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Ride Height Question- Front and Rear


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After around 16 years, this little car is now all one colour and will be on the road soon, however I have a few suspension niggles as the rear is too low and the front is too high.

I've trawled through multiple posts and can't see anything obvious such as packing pieces/spacers however have yet to dismantle the front suspension as I'm in the process of making an internal spring compressor.   There is a welded reinforcement plate on the rear axle , however it doesn't look to make any noticeable difference to the height.

Before I purchase new rear leaf springs as well as front springs, is there anything obvious that I've missed which would cause this ride height difference?

Many thanks

 

IMG_4091.thumb.JPG.ca6785a19e9948e6db70c741c10d050e.JPG

 

1244212299_SuspensionRear(1).thumb.jpeg.e105cd6367a0e16fd7fae895e3ae3205.jpeg414960325_SuspensionFront(3).thumb.jpeg.b502605cd433dc2eb8c67ef5837800b6.jpeg402933423_SuspensionFront(2).thumb.jpeg.e149a02ba8be2dfc2cbb77210440ace4.jpeg

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+1  is that front brake flexible hose in the right position? it looks very stretched and will be even more so on full left lock. On my 3a connection is at the bracket you can see above

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these are my brake part positions the splitter and switch go on the chassis and hard tubed from here and the flexi joins the hard tube at the higher point.

 

as to height looks like the spring seats are reasonably thick ones and there may be one or even 2 either side of the ali spacer at the top that you may not be able to see  

i have 2 ploy bush spacers and they increase the ride height a lot.

(they come in different thicknesses)

sorting the front may balance the look of the rear ?

402933423_SuspensionFront(2).thumb.jpeg.e149a02ba8be2dfc2cbb77210440ace4.jpg

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Any spacer between the axle and the spring will lower the ride height by a similar amount. Bare in mind that old leaf springs can get a little tired.

For good all round handling I recommend Revington's Red stripe front springs and 161 lb rear springs together with rear location washers, Super Pro isolators and shackle bushes. Standard ride height and comfortable.........we completed nearly 1000 miles around Wales last week without being shaken to death or grounding out despite some nasty sleeping policemen.

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Thank you people for your input.  I hadn't spotted the brake pipe at all, however now it's really obviously.

Once I have my Churchill style spring compressor created I'll set to work on the front and see what I can remove.

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I had similar problems and ended up with Red Stripe on the front and the original rear springs overhauled by Jones Springs in Birmingham. They have all the information and the original springs will be back to original spec. which is hard to find on new springs.  They also have a collect and deliver service. It is a long job fitting the rear springs and you only want to do it once.

Good luck Richard & B

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7 hours ago, Hamish said:

these are my brake part positions the splitter and switch go on the chassis and hard tubed from here and the flexi joins the hard tube at the higher point.

 

as to height looks like the spring seats are reasonably thick ones and there may be one or even 2 either side of the ali spacer at the top that you may not be able to see  

i have 2 ploy bush spacers and they increase the ride height a lot.

(they come in different thicknesses)

sorting the front may balance the look of the rear ?

402933423_SuspensionFront(2).thumb.jpeg.e149a02ba8be2dfc2cbb77210440ace4.jpg

The position for the hose to connect to the rigid line changed when the cars went from Lockheed drums to Girling discs.  The lower hose bracket is correct for Lockheed drum brakes, and the upper is for Girling disc brakes.

To me it looks like the hose is too short.

I think the original Lockheed hose part number was KL101202  

See Technicalities sect M1

Peter W

Edited by BlueTR3A-5EKT
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6 hours ago, Drewmotty said:

Any spacer between the axle and the spring will lower the ride height by a similar amount. Bare in mind that old leaf springs can get a little tired.

For good all round handling I recommend Revington's Red stripe front springs and 161 lb rear springs together with rear location washers, Super Pro isolators and shackle bushes. Standard ride height and comfortable.........we completed nearly 1000 miles around Wales last week without being shaken to death or grounding out despite some nasty sleeping policemen.

 

Hi Andrew,

I am pretty sure the leaf springs will need to be replaced in the next 1-2 years. 

Is this the product you are referring to?

https://www.revingtontr.com/product/rtr3070/name/spring-rally-rr-tr2-4-160-lb-in

Cheers,

David

 

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8 hours ago, BlueTR3A-5EKT said:

The position for the hose to connect to the rigid line changed when the cars went from Lockheed drums to Girling discs.  The lower hose bracket is correct for Lockheed drum brakes, and the upper is for Girling disc brakes.

To me it looks like the hose is too short.

I think the original Lockheed hose part number was KL101202  

See Technicalities sect M1

Peter W

Yep, it is just the hose that is wrong for a Lockheed TR2/early TR3.

I used standard Moss rear springs on both my TR2s. Ride height and handling are good on both cars but could well be better with other springs.

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13 hours ago, BlueTR3A-5EKT said:

The position for the hose to connect to the rigid line changed when the cars went from Lockheed drums to Girling discs.  The lower hose bracket is correct for Lockheed drum brakes, and the upper is for Girling disc brakes.

Something I don’t quite understand is why the car has drum brakes.

Surely, if the chassis was made with the additional bracket for disc brakes, it must have had disc brakes from the start. Were the drum brakes a retro fit or has the chassis been changed?

Or was there a change over period when disc brake chassis were made, but the factory was just using up the last supply of drum brakes.

Just curious.

 

Charlie.

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12 minutes ago, Charlie D said:

Something I don’t quite understand is why the car has drum brakes.

Surely, if the chassis was made with the additional bracket for disc brakes, it must have had disc brakes from the start. Were the drum brakes a retro fit or has the chassis been changed?

Or was there a change over period when disc brake chassis were made, but the factory was just using up the last supply of drum brakes.

Just curious.

 

Charlie.

I'd say it has a later chassis. 

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On 7/7/2021 at 11:10 AM, Devs said:

After around 16 years, this little car is now all one colour and will be on the road soon, however I have a few suspension niggles as the rear is too low and the front is too high.

I've trawled through multiple posts and can't see anything obvious such as packing pieces/spacers however have yet to dismantle the front suspension as I'm in the process of making an internal spring compressor.   There is a welded reinforcement plate on the rear axle , however it doesn't look to make any noticeable difference to the height.

Before I purchase new rear leaf springs as well as front springs, is there anything obvious that I've missed which would cause this ride height difference?

Many thanks

 

IMG_4091.thumb.JPG.ca6785a19e9948e6db70c741c10d050e.JPG

 

1244212299_SuspensionRear(1).thumb.jpeg.e105cd6367a0e16fd7fae895e3ae3205.jpeg414960325_SuspensionFront(3).thumb.jpeg.b502605cd433dc2eb8c67ef5837800b6.jpeg402933423_SuspensionFront(2).thumb.jpeg.e149a02ba8be2dfc2cbb77210440ace4.jpeg

Two possible things to check

Is there an aluminium Packer above the coil spring?   If so what is the length of the uncompressed front spring without packer?   TR4 front springs are fitted to sidescreen cars and they are longer than sidescreen car springs.   The TR4 front spring is the same length as a sidescreen car spring with aluminium packer.  Free length of a standard sidescreen coil spring is 9.75”  it is in the wsm  TR4 are about 11” long and do not need the aluminium packer.

 

How long are the rear leaf spring shackles?   TR4A rigid axle cars use a longer shackle which fits and causes the rear to be lower.  Yours should be 2 1/2” centre to centre.

 

Edited by BlueTR3A-5EKT
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Hi Devs, all, not disagreeing with any of the previous texts. However, the rear end looks pretty much OK to me, I would start on the front as discussed and you may well find that the rear end is alright. - Can be / will be a pig of a job getting the old spring(s) out, don’t do it if you don’t (until you) have to would be my going in advice.

 

Cheers

Tony

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