The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

Does anyone have the length of the rear axle tie bar for a sprint? Preferably from the joint where it meets the cylindrical bush housing to the shoulder where the first bush fits as it attaches to the axle.
I had some adjustable one made and fitted them to the car and got all excited with the adjustment and now I don't know where factory settings should be!

Alex

Aleco wrote:Does anyone have the length of the rear axle tie bar for a sprint? Preferably from the joint where it meets the cylindrical bush housing to the shoulder where the first bush fits as it attaches to the axle.
I had some adjustable one made and fitted them to the car and got all excited with the adjustment and now I don't know where factory settings should be!

Alex

Alex



335mm

Paul

That's great. Cheers paul

Interesting looking at the pics of the tie bars there. Finally got round to re-bushing my re-painted bars the other day and just figuring out the order of washers etc. What I took off my car seems to be incorrect, not least because there were no nylon washers. I always assumed that the bush itself fits either side of the cup part of the axle rather than the nylon washer then the bush, then the dished washer etc. The usual suppliers seem to only supply flat washers these days but I think I have managed to find some dished ones, my current ones are not at all good to re-use. I already have nylon washers too so hopefully good to go.

Incidentally I didn't find getting the new polybushes in very easy at all, even with a press. They constantly wanted to squish the wrong way and not go in no matter how hard I tried to centralise them on pressing. Still they're in now and still glad I bought the press.

I've just done this myself. rather than a press you might be better off using threaded bar and washers and "pulling" them in. Even using this method they deform but suddenly pop in. I heated them up and used the installation grease supplied. I dismantled and re-configured the threaded bar of a spring compressor to pull them in.
Despite having Super-Flex bushes fitted previously, they had worn out over 7-8 years. The handling is now transformed.

Ditto....had a mare!

Had just as much trouble trying to fit them to the car and axle....as they ere all new, they were rather stiff and wouldn't deform.

I ended up tilting the nose of the diff upwards with a jack that allowed the tie rods to line up a bit.....and used lashings a fairy liquid!

I expect lots of fun and games refitting the axle. I imagine it's best to fit the bars to the body first then try and wiggle them to fit at the axle end. I didn't actually remove the axle from the car originally as it was removed by the person who took the old shell away. Certainly the old bushes were totally shot and very loose so the replacements will be much better!

I tried both methods of fixed to the axle and then fixed to the car first....In the end I had them on the axle first as you can use the weight of the axle to manoeuvre them into place and you're not trying to fight the weight of the axle to get it to line up with the tie rods. It deffo helped to tilt the axle backwards though as that is its normal state when fitted...but it wasn't that obvious to me until I'd done it!

Best of luck....It will be a pain!

Mark

Fit the trailing arms x 2 and the tie rods x 2 to body, back axle onto the trolley jack, push assembly under the car, secure the trailing arm x 2 to the rear axle, whilst jacking the axle up align the tie rods (inc. 1 metal washer 1 x bush & 1 plastic washer ) with the bracket on the rear axle. Then with the aid of a rachet strap - wrap the strap around the body bracket and the axle and start ratching until you can get one plastic washer + bush + the two metal washers and the nut on a couple of threads - you can do one side at a time - do it this way and you will have no problems.

Paul.