness and gives neutral handling in ordinary driving. This compensation starts to give out when the wheel lifts. A skilled driver can use the 911's other features to his/her advantage, making the 911 an extremely capable sports car in expert hands. Later 911s have had increasingly sophisticated rear suspensions and larger rear tires, eliminating these problems. Triumph TR2, and TR3 — began to oversteer more suddenly when their inside rear wheel lifted. " If the above relates ro a US LHD then the reverse must be the case for a UK RHD i.e that the inside rear nearside is prone to lift in a corner, therefore the outside rear must be spaced to allow greater force to be exerted downward onto the inside rear when cornering left, when cornering right the load is already displaced to the inside tyre the proportional weight of the driver to the offside means that no additional spacing is required My mate said if he could draw a picture he would All I want to do is leave the spacers on the right hand side which is where they are now Thanks in hope Quote Link to post Share on other sites
vivdownunder Posted July 1, 2007 Report Share Posted July 1, 2007 Hi Tigerwoods, Just to clarify the rear spring setup. On TR3A's from TS26904 at the start of 1958, two short pieces of spring material were added on to the top of one of the leaf springs, via the spring centre bolt. These were spacers only. They were not fitted to alter the spring rate. The rear spring with these two attached spacers was fitted to the passenger's side of the car. The spacers were just to lower the passenger's side slightly. The idea was that when travelling with the driver alone, the car then ran level. Later the factory returned to fitting two identical rear springs, possibly at the time the body was re-tooled at TS60001, but this is not verified in records. The notion of having different spring deflection rates for each side of the vehicle is far too sophisticated a concept for such a simple car. I have heard of Indianapolis type speedway cars racing on banked oval tracks having different inner and outer spring rates, but not TR's. Mostly the handling problems we had back when I was a teenager with a TR were due to the changover to radial ply tyres. We fitted radials with hard rubber compounds for long tyre life, but then found their behaviour could be quite alarming in the wet, to say the least. And of course our speed was a factor !. Hope this helps, Best regards, Viv. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
marvmul Posted July 1, 2007 Report Share Posted July 1, 2007 Hi Tigerwoods, The spacers were just to lower the passenger's side slightly. The idea was that when travelling with the driver alone, the car then ran level. That's true : the spacers LOWER the car on the side where these spacers are fitted, because the spring leafs are passing under the axle tube. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
marvmul Posted July 1, 2007 Report Share Posted July 1, 2007 . Triumph TR2, and TR3 — began to oversteer more suddenly when their inside rear wheel lifted. " If the above relates ro a US LHD then the reverse must be the case for a UK RHD i.e that the inside rear nearside is prone to lift in a corner, therefore the outside rear must be spaced to allow greater force to be exerted downward onto the inside rear when cornering left, when cornering right the load is already displaced to the inside tyre the proportional weight of the driver to the offside means that no additional spacing is required My mate said if he could draw a picture he would All I want to do is leave the spacers on the right hand side which is where they are now Thanks in hope The sudden oversteer on TR2-TR3 cars can be a problem of bottoming out (in the 'droop' direction) of the suspension : when cornering hard, the chassis leg on the inside wheel can touch the axle tube and lift this wheel : then all the weight is transferred to the outside wheel = sudden extreme oversteer. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Menno van Rij Posted July 1, 2007 Report Share Posted July 1, 2007 Later the factory returned to fitting two identical rear springs, possibly at the time the body was re-tooled at TS60001, but this is not verified in records. Some added info then: the car I'm restoring is 61459 L, built on Nov. 12 1959. And yes, when I dismantled the chassis last week, the springs were attached just the way discribed on this forum: The added shims were on the RHS spring of my LHD car. There are no visible signs of dismantling sessions ealier in the cars' life. So, I assume that it's 'factory-finish' what I dismantled . Menno Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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