[TR] Stag Rear End Squat

Thu Mar 10 13:29:51 MST 2016

Hi John,

It is possible the PO bought a lowering kit which I recall uses shorter springs.  

The lowering kit that Tony Hart Sells uses red springs, see if it looks like these:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Triumph-Stag-NEW-suspension-lowering-kit-MK1-AND-MK2-/371570077106?hash=item56834d6db2

Have a look at the front springs, they have the tell-tale different coil spacing

Lowering, when done correctly, will not leave the rear camber off because Tony’s kit uses new Camber adjusting blocks for the Semi-trailing arm to compensate for the lowering. 

So something else must be off.

If it is a Tony Hart Kit, there are instructions specifically to adjust the camber blocks correctly – the inside ones might be on upside down.  Maybe an email to Tony and ask him to email you the instructions for his kit if not in the PO’s paperwork.

The site for TSN I intend to revive as soon as I can get access to the files from Richard.  There is too much historical information there.

Stag-By-Triumph Garage is an extension of TSN but for the physical part, and will be linked to TSN when it is back up and running on a new provider.

Cheers!

Glenn Merrell  

aka StagByTriumph Garage (now on FaceBook)

Remember, “the BEST trophies are: Miles on the Odometer; Stone chips in the paint; and DEAD BUGS on the windscreen … with the occasional smell of manure!”

From: Lee&John Howard [mailto:leejohn7 at gmail.com] 
Sent: Thursday, March 10, 2016 12:37 PM
To: Glenn A. Merrell
Subject: Re: [TR] Stag Rear End Squat

My apologies.  Let me try again.

The car was totally stripped when I bought it. The PO had all new suspension parts, and I went about assembling according to the ROM and the Parts manual.  This all happened in his garage, and after I got it on wheels and the engine installed, I trailered it home, and never noticed how badly out of whack the rear wheels are.

The four springs appeared to be a set,  all colored orangey-red, and I'm now wondering if they are stock.  Do you what the relaxed length is supposed to be? I also have a toe-in problem, and discover I put the shims on the inside bracket!  That's the sort of thing that's been happening all along as I lacked the knowledge that comes from being the disassembler. 

I will definitely check those bolt holes; while I should have noticed when putting it together, very likely I did not.

I like your repair and could deal with it if necessary, but I'msure not anxious to drop the rear end. I am so close to the road!

Thanks for your regular help on this.

Have you dropped your old website in favor of the Facebook page? ( which is good fun, BTW.)

On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 9:06 AM, <StagByTriumph at triumphstagclub.org> wrote:

Hi John,

 My apologies for the delay.

You mention this project was in boxes?  Was the suspension also in boxes or was it a rolling chassis? 

Excessive rear camber, in my experience, is almost always due to elongation of the subframe bolt holes supporting the differential.  

This allows the subframe arms to lower, in turn taking the trailing arms to sag toward the center of the chassis, and in turn the camber becomes excessive.

The only lateral hold of the subframe bolts is a bit of bent sheet steel that cannot support the bolt weight. 

I have photos somewhere of repairs to the subframe inner bolt holes where I applied a repair using heavy wall pipe with an ID that matched the OD of the Subframe bolts.  

I drilled out the subframe holes using a unibit in a drill press to fit the OD of the pipe, cut pipe pieces to fit to the outside edge of the subframe metal and welded them in place.  Then I suitably ground,  painted and rustproofed the upgrade repair. 

Alternatively it might be weak coil springs, however that can be temporarily corrected by adding a machined spacer or thicker rubber insulators under the spring. 

First check however would be the subframe bolt holes.  You can jack the car and look to see of the differential plate to subframe arms has shifted, a tell-tale sign of elongation of the bolt holes. 

Cheers!

 Glenn Merrell  aka StagByTriumph Garage (now on FaceBook)

Remember, “the BEST trophies are: Miles on the Odometer; Stone chips in the paint; and DEAD BUGS on the windscreen … with the occasional smell of manure!”

From: Triumphs [mailto:triumphs-bounces at autox.team.net] On Behalf Of Lee&John Howard
Sent: Wednesday, March 09, 2016 3:44 PM
To: triumph list list
Subject: [TR] Stag Rear End Squat

Well, the Stag motor purrs, drove to the end of driveway and back (!) and all seems well.

BUT the rear end sags something awful, showing a reverse camber of a full inch. Are the springs too short? Remember I bought this project "in boxes" and all suspension parts were new. I don't remember it being this bad when I trailered it to the paint shop, but that doesn't mean much. 

Despite the squat, the car sits pretty level, only about 1/2 inch lower at the rear measuring from the rocker chrome.

Could the DPO have simply bought the incorrect spring? Or is it something else?

Many thanks

John Howard

Oh  - and cannot connect to the Stag list. Is something up (or down) there?

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://autox.team.net/pipermail/triumphs/attachments/20160310/fc9e4c8e/attachment.html>