Leaf spring replacement

[neilmorey]

I bought the ESM 7 leaf spring kit with poly bushes for my 1971 Traveller.
I had the expected fun removing the front pin but was able to get a spanner on the bolt and remove the plate and pin together.
Putting it back together the new pin doesn't sit flush with the plate like the old one did. There's no mention in the manual, but how far in to the plate does the the pin need to be?
I've got the nut on the pin and tightened it up but it hasn't pulled the pin further in to the plate.
Thanks in advance for any help.





https://ibb.co/Y0YMgDW

https://ibb.co/fvkkq4J

[philthehill]

The distance the pin fits into the plate is determined by the shoulder on the other end of the pin.
The main part of the pin is 1/2" dia. The threaded part of the pin is 3/8" dia. The shoulder between the two should be up against the inside of the mount bracket.
The large end of the pin just slides into the plate. Other than the circumference of the head of the pin sitting inside the plate there is no other means of securing that end of the pin.
Looking at your 2nd photo above the pin is not fully home.
The head of the pin should be positioned in the plate the same as that in your 1st photo.

[neilmorey]

Thanks Phil, I see what you mean, only the threaded part can projected through the mounting on the car.

This is the set to be fitted to the other side. The inner face is almost flush when loosely fitted but outer face projects.

G-clamp to try and force it in or is it better to remove the pin and ease the opening with wet and dry so that will go in easier?

[Grumpy21]

Neil,

Ive just completed exactly the same job and you may have your assembly sequence wrong. You need to fit the plates to the inside of the spring hanger first or you will never get the frontmost securing nut and bolt in place. I had a problem at this point and I'll explain later. After bolting the plate to the hanger you can locate the spring and THEN the pin goes through the lot to emerge on the outside of the spring hanger. Tightening the nut on the threaded part of the pin draws the shoulder into the hole on the plate.

My problem was that the plate would not fit into the large hole in the spring hanger so I had to machine a fraction off on my lathe.

Would you like me to take a photo tomorrow?

Gary

[neilmorey]

Gary,
Any photos would be helpful please.
I know what you mean about fixing the plate to the hanger first, I then fitted the bushes into the spring and put the spring into place in the hanger. Then I could tap the pin into place, it is right through the bushes with bolt and spring washer in place.
Although it has all gone together the rear face of the pin doesn't seem to be seated correctly.
Thanks

[philthehill]

The plate fits on the outside of the spring hanger not on the inside with the flange of the plate entered into the large hole in the inner side of the front spring hanger.
The inner face of the head of the pin should be able to protrude beyond the inner edge of the plate flange i.e. pass right through without impediment. The amount of protrusion is determined by the 1/2" - 3/8" shoulder of the pin.
The large head of the pin should be a nice firm fit inside the plate and be no more than a finger press fit. Some aftermarket plates and pins have too much of an interference fit so not as to allow the required finger press fit.
I have just tried 3 NOS pins in 3 NOS plates and all allow for a finger press fit.
I would remove the pins and reverse fit the large head of the pin into the plate. If the pin is more than a finger press fit then there is the problem. Reduce the dia of the large pin head to suit. Best done in a lathe. I would advise against opening out the hole in the plate.

[Grumpy21]

I’ll take a photo in the light tomorrow. On mine the pins went into the plate with a tight push fit, my problem was that the plate flange wouldn’t fit into the hole in the spring hanger. A light pass with the lathe removed the burr and perhaps 0.05 mm from the outside of the flange and it pulled into place when tightening the fixing bolts.

[Grumpy21]

pics as promised - not the best but show how they fit on my car

[neilmorey]

Thanks for the help, without access to a lathe I think I'll have to back to ESM as the pin is definitely not a snug push fit.

[neilmorey]

One last try, removed the spring and fitted the pin alone. Looks like shoulder just meets the spring hanger but that is it as tight as possible.

PXL_20220131_214805493.jpg (277.78 KiB) Viewed 2803 times

[philthehill]

That is all you can ask for.
Saying that - the aim should be to get the head of the pin to have full contact along the inside of the insert plate flange so as to get as much support as possible.
The insert plate was a factory mod - originally the spring hanger bracket was just plain which allowed the pin to rattle and wear the hanger which was extremely difficult to replace.

[geoberni]

Neil
Can you not just post the photos directly to here instead of hosting them on Photobucket?
Are you using a free Trial Version?
We usually only see the watermark on Old Posts from several years ago when external hosting was required for some obscure reason.

Personally I find the Watermark most distracting.

[neilmorey]

I can't get the forum to accept photos direct from my phone camera. I think they need to be editted and resized?
My photobucket account is old and as soon as I logged in it said hosting not allowed but by ignoring that it will still let you access the account and copy links.

I tried ImgBB too didn't seem to work, nor did hosting straight from Google photos although it seems to allow links.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/S5A39QqRTmvXa3Hu8

[geoberni]

Hi Neil
Image size for uploading here can be a problem with default settings on modern phones.
Default settings can easily be 5Mb or more. Sites like facebook, Instagram etc will automatically resize to a far smaller image when they upload them. Those companies don't want to use all their storage capacity on people's random snaps that will be forgotten about in days or weeks.
Message boards usually have a size limit, but don't have the luxury of automatically resizing.
I've managed to get 2 -3Mb to load here some days, but it's not consistent.

This subject came up a couple of months ago; it's usually easy to resize a phone image and it means it's stored here in the Forum, not on a 3rd party site subject to their site rules, where it might get lost in the future.
viewtopic.php?f=15&t=72743

[kevin s]

If you use an app like "reduce photo size" for android it's ever so easy to crop, rotate and re-size the photos before you upload them.

[neilmorey]

Response from ESM that says all the parts are the same, and if it doesn't fit, hit it with a hammer!

"Thanks for the images. I have checked against the ones we have and they do all match what you have. They do need to be a tight fit to ensure they don’t spin in the bracket the old more worn ones will pull in further. You may need to give them a little tap just to get them seated a little further until the threaded end sits flat on the mount"

Moss are showing the part as on back order but guess they may all come from same factory anyway.

[neilmorey]

I put the pin in a drill chuck and used wet and dry with Ferrosol to smooth the head of the pin, now fitted to the car. Before and after picture show it is seated much better now.

Thanks for the help

[philthehill]

Neil
Well done.
That looks much better
Phil