I bought my rear spring kit from the supplier starting with a B. The U-bolts were very poor quality, especially the threads that made bolting them up very difficult. So I cleaned up the originals.
You will probably need a new set of the little bolts that hold the front swivel pin backing plate onto the spring hanger. Sometimes the plate itself is so rusted they fall to bits.
I 'think' Matt means he has these clamp plates - and is now going to order the little shackle plates too. May as well get the pins Matt - the end sometimes shears off.
It's a mystery to me why Morris did the spring front mount like this - wheres the advantage over same idea as at the rear mount ? Did it make life easier on the assembly line ?
It's a mystery to me why Morris did the spring front mount like this - wheres the advantage over same idea as at the rear mount ? Did it make life easier on the assembly line ?
Not sure if I'm understanding you correctly, but the rear spring shackles can swing to and fro slightly, while the front mount is rigid to the frame of the car. If both ends could swing, you would get fore and aft axle movement, and massive loads on the UJ's in the propshaft while accelerating or braking.
No no - it can't swing - but why the fancy mounting arrangement with pin + plate + bolts, could just have been a pin right through basically a U channel - with washers/nuts on the outside to secure. Pretty sure that's how it's done on other cars!
bmcecosse wrote:No no - it can't swing - but why the fancy mounting arrangement with pin + plate + bolts, could just have been a pin right through basically a U channel - with washers/nuts on the outside to secure. Pretty sure that's how it's done on other cars!
Ah right I see what you mean. Early front spring mount was just the bracket and pin bolt, but the head of the pin bolts would frequently seize into the bracket. So they fitted the replaceable plate to save having to replace the welded in bracket if it got wrecked. If seized, you can take out the wee bolts and drive a sharp chisel between bracket and plate, which usually draws the pin out along with the wrecked plate. But yes, it's wierd engineering. A simple pivot pin with threads on both ends and flanged washers would have been an easier idea.
