Rear suspension conversion

[monty]

Can some kind person tell me what is involved in removing the lever shocks (TR4A IRS), attaching chassis brackets and fitting on Spax adjustables. Is it a DIY job or does the whole suspension/springs etc need to be removed?

Many thanks.

[67_gt6]

If you have not already bought the conversion kit I would go for the CTM Engineering one - very straight forward to fit. I also prefer Konis to Spax.

 

Here's what I did:

 

Bought new setscrews and special washers to fix the new brackets on - your current setscrews may be wrong size etc due to previous owner - happened to me.

 

Jack up car under side member just below B post ie near the rear of the door. If you have wire wheels then also put a jack or stands under the splined adaptor - this relieves the forces acting on the lever arm drop link ie the spring pushing down on the trailing arm.

 

Remove damper and drop link as per manual - drop link attachment to trailing arm first, then setscrews holding damper to chassis bracket.

 

Put a pair of vice grips tightly on the washer at the seat of the bump stop on the chassis. Give the grips a couple of blows anti-clockwise to start it off and remove - this is assuming you are fitting a kit that uses the bump stop as one of the locations to fasten the new bracket on to.

 

Fasten up the new bracket - I found it best to loosely screw in the setscrew to the bump stop to locate that part of the bracket, then gradually fasten up the other two. Take it slowly screwing up each bit a little by turns.

 

Fit damper to bracket and trailing arm.

 

The first one may take a couple of hours but the second will be quicker.

 

Do take a mental note of how the old dampers fasten up as, in the worst case, you may find that the old damper chassis brackets that the conversion bracket fastens to are out of alignment, in which case you would need to revert the suspension to previous arrangment until you can get the old brackets removed and replaced correctly.

[monty]

Many thanks for that 67.

I have inherited conversion brackets supplied by TRGB along with 2 Spax shocks. All items are new & were fitted for apparently only a short while as the previous owner thought the brackets and/or shocks were running too close to the wheels/tyres (195's). He reverted back to the lever shocks but I would like to convert to telescopics. I guess the brackets obviously fit but not too sure what to do now!

[Richard Crawley]

I also prefer Konis to Spax.

 

Nothing wrong with Spax shocks, I've had them fitted front & back of my 6 for nearly 3 years now. They are light years away from the originals & have transformed the handling; at least you can adjust them on the car!

 

I would certainly consider buying another pair for the front so you’ve got a matching set; they are easy to fit, less than an hours work. Don't over tighten the top fixing nut when you fit them or you’ll kill the rubbers.