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TR2/3/3A Body leans to right side

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TRclassic3

TRclassic3

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Thoroughly stumped here. I have a very visual body lean to passenger side. Measuring at the wheel wells there is a 1 and 3/8 inch difference in the front and 5/8 in the rear. Performed a number of measurements against frame and suspension and did not encounter those kind of differences. Also used a level on the frame (looked good) and with bonnet up, across the engine bay. The last one basically reinforced the measurement at the wheel wells. I can find no body to frame issues. That is the pads appear in place and reasonably equal and the floors and outriggers are solid. Need suggestions on what to check next. Does the fact that the problem is worse in the front than the rear point to front suspension (coil spring maybe) rather than rear leaf? Any way to verify one or the other? Visual inspection has not turned anything up. Really would like to avoid just throwing parts at it.

Thanks in advance
 
Tom
no accidents to my knowledge, which is 23 years worth. Problem just became evident. For the sake of discussion what were your thoughts?
 
Ed - just thought that the body might have been twisted at some time. You've had the car for 20+ years, and just noticed this, so I wondered if there have been any changes (parts, adjustments) to the car recently.

Tom M.
 
Unless the body is twisted, the front and rear lean would have to be equal...so you really can’t tell front or rear by just looking. You will have to jack the front at the center of the frame to see if the lean is still there (meaning rear spring problem), then jack at the rear center to see if the front springs are bad.

Once you locate the end causing the lean, then check the spring. I suspect it will be a rear spring leaf that has broken.
 
Thanks for the suggestion John. I’ll give that a go today and report back.
 
CJD said:
...I suspect it will be a rear spring leaf that has broken.
Click to expand...

That is what happened to mine. I could see a break (that I had known about for some time) but when I replaced the spring I found two more breaks (recent) that were not easy to see as the were near the middle behind the u-bolts. It was the two recent breaks that caused a significant lean (the break I could see was farther from center and thus had not created much lean).
 
After jacking the front, measuring the rear at wheel wells, and then doing the same by jacking the rear and measuring the front wells, the difference between right and left remained the same as when on the floor.

if it’s not springs but rather twisted body is there any way to confirm other than what I’ve already done?

one thing I noted, although possibly irrelevant, is when attempting to “bounce” the front suspension the right side seems stiffer than left side.
 
Ed - twist sometimes reveals itself in different width gaps between bonnet and body, and between boot and body. Also, if it's difficult to close the bonnet or boot when it's almost down. Edit: also, uneven gaps around doors.

The right front suspension being stiffer than the left, *could* just be because the car always has a driver in the left seat, but doesn't always have a passenger in the right seat.

Tom M.
 
The shock absorber may be seizing up have you tried lifting the low front fender gently to see if it will stay up? You may also have the very short extra rear spring leaf in the right hand side which was designed to lower that side to compensate for no passenger and keep the car level. If it's there , taking it out could make up the difference you are looking for.

Graham
 
My guess is broken spring, a job that that can be difficult or not too bad depending on how stuck the pins are that hold front eye of the spring. I had new bushings pressed in also at a local spring shop. Look under commercial truck springs or something like that. The guy at the shop offered to make me new ones for 150.00 each.

The other problem with springs is that they seem to be different depending on where they come from. I would go with the stock load. I think David went through the spring deal on his restoration.

For me, I found heating the pin and pounding it out worked best, but I did have one pin come right out.

Good luck with the springs and like Geo mentioned the crack can be difficult to see. I had one where it looked like dirt. but it was a crack.
steve
 
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