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MG TD TF 1500 - Rear end U clamps

i have to admit that I'm more than a little miffed!. am excitedly at the point where I'm now bolting parts back onto the frame :) It's been a long time getting here!
Got the pedal box done and the rear springs attached and then added my diff (changed to 4.3) then here's where things went a little "South"! Some 2-3 years ago I bought new "U" clamps and jam nuts, and "Axle buffer plates" from Moss through LBCC. I also bought "Poly" pads from John of TTT2. When I now assembled everything the u clamps would not go all the way through. I still have the "old" u clamps and when I measure both sets the old u clamps are 7" from the outside of center of the "U" to then end of the tangs. The new "U" clamps measure 6.5"; they are 1/2" shorter.
I am not going to let this slow me down, so I removed the "Buffers" and used a "G" clamp to compress everything and slowly tightened the nuts to the point that I could just get the nuts and jam nuts on. BUT at some point I want to revisit this and put the Buffer Plates back on! So! Finally, my question, " has anyone else had this problem and are any of the other vendor's "U" clamps the same 7" length as the original?
Many thanks and best regards
Rod Murray ( 54 TF finally being assembled!"
Rodney G Murray

Mine were from Moss and worked just fine.
efh Haskell

Rod

I would suggest to put a Jack under the bottom pad/plate and jack the car up on the pad. To compress the new rubbers and the bolts should come through OK.

I did use rubber blocks on mine though? Not sure if Polly will compress enough.

Rod
R. D. Jones

Hi Rod,
I have been unable to get on the BBS for some time due to a mix up with my address and thanks to Mike, I can now join the fun again.

I just noticed your enquiry regarding the "U" bolts. Mine are 7" long from the inside of the bend and extend through the bottom plate 1". With the 2 lock nuts in place, this leaves 3/8" of bolt showing. From the underside of the bottom plate, to the top of the spring is 2 1/4" of which 1 1/2" is spring and the rest is plate and pad. I do have the buffer plate between the axle housing and the "U" bolts. My pads are rubber and are very compressed, so your 6 1/2" bolts you have might work depending on how much compression you can get from the pad you are using. It will be a tight fit. I might suggest you fit only one nut with "Locktight" initially, and see if the loading will compress the pad enough to add the 2nd nut.

I'm glad to hear that "Winnie" is finally in the assembly mode, and hope to follow it's adventure back on the road.

George
George Raham

Sorry for the delay in getting back on this but I'm about 4 days behind on the BBS 'cause I'm having so much fun reassembling "Winnie" :) I love this stage of the restore....... Everything you do ends up contributes to visual progress!
Poly does not compress worth a darn! What I did was to assemble using just the one nut and then over the next dat tightened slowly compressing the poly. When I finally had enough of the "U" clamp ends protruding to get the jam nuts on. I then got a larger cast steel "G" clamp that I had, quickly disassemble everything then reassembled including the buffer plates and the used the "G" camp to compress everything to the best the clamp could and luckily there was just enough of the "U" clamp ends poking through to get nuts on:) I then over next 24 hours tightened everything enough to be able to get the jam nuts on.... Everything fine; however, the 61/2" U clamps ARE too short !! If you need to replace yours U clamps and are using poly + buffers be prepared for a fight:)
Best regards
RodM 54 TF
Rodney G Murray

It may be little known, but the thin jam nut should go on first. Think of it this way, tightening up the last nut reduces the load on the first nut's threads as the stud/bolt stretches. Wouldn't you rather have the load handled by the larger nut?
At least that's the way I learned it.
Al
A W Parker

Every aircraft cylinder stud mfg for 30 years was the other way around. The pal nut went on last...until they figured out the second but was unnecessary. Regards, tom
tm peterson

This thread was discussed between 06/05/2015 and 13/05/2015

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