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Rear leaf spring bush size?

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Tabcon

Tabcon

Jedi Warrior
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Since I no longer have my old frame as a reference, I have no way of checking the original stuff against the new Ratco frame as I'm putting things back together.

I'm trying to install a new set of bronze bushings in place of the original rubber ones at the rear of the rear leaf spring. The bushing fits fine into the spring, but the inside diameter of the frame tube that is supposed to accept the bushing is way too small. A poly bushing won't even fit.

Could someone please let me know what the inside diameter of the frames tubing that the bushing is supposed to slide into?
 
Tab-


Not sure what you mean here - the leaf spring doesn't attach to directly to the frame. In the front, it attaches to roughly a 1/2" diameter pin, and in the back it attaches to a shackle pin assembly. Items 12&26 here in the Moss illustration: Rear suspension
 
Sorry for the crappy description.

As they say, a picture is worth...

[img:center]
frame-1-1.jpg
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The bushing OD is larger than the ID of the section of pipe welded in the frame for the rear spring perch. I can't even get the poly type bushing to squeeze in here.

I suppose I could either machine down the bushing or enlarge the pipe's ID, which would be the easiest thing to do I guess.
OR...I could cut the whole thing off and weld some type of floating bush mount. You see how these things get started...lol.
 
Something is wrong here, in the world of otherwise highly regarded Ratco frames. The same bushing that fits in your rear spring eye, SHOULD fit in that hole.

Don't know what to suggest as a fix, other than return the frame and make 'em do it right. Or, maybe, call 'em and ask 'em what they were thinking. Maybe they sell a special Ratco spring shackle bush?
 
I used the bronze bushings on my TR3. That bushing wouldn't fit very easily into my frame eyes either. I blamed paint for my problems. Maybe that's all that's wrong with your frame too.
 
No, not the paint. It's only had one coat and that was with powder coating.
I measured the pipe ID and it's 13/16". The bushings are 7/8". I can easily remove the remaining 1/16 with a drill. He most likely made the pipe ID slightly smaller to snug down on the rubber type bushings.
 
I would call Tony at RATCO and mention this to him. He needs to know of this problem. You shouldn't have to modify anything to fit.
 
I called Tony and he was upset about the glitch. He offered to machine the bushing for me, but I'd rather do it myself to save time and shipping.
So far, this has been the only problem with the frame, and it's not that much of one. Overall, I'm extremely pleased with it. One thing for sure, it sure beats the heck out of the rusty set of toothpicks I had when I started out...lol.
 
Tab, sorry to be late with this reply. I just pulled my springs this evening so measurement is fresh on a virgin mount. Mine are 22 mm or a fat 13 and 1/2/16".

I'm guessing the bushings are too large although power coating will eat up some of the i/s diameter.

I would machine the bushings rather than drilling the mount. Just my opinion.
 
Hi Guys,

Just got in from the garage and dug up this post.....

I too bought the bronze shackle bushings from A.R.E.

The RATCO frame may not be the issue. I have just tried to insert mine in the chassis tube (Haven't tried the spring yet) and there is no way that it is going to fit. I took my die grinder and cleaned up the inside of the chassis tube but still no dice.....

Tab/Moseso/Others, what did you guys end up doing?

How tight should the fit be? I assume that they should be easily tapped into place without too much force?

Also, did you have to ream/drill out the inside of the bronze bush so that your shackle pins would fit? Mine do not go in either.

Cheers,
M. Pied Lourd
 
Didn't I just see something from Randell about reamin that?

It's all code to me as a totally different suspension than the 6
 
DNK said:
Didn't I just see something from Randell about reamin that?
Click to expand...
Nope, wasn't me. I've never felt the need to go with solid bushings in the rear, the stock setup seems plenty stiff to me in the vertical axis, and I used a ADDCO anti-roll bar to get more roll stiffness. Since I'm not constrained by vintage racing rules, I'd probably use a Panhard rod for better axle location, when/if it comes to that.

You probably saw something about the front suspension (where the stock lower, outer bushings need to be reamed on a TR2-4), or perhaps I mentioned reaming the Nylatron replacements for the inner bushings.
 
Ok, Update....

Problem solved. I took out my angle die grinder and ground a small amount of material from inside the chassis tube and tapped the bushings in with my copper hammer. I then had to ream the inside diameter of the bronze bushes to fit the shackle pins. I put everything together and everything looks good....I need to take it apart again to paint the shackles/plates and grease/lube the bushings (according to the instructions from A.R.E).

Had a pretty good weekend and enjoyed working on the car. Nice to be putting things back on!

Cheers,
M. Pied Lourd
 
Hey Skip,

Will post some tonight when I get home from work.

Cheers,
M. Pied Lourd
 
Ok, as promised, here are some pics of the test fitting....I took everything off tonight to paint the shackle and shackle plate.

P1060189.jpg


P1060185.jpg


P1060205.jpg


P1060204.jpg


P1060213.jpg


P1060202.jpg


P1060195.jpg


P1060193.jpg


P1060191.jpg


Cheers,
M. Pied Lourd
 
Just a reminder, Nyloc nuts should be used on the shackle bolts, not what I see in the pix.
 
Hi Jim,

Don't want to start any arguments and thanks for your input but looking at the parts catalogue it is calling for part number HN2009 and WL0209 (hex nut and lock washer). I am unfortunatly working on restoring a vintage racer where fasteners are/may not be correct as it looks like in many cases, whatever was close at hand was used. However, I carefully labelled and bagged what came off the car and reassembled it as you see in the photo. I am trying to reference the parts catalogue vs actual when doing my re-assembly.

Thanks again for the input.

Cheers,
M. Pied Lourd
 
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