Carl,
This is enormously helpful. Within an hour of your message arriving,
I'd just begun to study the Revington catalogue and supplement.
Your experience has confirmed for me that Revington is the place to go.
Thank you.
Brian
Message: 2
Date: Thu, 8 May 2008 17:24:45 EDT
From: CarlSereda@aol.com
Subject: Re: [TR] Suspension bushings redux
To: triumphs@autox.team.net
Message-ID: <bd0.295b64a2.3554c99d@aol.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
Brian,
FYI: TR4 front suspensions are more difficult to rebuild than TR4A..
In general I like to buy from US vendors as they're closer but
sometimes I
have to recommend faraway vendors - in this case I recommend
RevingtonTR for TR4
suspension parts. Neil Revington promotes using 2 oilite bronze bushes
to
replace the 1 original softer brass bushing in each A arm. These can
be bought
from RevingtonTR or your local hardware store and pushed in with a
vice - one
inserted from each side - leaving 1/8" 'grease groove' inbetween them.
No
reaming required, and supposedly longer lasting. If your
trunnion-threads-to-your-vertical link-threads are in excellent shape,
but trunnion shafts are scored
and worn as typical, Revington sells new trunnion shafts. A machine
shop can
easily push out & in the shafts. And only RevingtonTR sells the
critical 'one-use
only' TR4 cross shaft-end 'thrust washers' - 4 required, for about 2
bucks
each (I couldn't get these special washers at the Big 3 vendors in the
US - even
though they advertised otherwise, costing me time and money).
The rubber grease/dust seals (16 required) look great from Revington too
(although not proven) - I bought them after my favorite US vendor told
me "I might
need to replace THEIR rubber seals every year."
The Triumph factory spec'd some pretty good rubber and nylon parts for
the
TR4 suspension in my opinion, as well as the rubber steering rack
blocks and
rubber/nylon steering column bushes. They did this after some years of
trial and
error to arrive at a balance of performance and comfort (while
reducing stress
points like that to the vulnerable and now unavailable steering 'pinion
gear'). I wouldn't hesitate trying stock first - unless you know
you'll always be
pushing for more performance over comfort - and don't mind slightly
more road
feel and/or wear.
Make sure you compare your A-arms to the Workshop Manual specs - they
get
bent out of spec pretty easy but heat 'n hammer straightens 'em out.
Would definitely recommend the factory option anti-sway bar, not sure
about
the heavier bars as I don't like their 1-bolt hook up versus 2-bolt
hookup to
those bendy front A-arms!
Good luck,
Carl
'63 TR4 since '74
ps; I would think front suspension springs would be ok, but shocks
would
need renewing, rather than other way around.. my front springs measure
exactly
10.1" free height, just like the book said they should..
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