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TR4/4A TR4A rear leaf spring distance piece

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Popeye

Popeye

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Hi all,

I just begun disassembling my driver side rear leaf spring. (TR4A, non-IRS.)

The bolt attached to the distance piece broke out; i.e. the bolt that holds all the leaves together. See photo below.

Are the aluminum distance pieces still available? I plan to call TRF in the morning; Moss lists him as NLA.

Alternately I can just use a long bolt from the inside of the distance pace - fortunately it is hollow.

Thoughts? Thanks!

image.jpg image.jpg
 
It's part number 142277, TRF lists it as NLS too. I might have one if you come up empty. Let me know and I'll look.

Brian
 
Last edited:
The bolt isn't broken in the photo. That bolt doesn't have a hex head. The round end is to locate the aluminum spacer.
 
jmcfly and Peter, you are absolutely correct, thank you! Looking through my photos, the distance piece is clamped between the spring and axle by the u-bolts.

On the passenger side, the bolt was sufficiently "captive" that I was able to assemble the spring (50 ft-lbs torque - I guessed at the value). This my surprise when the driver side came apart on disassembly.
 
Update; sorry to re-start an old thread. I am (finally) re-assembling my rear axle to the leaf spring, and I have a question:

The spacer block has a tab (or an "ear") to which the shock link connects; a bolt through the hole on the tab. On the passenger side the tab in the center of the block. On the driver side, the tab is slightly offset towards the center of the car. (Looking at the first picture in my original post, one can see the remnant of the shock link attached to the spacer block. The "tab" on the spacer block is not located in the middle of the block, rather it is located a bit towards the table. The picture is of the driver side spring; on the passenger side the tab is in the very center of the block. Hope this makes sense? I can take a better photo tonight to clarify.)

Will the standard shock links work?
 
I found some better photos. The first is the driver's side spring, showing the offset tab. Note, the shock has been removed from the frame and is laying on the frame - so it looks a little "wonky". The second photo is a close-up of the first. And the third is the passenger side spacer block, showing the centered tab.

Thanks all! Hope everyone had a great weekend - I did, as I was wrenching a few hours!

Driver side block showing offset.jpgDriver side block showing offset - zoom.jpgPassender side block showing centered - zoom.jpg
 
sorry to resurrect an old post. I believe that the block with the tab centered is correct for both sides of the TR4A SRA. The block with the inboard offest was used on the TR4 with a different shock set up.

It also may be the case that late production TR4 SRA had a spacer block with a long stud coming out of the bottom to bolt the leaf spring to the spacer instead of relying on the cast "nub". Can anyone confirm?
 
Andy Blackley said:
...It also may be the case that late production TR4 SRA had a spacer block with a long stud coming out of the bottom to bolt the leaf spring to the spacer instead of relying on the cast "nub". Can anyone confirm?
Click to expand...

Does this answer your question (late TR4, CT36536):

BauO5en.jpg


Cropped from the only photo I had handy - I didn't crawl under the car.
 
Thanks George, but I meant to type late TR4A Solid Rear Axle (SRA). My car is CT 77156L, built around June 1967.

From what I can find there were at least three general types of spacer block used. Starting at TR4 #CT 23383 a spacer was introduced, with part numbers 137634 L/H and 137635 R/H. The shock link hole would be facing the front of the car and is "handed".

With the introduction of the TR4A solid rear axle at CTC50001 the spacer was changed with the shock link facing the rear. The same part was used on both sides, # 142277. This is the one that appears in the spare parts catalog.

Both of the spacers described above used a cast nub to locate the spacer on the axle tube and had a hole in the bottom that fit on a round headed bolt in the center of the leaf springs and the spring plate, as shown in your photo.

At some point late in the TR4A production another spacer was introduced with a bolt or stud protruding from the bottom that I believe extended through the leaf spring assembly and was secured with a suitable nut to the spring plate. The part number for this spacer appears to be 212225.

Below are photos that I found of the three types.

TR4A-spacer block.jpgTR4A-spacer block-3.jpgTR4A-spacer block-2.jpg
 
I did some more searching and found the answer here: http://www.nonlintec.com/tr4a/suspension/#rearsprings

This car according to site was built on May26, 1965, which is not exactly late production for a TR4A. As the photo shows below, and as described on the site, the spacer is indeed bolted to the leaf spring as can be seen in the photo below. The picture of the spacer block with the stud also appears to have originated on this site. Many thanks to its creator!rearspring_7978.jpg
 
I removed the spacer blocks on my car today and found them to be the type with a stud running through the leaf spring, at least the one on the passenger side was that way. The one on the the drivers side was missing the stud and may have been modified at some point - this was also the side that showed evidence of movement causing a torque steer condition.

A good bit more on the subject here: https://www.triumphexp.com/forum/tr...is-rear-axle-movement-question.1694317/page-3
 
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