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+--- Thread: New member hello & APD rebuild (/showthread.php?tid=9737)
RE: New member hello & APD rebuild - Goldnrust - 21-02-2025
Thanks guys. I enjoy taking the pictures and documenting the journey ?
And thank you Dennis for that detailed post.
I didn't break out the proper measuring tools but, by eye and feel when inserting the shims, I'm pretty confident the top and bottom surfaces for the king pin eyes were reasonably close to parallel. Helpfully the spacer washers I had were a nice snug fit. All the comments looked pretty clean really, and the axle eyes looked particularly fresh, which does make me wonder if a previous owner had done the king pins recently, but maybe just got a bit carried away with an expanding reamer in the top bush or something?
Regarding the axle alignment, I might not have explained myself very well, I'm confident that the axle and radius arms are pretty straight, they all lined up nicely when going together. My problem is of my own making!
I immobilised the one end of the front shock absorber, as suggested by various sources to improve handling, but as the car is sitting quite high and the damper arms are at quite an angle (not the best picture it makes them look flatter than they are) the centre mounting bolts are not lining up with the chassis.
If I bolted it up as it stands, it would be trying to force the axle 3/4" to the right. As the chassis lowers, damper arm becomes flatter which pushes the centre section sideways and eventually it would be holding the axle nicely centralised. I'm realising that for my (currently....) standard height car I don't think it's going to go low enough even with the weight of the engine, radiator, etc, to get to that centralised point.
With a few days perspective it's not the end of the world, and I will probably cut the damper arms and extend them with a threaded section so I can fine tune the length to whatever gets the axle nicely entered in the car at ride height.
I know that it's still a bit flawed, as the damper arm length is too short to be a 'good' panhard rod, but it's got be better to have some form of lateral axle location rather than none haha.
RE: New member hello & APD rebuild - Tony Press - 22-02-2025
I believe it is a better plan to immobilise the shackle at one end the front spring rather than using the shocker arm.
RE: New member hello & APD rebuild - stuartu - 22-02-2025
I agree with Tony that isolating a shackle is a nicer solution. Now the horrid truth emerges; in almost sixty years of Seven ownership I have frequently resorted to the method you have used to produce a sort of Panhard rod, usually as a matter of expediency. It seems horrid but it works better than not at all. In your position of a semi rebuild I would take the trouble to isolate a shackle. Probably!
Regards,
Stuart
RE: New member hello & APD rebuild - AustinWood - 22-02-2025
We have a piece cut from a tyre insert in the front spring shackles. This located the front axle laterally but has enough give to allow for the spring flexing.
I works very well indeed. All a bit crusty, but the car is in everyday use as main transport.
Rubber.jpg (Size: 58.43 KB / Downloads: 324)
RE: New member hello & APD rebuild - `Gordonhbm - 22-02-2025
Jim,
I like your solution. Which part of the tyre do you use -sidewall or tread? How often do you need to replace them?
RE: New member hello & APD rebuild - AustinWood - 22-02-2025
I used a tread section from a worn Avon sidecar tyre. It's the right thickness to fit in the shackle. They've been there for years, 30 or 40 thousand miles.
Couple with correct castor the steering is excellent. None of the kick-back and swooping from side to side. At 50mph on a Scottish Borders road it steers straight and needs only a light touch on the steering wheel.
RE: New member hello & APD rebuild - `Gordonhbm - 22-02-2025
Jim,
Many thanks for that info - just what i wanted.
RE: New member hello & APD rebuild - Goldnrust - 22-02-2025
Thanks for the thoughts guys, and interesting about immobilising one end of the spring shackle instead, can certainly see the logic.
I think in the short term, given that I have already modified my shock absorber arm and so rendered it useless for the standard configuration, I will probably follow through with modifying it further to make it adjustable length. Once I've driven the car I'm sure I'll have some thoughts as to whether I'm happy with how it's working or not.
The 4 tyres on the car are Avon sidecar tyres, all with 3 number date codes so 25 years old at the youngest, that will be heading for the tip! I'll be sure to keep a section just in case I want to use Jim's solution!
As an aside on tyres, my car is currently on 450x17 tyres, which from what I read are bigger than the 400/425x17 as originally specced. I like the chunkier look of the bigger tyre but I gather some people feel they upset the steering feel?
RE: New member hello & APD rebuild - Robert Leigh - 23-02-2025
In my experience 450X17 tyres give heavier steering than 400X17. After years of using 450s I found it to be a pleasant change to have 400 s.
RE: New member hello & APD rebuild - AustinWood - 23-02-2025
We have a piece of tyre on both spring shackles.