[TR] Suspension bushings redux

[Brian Jones]

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 at aol.com
Subject: Re: [TR] Suspension bushings redux
To: triumphs at autox.team.net
Message-ID: <bd0.295b64a2.3554c99d at 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..