• Hey Guest!
    British Car Forum has been supporting enthusiasts for over 25 years by providing a great place to share our love for British cars. You can support our efforts by upgrading your membership for less than the dues of most car clubs. There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Upgraded members don't see this banner, nor will you see the Google ads that appear on the site.)
Tips
Tips

I'm Screwed!

Share this page

Well. here is my 2 cents worth. Unless you are going to race your car, the stock shocks are just fine. I would also expect that they could be stiffened by the shock dude in NY if you desired. I have the original shocks on my TR6, beadblased, clear coated, no leaks. One good thing about our present economy, hopefully alot of these destrustive, unsafe, unecessary modifications will stop. I would suspect that it would be possible for the frame to break in such a way, and at such a time, that could cause an accident, and kill/cause injury to someone in another car. Also, to get insurance through the best companies, you will have to lie and say the car is not modified. So, there you go, you may not like it, but it is what it is.
 
Searcherman- your 2 cents aren't even worth that.

Bill- sorry about that setback but you sure seem to be getting with it, already have a fix in progress in less than a day is impressive. It is a pain, but I encourage you to consider pulling the tank before you get the welder out there. I did the same when I had the front diff pins welded back in my 71 many years ago. The peace of mind is worth it.

Randy
 
Pulling the tank. (have a leaking sending unit gasket that needs to be changed anyway)
Pulling the diff. (will have the welder-guy weld in those front diff mount plates that I got from TRF 7 years ago!)
Pulling the hubs. (need to lube the outer U-joints that are unreachable anyway) (as well as check all my fasteners holding the hub to the TA, prolly need to re-sert most of them)
Dropping the TA to access the frame better. (Need to change the rubber flex hose on the rear brakes anyway, go with armored, and change all my brake fluid, overdue)
Drop the dual exhaust (access to the frame better)

So maybe this was a good thing.
 
Bill, next time your talking to Tony at Ratco,ask him about using the tube shock as an upper suspension stop. Get his opinion on it.
It just seems to me that since the tube shock kit as we know it, bolted to the original mounts,that broken frame incidents are more prevelant?
 
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]So maybe this was a good thing.[/QUOTE]

Ah, yes............I know it well...........

The familiar justification, uttered once again from the owner who has repeatedly succumbed, to the trials and tribulations of owning and driving a 30+ year old British car.

This all too frequently played melody covers a myriad of issues, from basic engine repairs that turn into complete overhauls, to complete paint jobs after front end accidents.

Also, never let us forget the infamous clutch replacement that ends up costing over $3,000 due to a slight HVDA or OverDrive modification, just because "we were in there anyhow". Or the replacement of a few connectors that turns into a complete wire harness replacement.

Yes, once again, it's like an old love song from ones younger days. The fond memories come flooding back...........
 
TR6BILL said:
Actually, if one uses the tube shock conversion, the lower bump stop is not used as such at all and the shock is indeed the bump stop. Assuming the lower bump stop really only comes into action when either the car is on jacks and the TA is fully let out or the car is airborne and the suspension does the same. Not sure if this happens that often. Tony maintains (and his website shows) that the frame is heavily reinforced in this area and his new cross member is made of a much heavier gauge steel. I will go back to the tube shock conversion and hope for the best. The installation of the new cross member entails cutting off the lower bump stop (to be rewelded later if stock lever shocks are used). I will just leave it off because I will use tube shocks. I am using Spax rear shocks, by the way.
Click to expand...

TR6bill,

I think you may have misunderstood what Opa was saying. There are two bump stops. The lower one, as you correctly point out, only works when the suspension is in full droop - such as on jackstands. That one doesn't see much load - just the spring pushing the trailing arm down. This one only works with the lever shocks and you can use the tube shock to limit travel in droop instead - so you can leave it off.

However, the other one - located on the trailing arm - is used when the suspension is compressed. If you don't shim or otherwise modify that bump stop, then at full compression, the shock becomes the bump stop. This means that all of the force from bottoming the car goes directly into the crossmember that was broken on your car. If the bump stop on the trailing arm is shimmed it will hit the box on the inner fender and the force will go into the body / frame structure instead. That keeps all of that load off of the crossmember. Perhaps the RATCO frame can take that pounding - I don't know. Shimming and / or adding a 1/4" plate to the bottom of the box isn't that hard - especially if you're having welding done anyway. Sounds like cheap insurance to me. Mine is shimmed.

Bryan
 
Thanks for the clarification, Bryan. That's the point I was trying to make.
 
Larry, you might want to talk to the guys at British Parts Northwest. I just got off the phone with them and relayed my dilemma (it <span style="font-weight: bold">is</span> their shock conversion) to them and asked for suggestions. Now, that said, we had a pleasant conversation and I had heard of the problems with the crossmember before I bought the unit. They are the ones that manufacture the unit and sell direct and also to TRF and Vicky Brit. He said he, unfortunately, gets this complaint of a crossmember falling apart at least 3 times a year. And that is only the ones that finally surface; I feel many of them are cracked and folks just don't know it yet. Anyway, the guy from BPNW said to add a piece at the top, in the fender well, of about 1" in thickness, not to add to the TA. I will explore that option when the welder comes in a few weeks. Also, because I am convinced my new crossmember will be substantially stronger than the OE, I will be OK going back in with it. Still will look at some kind of way to reinforce the whole setup when I do the fix. Thinking cap on. There has got to be a simple fix, besides what I am doing.
 
TR6BILL said:
Thinking cap on. There has got to be a simple fix, besides what I am doing.
Click to expand...
Shorter shock bodies?
 
Just got an email reply from BPNW (nice guys, and one of our vendors) and they said that after I get the new crossmember welded in place, I should install my shocks without the springs and raise the TA up as high as it will go to see if the shock bottoms out before the bump stop engages the ledge inside the wheel well. His guess was that I might want to add as much as 1" of thickness, by welding, of a new layer of steel to the bump stop (I doubt I will need that much). Guess I will need to get a feel for the correct amount and guesstimate the thickness of plate I can add. Notice that the plate seems to be cupped. Not sure if they came this way or repeated bottoming out may have cupped it thin metal stop. The rubber bumper that does all the bumping shows plenty of use.
Darn New Orleans pot holes!
 
GregW said:
TR6BILL said:
Thinking cap on. There has got to be a simple fix, besides what I am doing.
Click to expand...

Shorter shock bodies?
Click to expand...

Shorter shock body would make it worse as the shock would bottom even sooner.
Bill
I think if the shock bracket itself were to be an inch or more longer (taller) inside the fender that may help.Then you would need a longer tube shock giving the T/A more swing putting the stoppers to use before the shock bottoms out.It's the shock bottoming before the stopper hits the stops that tears up the frame.imo

But this (i'm thinkin)brings on a whole bunch of new problems .First you would need a narrower tire,or a different offset rim to bring tire further out(away from inner fender,maybe a 17" rim??) to avoid tire rub at the top of shock bracket,second there would (possibly?) be more stress put on the frame mount due to longer leverage on the bracket.(no engineer here)

The tr6 rear suspension does'nt travel in straight lines. Camber angles change as the suspension goes up and down.This is easily noticed when the springs go soft,the top of the wheel goes in and when the car is lifted, top of wheel comes out (positive and negative camber)This same action takes place when motoring along. The heighth(upper length) of shock bracket and width of tire has to be checked with the spring removed,a jack placed under the T/A and lifted thru it's full upper range (max neg camber)and checked for clearences.

I thought it easier to shim as I did rather than go thru all the R+D of redesign.
Hope some of this makes sense as my last posts seemingly were confusing.....my apologies...just tryin to save your frames guy's
 
I can't remember if I shimmed those bump stops when I made my tube shock conversion. But with Doc's warning, I will make sure the stops will bump.
 
Back
Top