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Nov 12, 2015 11:44:43 GMT
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That looks so right with that stance.
Does the AA truck chassis also have twin parallel leaf springs at the front? Or does it have an axle with a transverse single leaf like the model A? (I forsee one of these in my future)
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v8jim
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,304
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Nov 12, 2015 16:02:21 GMT
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Brilliant update against Dez I've thought about lowering my Austin ten with parallel leaves one day and now I've got a good idea of how to do it.
foxye28 the AA truck has a transverse spring and axle like a model A car but it's bigger and more heavy duty with a wider spring, I fitted a drop beam and new spring but had to narrow the crossmember
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Max sig pic size: 80px
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eurogranada
Europe
To tinker or not to tinker, that is the question...
Posts: 2,552
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Nov 13, 2015 10:43:35 GMT
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I've had to read back from quite a few pages to catch up, but I must say I like both the fabrication, the dedication and the end result a lot. And anyone who knows me would know I'm not that easily impressed by pre war stuff as it usually is not my cup of tea. But credit where credit is due, you're turning this one into a work of art!
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Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,784
Club RR Member Number: 34
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Nov 16, 2015 11:07:58 GMT
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ahh, it was all going so well. first, i had a load of issues with the second donor wheel for the front. it looked the same as the first, but this measurement here- is 5mm bigger. problem with that is the centres off the citroen wheels arent big enough to fit. so ive got to find another donor somerset rim, with the smaller dimension, which is a total pain in the ass to say the least. then, the rear suspension. i hit it hard, that day ended up like this- thats all the non-original leaves that had been added to 'uprate' the rear removed. 5 per side. but to say they were knackered is quite an understatement! all totally worn out, knife edged, and little to no spring to them. this was deemed as the first step in lowering the back as it was a bit too bouncy with the new lighter pickup bed, and hopefully if would lower it a bit too. i also found issues with the axle location. its amazing how many cars have problems like this, it seems if leaf spring suspension has been messed with at all, its never right. so many idiots who don't understand what they're dealing with. positive axle location is crucial yet no one seems to pay attention to it. take here, a 8mm bolt in a 10mm hole for the spring pack clamping bolt. so the whole lot could shuffle about- whats more its just crappy coach bolt, and is all bashed up and bent- and a head on the bolt thats too short to fully locate in the hole on the axle spring pad becuase its domed and has no 'edge' to it- you can see here the damage its done on this side- that lash-up was replaced with some 10mm allen cap head bolts, with the head turned down just a smidge to locate nicely in the holes, so its all held nice and tight. a lot of thread cleaning later- and it can all be bolted back together to see how it now sits- and as a last little (but quite important) bit, the removal of all the excess bits meant i could now refit the bolts in the anti-wrap clamps- which i had to make, as you don't want the threads of the bolts rubbing on the leaf and wearing it, so some longer bolts were threaded just deep enough so the nuts nipped up as they met the clamps- which i forgot to take a pic of fitted. and the result of all that? its no F-King different! one side is 100% the same ride height, the other side is 1/2" lower, evening out the previous unlevel ride height, which is handy, but FFS, no ride height difference for removing half the leaves on each side?! i guess it only goes to show just how knackered the added leaves were, as although they stiffened it a bit, presumably by preventing the original leaves moving to an extent, they actually did nothing to hold the car off the floor. oh well, take it all apart again i guess....
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Last Edit: Nov 16, 2015 11:08:40 GMT by Dez
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Nov 16, 2015 19:01:34 GMT
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it always amazes me when i see bodged up suspension on any vehicle as surly one broken component could lead to a nasty accident. will it all fit back together properly with one less leaf in the spring or will you have to have the whole lot flattened a bit to lower it?
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Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,784
Club RR Member Number: 34
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it always amazes me when i see bodged up suspension on any vehicle as surly one broken component could lead to a nasty accident. will it all fit back together properly with one less leaf in the spring or will you have to have the whole lot flattened a bit to lower it? its uesually people fitting cheap sh1te grayston lowering blocks that does it, the amount ive had to replace with custom made ones with the right size pin and hole to hold the axle solid i quite excessive. I'm going to be decambering the springs first. update shortly......
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Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,784
Club RR Member Number: 34
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Nov 17, 2015 10:24:25 GMT
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so, i had to take it all apart again. youd think it would be easy seeing as id already had it all in bits? well, yes and no. the axle came of easily, but getting the actual springs off the car was a right job. this end came apart easily- this end, not so. the bolt through the spring eye is in a really awkward place, so you cant get a drift onto the end of it properly, and naturally they were seized solid- i couldnt use heat on them or id fry the rubber inserts, but i eventually got one out with a veriety of mothods, mostly turning it with the stilsons to free it up, then driving a chisel in between the head and the bracket to draw it out. it was then i found out that the hole on the end full of dirt and grease was actually threaded so you could use a slide hammer on them. very clever, but not much you if you don't know beforehand! so, this was improvised- and eventually i got the second one out too- i still had to crank it a lot with the stilsons to get it free first though. took nearly 4 hours just to get the bloody suspension apart! but now, these are removed, and i can disassemble them to start decambering- to do that, you need one of these- a leaf spring press. i made this one up years ago for reasons forgotten, but its seen a fair of bit of use since. now, theres a huge amount that could be written about decambing leafs to lower them and the use of a spring press, more than enough for a thread of its own (cant remember if i did one or not?) as theres a lot of caveats and things to look out for when doing it, but i'll try to keep this reasonably brief. basically, what youre doing is overbending the leaf to permanently deform it. you do this gradually in lots of evenely spaced intervals over its length to gently reduce its overall curve, so no part of the spring is unduly stressed. like this- obviously cos its a spring it springs back most of the way, it only ends up deformed by a few mm. but, you work along the spring and do this lots of times (i do it every 2" so about 20 times for these springs), and add all the up and it comes to a couple of inches change overall. what you do first is draw out the original curvature on the floor, then work one spring to something that looks 'about right' in comparison to that. this is down to experience as much as anything. you have to be careful not to go too flat, or the spring can reverse arc when fitted- this is bad. this is where i deemed was 'about right' for the main leaf. i figured it would give me 1.5"-2" drop, without the spring being too flat. flattening the spring essentially lowers its spring rate as well, another reason not to go too crazy with flattening it out. then, you have to go through the spring pack and decamber the other springs as well. if you don't, they will work against the main leaf you've just flattened and reduce the amount of drop you get. one of the caveats i mentioned is no leaf should ever be flatter than the leaf above it, or it wont work properly. i aim for about a 1" gap at the pin to the next leaf when the leafs are at rest, like this- compare that to the third leaf I'm yet to do, and you can see how much ive flattened each one- and here is that leaf once its been worked and flattened- eventually, you will have one complete spring pack flattened out to you satisfaction, and ready to go back on. now comes the fun bit- getting the other side the same! that is why you work to set marks, with the same amount of presses etc. on each leaf, so the results are repeatable on the other side. you are looking for each leaf to be identical in curvature to its counterpart on the other side of the car. getting this right is time consuming(its not like doing the first side isn't either) but important if you want the car to sit level. if youve gone a bit too far on any leaf, feed it back through the press upside down and re-arch it a bit. seriously though, , if youre going to try this, set aside at least a whole day to do two spring packs, probably a whole weekend if its your first go. then, many hours later and a sore arm from all that jack pumping, you should have two spring packs that are more or less the same, and flatter than before- if you then clamp them back togheter, they should still be *about* the same. a small difference here isnt too much to worry about though. ive just got to refit them now and hope it sits how i want!
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Last Edit: Nov 17, 2015 10:29:27 GMT by Dez
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Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,784
Club RR Member Number: 34
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well, still plodding along with this, but a lot of it is boring as f-k to be quite honest. lots of fiddly bits that take ages and look no different when done. first though, i got it back on its wheels. ive managed to loose the photos though. but basically, it sat about 1.5-2" lower, but i couldnt take the springs any flatter without risking them reversing at times, so i left it at tat and the rest would need to be done with blocks. first though, some of the other bits. whats missing here?- answer- one of these- a proper pain in the job to get the hinge off, as its rivetted onto the door frame, then some fiddly litle blanks for both the door and and the pillar, then a load of grinding up. i cleaned up the channels for the glass and tiger sealed em on. here they are drying- then the glass went in. not without issue, to put it in you have to remove the top cappings off the doors, slide the glass in, then refit the cappinga to stop it coming out again. but all the bolts were sized up and rounded off, so i had to drill them all out then get some more countersunk screws to go in. i went with allen head rather than the flat screwdriver heads that were on before, more for where they were used elsewhere than here though. one photo, but hours of drilling and tapping! glass in- screen in too- another utter b@st@rd of a job, but youll see it fits perfectly now, which it didnt before. the issue here was these screws that go upwards into the header bow above the screen to attach the hinge to the car- you can see they're tricky to get to (why i went for allen head on the bolts, being able to use a ball end allen key over a screwdriver made them a lot easier to fit), but when i took it out there were only 3 screws holding it on- the other 5 had been snapped off by whoever had the screen out last. a horrible job, drilling them out upwards, as they're only m5 so quite small, and are into small captive plate so don't stay still either! then once that was back in, it was onto the latches for the opening screen. another tricky job, they had to be cut and shut to alter the width and depth so they pulled the screen in the right amount but not too much, and without binding up. many hours spent, but they're now done and bolted in rather than rivetted. notice i had to bend in the bottom ends to stop them catching the frame now cos of the amount of chop! but, they now work right, and thats what matters.-
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Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,784
Club RR Member Number: 34
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then, back onto the rear suspension. i knocked up some 3" lowering blocks, 4x2 box with a plate welded in each end (just tacked for now til i check they're right), with the appropriate size hole in one plate and another m10 cap screw welded into the other one from the backside. much huffing, chuffing, swearing and shouting later, they in place and clamped down with big G clamps cos i don't have the long u bolts yet- and the result- ride height win, wheel placement in arch fail. some further measuring lead me to ascertain they were about 1" too far forward in the arch. i couldnt really lengthen the leafs or move the wings at all, so instead i cheated- actually, its not so much of a cheat, more a trick of the trade. a couple of caveats if youre gunna do this though- always weld the blocks to the axle pads, and never offset them more than an inch. MANY hours of disassembly later to get the axle in the right place (i had to remove all the brake cables to allow it to move back), i get it all back together. perfect! i can do the rear wheels and shocks now whilst waiting for u-bolts to turn up
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Last Edit: Dec 2, 2015 20:17:01 GMT by Dez
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GREAT results!.....You have inspired to me stick with my own frustrating build details.....the devil is in them for sure!
love the ride height on both front and rear suspensions....the whole thing looks great....
pick up trucks are a nice subject...this one is coming along very well...
keep up the craftsmanship!
JP
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I know its spelled Norman Luxury Yacht, but its pronounced Throat Wobbler Mangrove!
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RA40tony
Europe
Rollin' rollin' rollin'
Posts: 768
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Dez, you're an artist, in the nicest sense of the term!!!! I log onto Retrorides every day waiting for one of your updates!!
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1979 Toyota Celica GT. Currently Gone.
1975 Toyota Celica ST. 13x7 Allycats, "the stick" applied. 100kW 4AGE... Sold
1963 Karmann Ghia - Lo & Slo, Sold.
1965 VW Fastback - cruising
1953 Oval Ragtop, work in progress...
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Great read and great build as usual with you I'm really looking forward to reading about your new truck as you build it too...
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,243
Club RR Member Number: 146
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Fantastic update as always.
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Just lovely Dez.
I continue to like this a whole lot.
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Serious respect den you have a vision m make it come true you are a craft man But really sad to be parting with it after making it so awesome I did the same with my bay got a guaranteed buy when it was done n it's not the selling that was bad it was not getting to cruise your own creation
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Best thread evaaaar!
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Nissan Laurel SOLD BMW E34 Diesel SOLD Toyota Soarer 4.0 V8 SOLD Audi A4 1995 TDI SOLD Peugeot 205 1.9 TD SOLD Lexus IS300 SC
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sketch
Part of things
Posts: 194
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v8ian
Posted a lot
Posts: 3,824
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De cambering how I have done it in the past, I saw them doing very much the same at Leda a few years ago, cold bending leaf springs, I was going to de arch my austin springs, but, they are very arched, and flattening them to where I need puts the shackle at a bad angle, so Brost are now going to do them for me and retemper, remake/reposition the rear eye,
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Atmo V8 Power . No slicks , No gas + No bits missing . Doing it in style. Austin A35van, very different------- but still doing it in style, going to be a funmoble
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Heh. That rear wheel looks huuuuge. I like it.
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I have reversed and de arched leaf springs before, but my bedford has single taper leaf rear springs. Can I de arch these the same?
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