Rear U bolts

[oddbod]

I am fitting some longer rear shackles to our Moggie, and to fit them have dropped the rear spring, I am now struggling to get the U bolts to line up to reattatch the bit that holds the spring and Damper to the rear axle, I have tried G clamps, but this wont work for the innermost U bolt cos of the shape of the Damper Mount, am I missing summat? So to recap, the gap between the threaded ends of the U bolts is too wide to match the holes in the Mount plate, they DID fit this afternoon before I took the mounting plate off, have they "sprung" and how should I unspring them???

[bmcecosse]

Why on earth did you undo the U bolts ??? You should just have supported the axle - removed the shackle plates - dropped the complete axle down an inch and fitted the new shackle plates! It was a 10 minute job each side....... You will just need to lift the axle up and wiggle the bolts back down into position. If they have spread - you may need to squeeze them in a bit in a vice......

[oddbod]

Errm, I didn't, an over enthusiastic teenager did as a surprise, it is a big surprise!!!!!

[bmcecosse]

Oh dear - not wise to let the unsupervised play under the car....... You do know a Minor owner was killed a few weeks ago when the car fell on him? Take great care...

[oddbod]

The car was well supported on axle stands, hardly playing,just over enthusiastic to "get finished for Saturday Night Out"

[bmcecosse]

More hurry = less speed.......

[katy]

That's what the old Mexican told me years ago: "Slow down and get finished sooner"

[linearaudio]

Leaving hindsight to one side (on top of that big dusty pile of good intentions in the corner), I have found that holding a u-bolt on edge on a wood block and tapping the uppermost side (not the threaded end bit!!) using a universal size hammer will soon "set" it right. I see anything like that as a very positive action, as the alternative- running back and forward to the vice-soon becomes wearing, and after 3 or 4 attempts is when you start losing interest and just wanting to finish as quick as possible. That is when things can get dangerous!
Rather than wrestling past the axle and various bits from the top, check the "set" of the u-bolt by feeding it up through the mounting plate from the bottom. If it fits the hole spacing then it will fit from the top; if not then you have saved a lot of swearing trying to acheive the impossible!
I worked that rather obvious one out when replacing the drive shaft joints on the boys 1100- a nightmare when using modern reproduction "any-shape-will-do" ubolts

[bmcecosse]

"replacing the drive shaft joints " Hahahaha - been there, done that many times !

[oddbod]

Well its all back together as it was on friday,just need to fit the longer shackles, the problem refitting the Ubolts was overcome by NOT seating them on the axle/bumpstop assembly therefore NOT splaying the legs of the Ubolts and watched them seat as I tightend up the nuts. All good sofar, well apart from lots of puzzling and a bit of cussing.
After yet another mug of tea we,myself and Saturday Night Fever Son, shall continue with the task of lowering the axle and putting everything back together.Like I've said before if a mistake can be made, I'll make it,but the next time I need to do the same job it'll be much quicker cos I've messed it up before! Thanks for the advice and support,again!

[linearaudio]

Wow"! I love your confident approach! Next time my boy breaks a driveshaft coupling on his 1100 I may just call you in, if Roy is busy at the time
Hope your longer shackles do the job; whatever the real cause of your problem, it is by far the simplest solution, and having been anoracky enough to lie under a fair few Mogs to check in the past, I have not seen an example yet where the rear hangers don't sit a little to the rear of ideal!

[oddbod]

All sorted, a bit of messing, and an enthusiastic teenager who is itching to drive and is happy to do labouring for his poor old Dad in exchange for Driving Lessons in our Moggie, and Trundle (yep thats what we call the poor old thing) is ready for a few more stalls, shaky hill starts and occasional missed gear changes. To be honest the Boys driving is getting better and I'm confident enough to gaze out of the window at the scenery more and enjoy being driven for a change
Now just got to sort an annoying leak from the Diff ( I think an oil seal where the prop goes in has given up the ghost since I changed the EP90 a couple of weeks ago ) and try to get the speedo to work properly and I can spend some time on my Traveller, which should have had my attention over the Bank Holiday!! I'm still enjoying messing with the Moggies, I could just do with jobs becoming less complicated ( mainly my fault for being a klutz)

[bmcecosse]

Crikey -a 10 minute job made difficult...... But do tell us - have the shackles helped to move the end of the spring away from the chassis leg?

[oddbod]

Sorry, yep the longer shackles,25mm longer than standard,but with holes matching the original spacing too,so 3 holes to each shackle, the extra holes being utillised with an old fulcrum pin to add strength. I am also going to change the original split washer and flat nut arrangement to Nylocks,as the new shackles are slightly thicker guage and wont take a spring washer AND nut. The lift is not too noticeable, but the lack of Grinding noise from the rear is worth the hassle. I do think that the Spring eye rubbing on the chassis was a major contributing factor to the corrosion at the rear hanger,and some of that contact was caused,to my mind anyway,by using lowering blocks to "shove" the spring,in effect,backwards. So, no rubbing,great clearance and if I did it again I would go for less increase in shackle length, maybe 15 or 20mm as that would give enough clearance and also not need the security of a spacer tube (I think!)

[bmcecosse]

Well done, good information there. I'm sure your analysis is right - but I suspect anything less than your 25mm would not really be worth while.