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Advice on Armstrong Lever Arm refurbishment please


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My Tr6 was put back on the road last year after being in my mums garage for 28 years (long story!) We obviously did an awful lot of work to make it road worthy and useable and it passed its MOT....I managed 2700 miles in it last year and it never left me by the side of the road so have been very happy

Today I took full advantage of the unusually warm weather and worked in the garage on the 6 and removed both Armstrong lever arms as these were not touched in the restoration last year..

I've decided to keep the suspension the same i.e I'm not going the telescopic shock absorber route and am going to get the existing units refurbished by Stevensons in Birmingham

My question is a lot of threads on this topic mention "uprating" the arms during refurb.... What does this mean exactly and how will that tranlate into the feel of the car on the road if I get this done....It does beg the question if uprating is such an improvement why didnt they leave the factory like that?

The car is used on the road keeping up with modern traffic but I have no intention of taking it on the track or going hill climbing in it....Thanks for your help

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I dropped a pair of lever arms off at Stevsons this week, he told me that he uprates them by c.20% as standard but he did ask if I had any specific requirements. Stevsons are very busy, he's now doing all Rimmers recon work for them too.

Ian

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The quality of the link from the lever arm to the trailing arm is a problem.

Rimmer offers the standard (poor) quality and  a better one, seems to be better.

I made my own ones, they will last for ever, posted that here but can not find it on the heap.

Edited by Z320
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Thanks Z320 ...Very interesting about the link arms...I see somebody else has come up with another improved design?

https://www.goodparts.com/shop/index.php?productID=914

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Ok I have now got my Lever arms back from Stevsons. Very old school establishment. As has been mentioned by a previous poster he is rebuilding the ones for Rimmer brothers

Before I refit them it occurred to me that since the Lever arms have been now uprated by approx 20% should I be looking at changing the existing standard rear coil springs to an uprated item or stick with the standard springs?...I'm only interested in road driving ...no hill climbing or competition work

If you uprated your springs what did you go for? What about the pads at each end of the spring did you replace those as well?

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 2/16/2019 at 10:22 AM, jogger321 said:

Similar to Jogger my 6 has had a long lay up 25 years and is looking forward to a good summer. I am also in the process of giving the rear suspension a bit on overhaul. I intend to keep the original Armstrong lever arms but would like to stiffen using a heaver oil can anyone recommend a weight / brand. I have looked at Dynolite but can't see if this is available in different weights. Also is it worth changing the link arm rubbers to poly whist at it.

Would also appreciate views on uprated rear springs. Many thanks.

 

 

On 2/23/2019 at 9:16 PM, Z320 said:

For me (joy/touristic driver) the standard springs are already strong enought.

 

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Dampers are hydraulic devices, so hydraulic oil is appropriate.  I believe ISO 46 oil is close to stock, so you could try ISO 68.  These are equivalent to SAE 15 and SAE 20 respectively.

Ed

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I got the impression when I talked to Mr Stevenson that the method he used to uprate the lever arms included putting a shim of some sort against one of the internal springs in the lever arm mechanism and wasn't about the oil

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This is good video to show what’s on the inside. 

A cheftush video that I am sure many of you are familiar with. 

If you're not - subscribe to his Chanel he has done up so many TRs and is working on a 250 at the moment. 

 

 

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Interesting video...Thanks for posting

 

Whilst I appreciate it is about the lever arms...The method of torquing the link arms 1) lever arm to top of link arm (tapered) 2) Bottom link arm with rubber bushes to trailing arm is not shown. should this be done with the wheel on the ground and full weight of car on ground or with no weight i.e up in the air ....The brown bible is unclear ??

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1 hour ago, Phil H 4 said:

I watched cheftuch's video a few nights ago, very instructive.

All his stuff is really good

https://www.youtube.com/user/cheftush

as is Elin Yakov

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8MBWMaGHLbGwDrrzbddevA

both great Canadian base Triumph enthusiasts that share so much to help others on YouTube 

 

h

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Whilst stripping the lever arms I thought I'd replace the chassis bump stops particularly as one was missing.

Question I have please is the nut within the chassis recess welded or just seized with time ? Have cleaned up the thread and applied release oil but thought i'd better check before I pull her of the stands !

Thanks.

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Welded from what I remember ...and stripped the weld and ended in it rotating inside the chassis and very inacessible....so go careful :-)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Wow & Wow

 

I finished fitting the lever arms that I had refurbished at Stevsons this morning and have just come back from a forty mile drive enjoying the weather today. Its possible that my lever arms had completely worn out before being refurbished  (i.e a lot worse than yours!) ....however all I can say is the car feels transformed...Instead of all the bounce, bounce, bounce and wallowing it was doing before at the rear it is no longer bouncing and feels so much more sure footed...I feel a lot more confident in it now and its also far more comfortable..I kept the standard coil springs....Stevsons have uprated them between 15 & 20%

My conclusion as i'm not taking it on a track or going hill climbing is that I'm extremely pleased to have kept the lever arms and didnt just do a knee jerk and go for a telescopic conversion

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1 hour ago, jogger321 said:

Wow & Wow

 

I finished fitting the lever arms that I had refurbished at Stevsons this morning and have just come back from a forty mile drive enjoying the weather today. Its possible that my lever arms had completely worn out before being refurbished  (i.e a lot worse than yours!) ....however all I can say is the car feels transformed...Instead of all the bounce, bounce, bounce and wallowing it was doing before at the rear it is no longer bouncing and feels so much more sure footed...I feel a lot more confident in it now and its also far more comfortable..I kept the standard coil springs....Stevsons have uprated them between 15 & 20%

My conclusion as i'm not taking it on a track or going hill climbing is that I'm extremely pleased to have kept the lever arms and didnt just do a knee jerk and go for a telescopic conversion

I had a pair of Stevsons dampers fitted yesterday and I've put around 100 miles on them since, a big improvement and I'd wholeheartedly recommend them.

Ian

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I sent mine to Stevenson's last week, apparently about a 3 week turn around so whilst in the back end have taken out the springs as the rubber isolators had perished. I had considering removing the trailing arms and doing a bush replacement however that will probably lead to a total refurb of the trailing arms, fitting adjustable camber brackets etc so may leave until the next lay up as keen to get her back on the road as the weather is improving and being a complete novice this may take some time.

In the meantime I would like to get the camber set up correctly as she has only covered 500 miles in the last 25 years and to an untrained eye it looks a bit suspect.

 I would be appreciate any pointers at who could do this in the Buckinghamshire area.

Finally whilst looking at previous post seeing this is a very debatable subject the existing springs are around 290mm and are in ok ish state. Given the refurb lever arms any opinions if i should stick with standard or upgraded spring.

Phil

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1 hour ago, Phil H 4 said:

I sent mine to Stevenson's last week, apparently about a 3 week turn around so whilst in the back end have taken out the springs as the rubber isolators had perished. I had considering removing the trailing arms and doing a bush replacement however that will probably lead to a total refurb of the trailing arms, fitting adjustable camber brackets etc so may leave until the next lay up as keen to get her back on the road as the weather is improving and being a complete novice this may take some time.

In the meantime I would like to get the camber set up correctly as she has only covered 500 miles in the last 25 years and to an untrained eye it looks a bit suspect.

 I would be appreciate any pointers at who could do this in the Buckinghamshire area.

Finally whilst looking at previous post seeing this is a very debatable subject the existing springs are around 290mm and are in ok ish state. Given the refurb lever arms any opinions if i should stick with standard or upgraded spring.

Phil

Hi Phil,

You do not say what year your TR is as BL increased the spring rates considerately during the production life i.e. at least 4 times starting off with TR4 spring rates???

Bruce..

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