trailing arm referb/ replace

trailing arm referb/ replace

Author
Discussion

mikel003003

Original Poster:

1,084 posts

165 months

Thursday 31st January 2013
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One of my rear trailing arms is shot, really thought they were solid I picked off a bit of flaking waxoil to reveal a big hole, am gutted as my budget is super tight , has anyone got any ideas, might be a good time to change to s2 type semi trailing arms ? I believe someone on here does an exchange service, what can I expect to pay ?

mikel003003

Original Poster:

1,084 posts

165 months

Friday 1st February 2013
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Have contacted Adrian Venn

phillpot

17,105 posts

182 months

Friday 1st February 2013
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Adrian @ Exactly TVR is your man.

How bad is it? At the end of the day it's just a big lump of metal, so long as its not so rotten its lost its alignment any decent welder/fabricator should be able to repair it?

mikel003003

Original Poster:

1,084 posts

165 months

Friday 1st February 2013
quotequote all
Yes thanks, I was flapping a bit, I need to have another look in the daylight the tubular bit is defanatly shot, I need to clean the whole lot up and fingers crossed they can just be repaired.

S2Andy

307 posts

212 months

Friday 1st February 2013
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I think virtually everything is repairable. Mine had a big hole in the box section as well as the tube. Adrian Venn sorted it very quickly. Looked like new. smile

mikel003003

Original Poster:

1,084 posts

165 months

Friday 1st February 2013
quotequote all
Adrian has been very helpfull, and his prices are very fair. I'm going to clean them up and assess how bad it is , then decide if its something a local fabricator can do, if its more serious then I'll send them to Adrian. Thanks for the advise, btw if anyone happens to have a decent pair going spare drop me a pm .

Mr Plow

1,193 posts

227 months

Friday 1st February 2013
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I've got a spare pair of S3 trailing arms in need of a refurb and also a brand new trailing arm, can't remember which side the new one is though if your interested?

Liam

mikel003003

Original Poster:

1,084 posts

165 months

Friday 1st February 2013
quotequote all
Adrian@ said:
The trouble with just 'any decent welder/fabricator' is that they will not have a jig purpose made for the job, then she/he will not of invested in 2 mm X 50mm seam-less tube to do the job with and have 15 years experience.
Adrian@
Noted

phillpot

17,105 posts

182 months

Friday 1st February 2013
quotequote all
Adrian@ said:
and have 15 years experience.
Adrian@
Might have 20 smile

Obviously if things are so bad the whole tube needs replacing you are, as I suggested, the man for the job.

But, if the op is on a tight budget and corrosion is not too bad, a decent welder may be able to effect a repair that will get a year or two or more out of the trailing arm without any distortion and at a nominal cost? Possibly no more than the postage/carriage alone to a Specialist repairer like yourself?

In the long term maybe a "false economy" but not everyone runs their TVR on a blank cheque book and the ideal solution has to give way to the this will get me out of trouble solution! wink

mikel003003

Original Poster:

1,084 posts

165 months

Saturday 2nd February 2013
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mines s1 if i get hold of a pair of s2 arms will they fit?

tvrgit

8,470 posts

251 months

Saturday 2nd February 2013
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mikel003003 said:
mines s1 if i get hold of a pair of s2 arms will they fit?
On your other thread I said:
S1 and S2 have the same chassis mounting points - they are one-piece.

S3 and newer have 2-piece arms - the inner bush is adjustable (by inserting shims between the bush and the arm) but still fits the same chassis mounting points AFAIK.

S4 and V8S have a wider track, so you would have to change both.

However, and here's the big difference, they ALL have different mounting points for the lower end of the spring / shock absorber, so you would have to change them in pairs unless you have a direct replacement, AND relocating the lower shock mounting will change the ride height (unless you have adjustable dampers and can raise / lower as necessary).

Have a look at this thread here which shows the difference between S1 and S3 - I believe S2 shock mounts are different again. My S3C has a different shock mounting again from the S3 shown:

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=829...

mikel003003

Original Poster:

1,084 posts

165 months

Saturday 2nd February 2013
quotequote all
thanks Andrew that does make sence, so koni made differant dampers for all 3 models ?
I do have a set of s/h avo ajustables passed on to me by phillpot so they should tide me over if i decide to go for the s2 arms? basically its £170 per side for a refurb or £170 for a pair of s/h s2 arms If I was going for referb i would prefer to do them both anyway although i still have to investigate the full extent of the problem, look at the bank balance then make a decision. thanks for your help ,

phillpot

17,105 posts

182 months

Saturday 2nd February 2013
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Mike, thought these were the ones you were looking at but hadn't noticed they're from another well known TVR breakers yard.

mikel003003

Original Poster:

1,084 posts

165 months

Saturday 2nd February 2013
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I saw that but lots of bits I don't need and only one side

mikel003003

Original Poster:

1,084 posts

165 months

Saturday 2nd February 2013
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I saw that but lots of bits I don't need and only one side

greymrj

3,316 posts

203 months

Monday 3rd March 2014
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WARNING!!!!

I thought it was important that I added to this thread, I hope those of you with unrestored trailing arms will check them after this!readit

A few years ago I found rust in one tube of a trailing arm. The smaller tube running from behind the hub directly in line with the car. The rest of the arm was fine. On careful examination it was clear that water could remain in this tube when the car was at rest, producing a perculiar pattern of localised rusting.

I took the arm off and had it chemically cleaned at Ribble Technology. I was horrified by the resultant evidence of serious localised rusting. Effectively the whole of the tube would need to be cut out and replaced. I am a competent engineer with MIG welding facilities but I soon realised I would need to make up a substantial and reasonably complicated jig to keep everything in exact alignment. That wasnt going to be a simple or quick job.

At this point one of the more experienced PH members pointed me to Adrian Venn (Exactly TVR). He had the jig and the experience (and the facilities to put new bushes in at the same time) and the cost was certainly justifiable to get the job done right. One week from me posting it off it was back, properly restored and ready to fit. Happy owner!

You would think I would have learnt a lesson from that!nono But I checked the other arm and it seemed rust free and solid, not even an advisory at a very thorough MOT.whistle I decided to take the arm off this winter as one of a series of jobs intended to keep the car in good order long term. When I got started I noticed some rust bubbles but the tube still sounded perfectly solid.
This is what the arm looked like when it came off:

Doesnt look bad at all, does it.
Then I examined the tube really carefully and found it was almost entirely full of hard packed 'mud'. No wonder it sounded solid. So solid I had to use a long power drill to get it out. Then I cleaned the paint off the tube. I admit I was ashamed and horrified by what I found.



Not only was it rotten, it had clearly started to buckle.eekyikes Adrian subsequently told me it was far from the worst he had seen! (One guy had found his so bad he had welded a bar across to stop it giving way completely!)

Quick call phoneand off it went to Adrian and came back less than a week later:


Jigged, new tube, fully rustproofed, new bushes fitted (I supplied original type from Ian at ML Performance), even new brake pipe clips. £170.50 total including return postage and VAT.

'Proper job!!!'clap

greymrj

3,316 posts

203 months

Friday 7th March 2014
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Just a word of warning if I may. Your rear swinging arm is a valuable bit of kit. When you post it to Adrian make sure you use a well respected courier and are not tempted by the cut price courier services like myHermes which are now on the market. I have been involved in a research project regarding domestic courier services and the statistics for poor service and subsequent poor customer service are alarming.

greymrj

3,316 posts

203 months

Thursday 20th March 2014
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Bump!! As they say.

As a result of a bit more info on 'hidden' trailing arm dangers, I was so shocked by the state of one of mine that I am posting this again in the hope that all owners will check theirs.

What I suppose really surprised me is that the chassis outriggers and the trailing arm mountings are all in very good condition indeed, they have been thoroughly checked, as was all the rest of the trailing arm. Just the one trailing arm tube had gone!

greymrj

3,316 posts

203 months

Wednesday 26th March 2014
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Taking my own medicine again!!!
Sure I had seen this little bit of info posted before?

The bolts holding the trailing arm to the chassis are 8.8 high tensile steel but UNF not metric. I am pretty sure my bolts are original. For some reason the bolt head and nut sizes differ (mind you, we are talking TVR here!). The head sizes are 7/8AF and 13/16AF respectively. I found a 7/8 ring and a 13/16 combination were easier than sockets as there is very little room.

Kitchski

6,514 posts

230 months

Saturday 19th April 2014
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tvrgit said:
mikel003003 said:
mines s1 if i get hold of a pair of s2 arms will they fit?
On your other thread I said:
S1 and S2 have the same chassis mounting points - they are one-piece.

S3 and newer have 2-piece arms - the inner bush is adjustable (by inserting shims between the bush and the arm) but still fits the same chassis mounting points AFAIK.

S4 and V8S have a wider track, so you would have to change both.

However, and here's the big difference, they ALL have different mounting points for the lower end of the spring / shock absorber, so you would have to change them in pairs unless you have a direct replacement, AND relocating the lower shock mounting will change the ride height (unless you have adjustable dampers and can raise / lower as necessary).

Have a look at this thread here which shows the difference between S1 and S3 - I believe S2 shock mounts are different again. My S3C has a different shock mounting again from the S3 shown:

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=829...
Just to add the info for anyone researching, the mounting points are the same across the range, so S1 arms would a V8S and visa versa. As mentioned, it's the arms that are actually different, so you have to change in pairs.