Rear arms - wrong way round?

[Blink]

I've forgotten which upper arm is the RH one and which is the LH. :duh::duh:

Is it possible to bolt them into the subframe the wrong way round (i.e. LH arm in RH position and vice versa)?

I'm just doing a dry run and have bolted all 4 arms into the subframe with the springs on.** The upper arms/springs just clear the subframe as they swing up & down, but not by much. Is this normal?

(** bolts not torqued up yet)

I should have taken a pic of the old subframe/arm assembly as soon as it came off the car - but I didn't (too much muck around to handle an expensive camera).

[Blink]

PS. By "clear the subframe", I mean the space between the front edge of the long arms on the subframe and the rear edge of the upper arms/springs.

[ceedy]

the ends of both upper and lower arms should be very close to inline vertically ..


Found this pic should give you a clue . :D




https://shop.euroimpex.lt/product_images/00095365_5929828886.jpg?big=1
C




Any part numbers on them ?..... left arm is an RGG104972

[marinabrian]

Take a look at your old arm, the one that wasn't cut to remove it, next to the oval hole will be stamped R or L.

Match that with whatever arm that has the pivot bush inclined the same way, and you will know which one is which.

Brian :D

[Blink]

the ends of both upper and lower arms should be very close to inline vertically ..

Any part numbers on them ?..... left arm is an RGG104972

They're close to being inline vertically but the upper arm is about 1 inch nearer the subframe.

No part numbers on them.


Take a look at your old arm, the one that wasn't cut to remove it, next to the oval hole will be stamped R or L.

Match that with whatever arm that has the pivot bush inclined the same way, and you will know which one is which.

Brian :D

There's no R or L stamped on either of the old arms - I've checked both sides of both of them.

The new arms may have had R and L stickers - I can't remember now. If they did they were wiped out during blasting. I can't believe I was dumb enough not to mark them myself. :o

Anyway, here's the gap on the left side of the subframe. The upper arm is propped up with a block of wood to bring it up level with the subframe (the two welded edges are level with each other)

https://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/forum/imagehosting/426635dbc60d2c3a13.jpg


The gap arrowed here is about 1.25 inches. This is the closest the arm gets to the subframe.

https://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/forum/imagehosting/426635dbc60d32676a.jpg


This assembly is a devil of a shape to photograph! And being gloss black doesn't help. :mad:

[Blink]

The new arms may have had R and L stickers - I can't remember now. If they did they were wiped out during blasting.

They did have stickers - I just found this pic of one. Trouble is, you can't read it. :banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead:

https://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/forum/imagehosting/426635d78ce2bc4a51.jpg

[roverbarmy]

The one on the left is a Left arm (nearside). The one on the right is offside (old one)
https://i.imgur.com/WP1U4Qm.jpg

[marinabrian]

https://the75andztclub.co.uk/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=80337&stc=1&d=1572629338

Clean up the old arms in the area arrowed, if they're the arms the car left the factory with, they are stamped L or R

This one is a L (N/S) you can just about make out the L in the crustiness :cool:

Brian :D

[Blink]

The one on the left is a Left arm (nearside). The one on the right is offside (old one)


https://the75andztclub.co.uk/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=80337&stc=1&d=1572629338

Clean up the old arms in the area arrowed, if they're the arms the car left the factory with, they are stamped L or R

This one is a L (N/S) you can just about make out the L in the crustiness :cool:

Brian :D


Ok, thanks both. I can suss it from that. It'll have to wait til tomorrow now though - raining again. :mad:

[Blink]

Doh! The answer to this was staring me in the face all the time. :o:o

The subframe end of the old arm that I cut off is still in the old subframe and it's on the right side (I just went to the shed to check). :duh: So the old cut off arm is the RH and the old uncut arm is the LH.


OLD ARM - RH

https://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/forum/imagehosting/426635db450431835b.jpg


OLD ARM - LH

https://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/forum/imagehosting/426635db45042b24da.jpg

What a plonker. :D

[roverbarmy]

When you are up to your backside in alligators, it is often difficult to remember that the object of the exercise was to drain the swamp!!! :D

[Blink]

When you are up to your backside in alligators, it is often difficult to remember that the object of the exercise was to drain the swamp!!! :D

Precisely. :D

[Blink]

Ok, I've wire brushed the old uncut arm and there's an L mark here. I think we can safely say that it's not an R. So this is the old Left arm (a factory arm).

https://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/forum/imagehosting/426635dbd98a7b8759.jpg

Now here's the uncut old Left arm side by side with the the new Indian arms. The one on the right is the odd man out. The two on the left have bushes pointing the same way, so it's safe to say they're both Left arms.

https://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/forum/imagehosting/426635dbd99c30a6f9.jpg

Here they are again from the opposite angle - now the Left arms are the two on the right.

https://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/forum/imagehosting/426635dbd9b0e70cbd.jpg

Here they are again, this time with L and R labels on the Indian pair - so there's no mistaking them from here on.

https://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/forum/imagehosting/426635dbd9c5674c85.jpg

I've bolted the Left Indian (on the left above) into the subframe. Now the gap between the edge of it and the edge of the subframe is down to around half an inch :eek: (it was one inch before - see post 5). This doesn't seem right to me.

NB. I'd photograph it but there's no point - it'll just look like the second pic in post 5 but with a smaller gap.

[Blink]

Just to confirm where the factory marks are, here's a pic I found a while ago of an arm in Portugal. (I think it was bought by Paul, aka The Gas Man (https://the75andztclub.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=293041)).

https://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/forum/imagehosting/426635dbda06fae4da.jpg

The L mark is in exactly the same place on my old L arm.

https://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/forum/imagehosting/426635dbda195df875.jpg

[Blink]

Here's my old L arm again, followed by Mike's pic from post 7.

https://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/forum/imagehosting/426635dbd9b0e70cbd.jpg

https://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/forum/imagehosting/426635dbda46b35647.jpg

So what's going on? Why has the gap between arm and subframe halved? :shrug:

[roverbarmy]

There will be some "give" in the rubber. If not enough, the only other explanation I can think of is that the end of the arm and bush have been welded in the wrong position??? The "give" in the rubber bush may however be enough to cope with 1/2" difference at the other end of the arm (the final position determined by the connection to the hub). Both "new" and old arms in my picture are Rover originals. The "new" arm was one from the Portugese seller.
Mike

[Blink]

There will be some "give" in the rubber. If not enough, the only other explanation I can think of is that the end of the arm and bush have been welded in the wrong position??? The "give" in the rubber bush may however be enough to cope with 1/2" difference at the other end of the arm (the final position determined by the connection to the hub). Both "new" and old arms in my picture are Rover originals. The "new" arm was one from the Portugese seller.
Mike

The bush ends on your Portuguese left arm, my old left arm and my Indian left arm all seem to be welded at just the same angle - so I don't think there's any mistake in the welding position on my Indian one.

At the moment (off the car), there's about 1/4" worth of play between the upper arm bush and its fixing bolt though the subframe - so the gap can go from 1/2" down to 1/4" if I swing the arm sideways by hand. When the outer end is bolted into place though, the gap will become fixed but it'll be somewhere between 1/4" (dangerously close) and 1/2" (still too close).

The question is whether or not to install the subframe with the arms like this. :shrug: