REMOVAL AND REPLACEMENT OF SCOUT REAR SPRINGS BY P. COOK
From “Front Wheels” December 1986
From “Front Wheels” December 1986
To change the rear springs on a Scout is possibly quite straightforward if you have the body ‘off the chassis’ With the body still on the chassis, however the situation is quite different as I found during my present rebuild. when removing the springs with the body-work still on the car you are faced with working under the car in rather cramped conditions unless you have access to a car lift or inspection pit.
The following notes may therefore be helpful to anyone attempting to change rear springs with limited equipment.My first attempt to remove the spring occurred ten years ago when I was met with the ‘complete’ refusal of the front.pin on the off side spring to-turn resulting in the job being abandoned.
Before starting the present rebuild 1 made another attempt on the spring but again was met with the same problem..I then used a trick l had seen done several years ago in order to remove the rear spring on a TR3A, The spring onthe Scout is mounted on the outside of the chassis frame with the front end located in a fixed mounting and the bolts crewed through the spring from the inside of the chassis the problem is to get at the mounting to remove rust or even to apply release oil.
To overcome this I used thin strips of cloth wrapped around the pin and mounting, These are pulled down on to the pin and then soaked in release oil in an attempt to keep the pin lubricated
I had been soaking the pins off and on for 3 months by the time I came to remove them. Starting on the near side both the front and rear pins came out without any problems and still showing signs of the original plating. It was-than a simple job to remove the spring from the axle by unfastening the U bolts.
The offside spring was now attempted with complete failure and for the next 2 or 3 weeks I tried every possible method of freeing both front and rear pins without having to resort to a hacksaw The front pin, wouldn’t move at all while the rear pin appeared to be turning with the silentbloc.The breakthrough finally came in the form of a very short ring spanner and a large copper mallet which provided movement in the front pin, With the front pin removed and showing signs of heavy corrosion where it passed through the chassis, I needed a hacksaw to remove the rear pin.My next problem came when I tried to reassemble the axle with the new springs, The near side spring went back with no problem both pins going home first time. With the offside spring I was met with complete failure. Whatever I attempted I could not get the front pin to engage with the screw thread in the mountings
Close examination showed the pin to be out off line by between 1/4 to 1/2 of the pin diameter, examination showed this effect to be produced by the second leaf of the spring resting on the spring mounting bracket. Without removing a considerable amount of material from the bracket the only way to fit the spring was to lift the rear of the spring above the rear mounting and o effectively dropping the front of the spring to line up the pin and hole, returning the spring to its normal position effectively locked the front pin and this was partly the reason why I had so much trouble removing the front in the first instance.From then on it was plain sailing replacing the off side spring using a 7/16″ diameter zinc plated high tensile bolts purchased from Narnrick Ltd to replace the rear pairIf any member has a sure way to remove pins seized in to silentblocs I would be pleased to hear from them
The following notes may therefore be helpful to anyone attempting to change rear springs with limited equipment.My first attempt to remove the spring occurred ten years ago when I was met with the ‘complete’ refusal of the front.pin on the off side spring to-turn resulting in the job being abandoned.
Before starting the present rebuild 1 made another attempt on the spring but again was met with the same problem..I then used a trick l had seen done several years ago in order to remove the rear spring on a TR3A, The spring onthe Scout is mounted on the outside of the chassis frame with the front end located in a fixed mounting and the bolts crewed through the spring from the inside of the chassis the problem is to get at the mounting to remove rust or even to apply release oil.
To overcome this I used thin strips of cloth wrapped around the pin and mounting, These are pulled down on to the pin and then soaked in release oil in an attempt to keep the pin lubricated
I had been soaking the pins off and on for 3 months by the time I came to remove them. Starting on the near side both the front and rear pins came out without any problems and still showing signs of the original plating. It was-than a simple job to remove the spring from the axle by unfastening the U bolts.
The offside spring was now attempted with complete failure and for the next 2 or 3 weeks I tried every possible method of freeing both front and rear pins without having to resort to a hacksaw The front pin, wouldn’t move at all while the rear pin appeared to be turning with the silentbloc.The breakthrough finally came in the form of a very short ring spanner and a large copper mallet which provided movement in the front pin, With the front pin removed and showing signs of heavy corrosion where it passed through the chassis, I needed a hacksaw to remove the rear pin.My next problem came when I tried to reassemble the axle with the new springs, The near side spring went back with no problem both pins going home first time. With the offside spring I was met with complete failure. Whatever I attempted I could not get the front pin to engage with the screw thread in the mountings
Close examination showed the pin to be out off line by between 1/4 to 1/2 of the pin diameter, examination showed this effect to be produced by the second leaf of the spring resting on the spring mounting bracket. Without removing a considerable amount of material from the bracket the only way to fit the spring was to lift the rear of the spring above the rear mounting and o effectively dropping the front of the spring to line up the pin and hole, returning the spring to its normal position effectively locked the front pin and this was partly the reason why I had so much trouble removing the front in the first instance.From then on it was plain sailing replacing the off side spring using a 7/16″ diameter zinc plated high tensile bolts purchased from Narnrick Ltd to replace the rear pairIf any member has a sure way to remove pins seized in to silentblocs I would be pleased to hear from them
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