Rear suspension bushes - A-frame cars
Discussion
Following on from BlueWedgy's post on the front suspension, I raided my car's service history file and can offer the following to anyone who might be looking to refurb their car's rear end undercarriage. If you are so inclined you can replace the various bushes with polyurethane and if so this thread won't help you as it concerns the original style of bonded rubber bushes. These were manufactured to Imperial dimensions by the likes of Metalastik, which brand ended up owned by Trelleborg who, needless to say, haven't continued manufacture of many of them as 'everything' is now Metric. Of course the bushes would most likely have been originally fitted to other products of the British motor industry but I've never seen a definitive list published of the donor cars - and even if you could ID them, you'd still be buying old stock bushes.
Almost 10 years ago I set out to rebush the A-frames, tie-rods and diff mountings of the 390 and for most of them I had to resort to contacting anti-vibration mounting manufacturers, trawling their catalogues for near equivalents (not one was exactly right) and using the lathe to shorten them to the correct lengths.
This, then, is a collection of the notes I made, including the original Metalstik code where I could find it and the dimensions I measured.
Rear tie-rod small end bush - Metalastik 13/801. That won't help much, but it's bore (ID) is 0.5", OD 1-3/16". Outer sleeve length 1-3/16", Inner sleeve length 1-3/8". Or in Metric, 12.7,30.0,30.2,34.98mm. There's a note saying "Could use RB2286 cut down?" The ID and OD are correct but the RB2286 is about 22mm longer than needed. Alas, not long enough to make two out of one. I think this was the only one I managed to find as new old stock 13/801, from an Ebay seller.
The tie-rod front (large bush) I never identified but it's 0.5", 1.625", 1.383", 1.618" or 12.7, 41.27, 35.13, 41.1mm. There was no catalogue equivalent or near-equivalent that I could find. It's been suggested that it could have been sourced from the Sherpa van or similar light commercial, though the 1/2" bore in relation to its OD seems a bit feeble.
Diff alloy top beam to chassis might be Metalastik 17/623 or 17/403 (the latter used on the Rover P6 I think) but can't confirm either, although the 403 does seem to ring a bell. There are aftermarket rubber copies of this one to be found.
Diff lower cradle and the A-frame bushes are 0.5", 1-1/16", 1-3/4", 2.0" or 12.7, 26.92, 44.58, 50.67mm. I cut down (shortened) the B636/7 (correct ID and OD but 50.6/60.2mm long) which might also cross-refer to a type RB3720 (it says here).
My notes say "Reliant Kitten front spring bush small, type 6247 - too long. =RB3720?" so that'd be another possibility if cheap enough. There's another scrawl which says "Reliant Robin rear spring front hanger bush is 0.5", 1-1/16", 2-3/8" - could be shortened". I think the Reliant bush dims were obtained from Ebay sellers who ran a digital caliper over their stock for me.
There might be slight discrepancies between the Imperial and Metric dimensions quoted; some were as-measured and some as converted in catalogues - they usually had +/-0.05mm tolerances anyway.
Almost 10 years ago I set out to rebush the A-frames, tie-rods and diff mountings of the 390 and for most of them I had to resort to contacting anti-vibration mounting manufacturers, trawling their catalogues for near equivalents (not one was exactly right) and using the lathe to shorten them to the correct lengths.
This, then, is a collection of the notes I made, including the original Metalstik code where I could find it and the dimensions I measured.
Rear tie-rod small end bush - Metalastik 13/801. That won't help much, but it's bore (ID) is 0.5", OD 1-3/16". Outer sleeve length 1-3/16", Inner sleeve length 1-3/8". Or in Metric, 12.7,30.0,30.2,34.98mm. There's a note saying "Could use RB2286 cut down?" The ID and OD are correct but the RB2286 is about 22mm longer than needed. Alas, not long enough to make two out of one. I think this was the only one I managed to find as new old stock 13/801, from an Ebay seller.
The tie-rod front (large bush) I never identified but it's 0.5", 1.625", 1.383", 1.618" or 12.7, 41.27, 35.13, 41.1mm. There was no catalogue equivalent or near-equivalent that I could find. It's been suggested that it could have been sourced from the Sherpa van or similar light commercial, though the 1/2" bore in relation to its OD seems a bit feeble.
Diff alloy top beam to chassis might be Metalastik 17/623 or 17/403 (the latter used on the Rover P6 I think) but can't confirm either, although the 403 does seem to ring a bell. There are aftermarket rubber copies of this one to be found.
Diff lower cradle and the A-frame bushes are 0.5", 1-1/16", 1-3/4", 2.0" or 12.7, 26.92, 44.58, 50.67mm. I cut down (shortened) the B636/7 (correct ID and OD but 50.6/60.2mm long) which might also cross-refer to a type RB3720 (it says here).
My notes say "Reliant Kitten front spring bush small, type 6247 - too long. =RB3720?" so that'd be another possibility if cheap enough. There's another scrawl which says "Reliant Robin rear spring front hanger bush is 0.5", 1-1/16", 2-3/8" - could be shortened". I think the Reliant bush dims were obtained from Ebay sellers who ran a digital caliper over their stock for me.
There might be slight discrepancies between the Imperial and Metric dimensions quoted; some were as-measured and some as converted in catalogues - they usually had +/-0.05mm tolerances anyway.
I started last night looking with fresh eyes, for (TVR 025D 014A bush, carrier and wishbone), as 1/2", 1-1/16", 1-3/4", 2" and ended up ordering 12 leaf spring shackle bushes that will need bringing into size on the lathe. I will post again once I have got a finished item (or not), before looking at any the others.
P.S. I do always like any Reliant connections, as the late Stewart Halstead moved sideways from TVR to Reliant spares, a 'thing' I believe kept him in touch with his friends at TVR as supplier of parts. A@
As I have not removed them as yet...measurements are mixed for (TVR 025D 051A bush, rear trailing link) and (TVR 025D 053A bush, rear trailing link) I can understand the mixing but I will pull my info together.
As the smaller is available from Motaclan I might simply buy it.
P.S. I do always like any Reliant connections, as the late Stewart Halstead moved sideways from TVR to Reliant spares, a 'thing' I believe kept him in touch with his friends at TVR as supplier of parts. A@
As I have not removed them as yet...measurements are mixed for (TVR 025D 051A bush, rear trailing link) and (TVR 025D 053A bush, rear trailing link) I can understand the mixing but I will pull my info together.
As the smaller is available from Motaclan I might simply buy it.
Edited by Adrian@ on Thursday 13th November 09:07
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