Message text written by Dan Buettner
>While waiting for the dreary winter to give up its chokehold on the
upper Midwest, I've been doing a lot of reading about TR's, a lot of
Web surfing, and buying a lot of parts for my '3.
I ran across Revington TR's shock absorber links for early TRs - see
http://www.revingtontr.com/PAGE19.HTM
and to me, they look like a really good idea. Especially given the
vivid memories I have of the crappy shock links I took off and threw
away!
However, they're really pricey, and what with a large amount of time
on my hands right now, I thought maybe I could do better in terms of
price.
I've found spherical bearing joints on the Web, and trust that I'll
be able to find grade 8 studs (or bolts threaded along their entire
length) somewhere in the world.
My question for the list is this: do you think that boring out the
taper fit on the shock arm, and using a 7/16" grade 8 bolt/stud with
grade 8 nuts and washers on either side, will work?
<
Dan,
What the taper fit does for you is gives you a zero slop fit. If you drill
out the shock arm to 7/16 and fit a 7/16 bolt you will actually have a
little bit of clearance between the bolt and the shock arm which will allow
the bolt to move around a bit int he shock arm. There may be a risk of the
hole becoming elongated by the constant hammering since the cast iron arm
is not all that hard.
Another think to think about is the stock shock links have rubber joints
not only to provide a little bit of axial flexibility but also to absorb
some of the shocks. If your spherical joints are solid metal on metal you
loose this compliance and the increased shock loading could also cause
additional stress not anticipated by the designers. Remember, the shock is
hard mounted to the frame and the shock link is hard mounted to the axle.
On the other hand, the tire provides the a much larger amount of compliance
and the trivial amount of rubber in the shock link doesn't matter if it is
there or not.
Thirdly, once you drill out the shock arms there is no going back. Perhaps
if you look in the McMaster-Carr catalog you can find some taper shaft
studs. Taper shafts are rather common in some circles. Many machine shop
tools use taper shafts on drill bits. This may be more common than you
would think. (I'd look but my M-C book is at the office and I am at home)
Good Luck
Dave
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