Trailing arm shims

[APS]

Hi, on reassembling my rear suspension I am putting the shims back just as they were on the trailing arm brackets.
On the offside I had 5 shims on the outer bracket only.
On the nearside I had 4 on outer bracket and 1 on inner bracket. This is when I notice that the shims are not of a size to fully fill the size of the inner bracket against the subframe arm. The top bolt will probably distort the bracket when tightened. I don't feel this is right.

Has anyone experienced this ?
I feel that it would be best to leave that shim off from the inner bracket.

I do intend to get the camber properly checked at a later date but in the meantime thanks in advance for all valued opinions.

[new to this]

Yes on my car i have different number of shims on one side of the car, than the other

Dave

[flying farmer]

Best leave one off the outer bracket as well if you are removing one on the inner, then all that is happening is you are moving the trailing arm forward a couple of mm rather than changing the toe settings

[DJT]

There shouldn't be any on the inner bracket. ROM indicates outer bracket only.

[APS]

Best leave one off the outer bracket as well if you are removing one on the inner, then all that is happening is you are moving the trailing arm forward a couple of mm rather than changing the toe settings

I was thinking of the same thing, so to keep the trailing arm at the same angle just moved forward a little.

But Dave’s (DJT) point that there should not be any shims on the inner bracket makes me think that it was wrongly placed previously and that it possibly came from the outer bracket fixing originally. That would make it 5 shims on both sides. Ummm, that is making sense. Though I do get it that it may have different number of shims on each side.

I appreciate your advice, thank you both.

Alan

[Tdafforn]

Unfortunately i would be guided by geometry. Perhaps fit as is and then get it aligned professionally. Getting it right can really improve handling.
tim

[richardthestag]

I find repeatedly that while the chaps at the tyre centre love the Stag, the computer has no idea what it is. I did find that Jag XJ6 series 2 has similar settings for the front end. I have no idea if that might then work for the back end on the stag though. Attached are the extracts from the ROM that might help on rear axle toe in

outer shims only would make sense to me as per the rom


Capture1.jpg
Capture2.jpg

[richardthestag]

should add that you want to be sure that the subframe mounts are in good order and that the centre diff nose holes are not elongated before heading down the fix avenue

Cheers for Friday all

[APS]

Thanks Richard and all. On the near side I am going to fit the fifth shim to the outer bracket so that I have 5 on each side. Just for the time being. I am glad I raised this issue here as it did not seem right to have a shim on the inner bracket.
It does feel good and justifiable when faults are found when doing some of these jobs when there are no obvious reason to start in the first place. My reason was age of the components and the fact the car did not ride the road as well as I recall my previous Stag of 40 odd years ago did.

I have fitted new bushes and hardware, subframe and trailing arms from Chris Witor, and once back on the road I will take the car to a Stag specialist, probably favershams as the nearest to me, to get the alignment properly checked and adjusted.
Thanks again everyone.

[sujitroy]

Maybe a bit late. On Stag no.1 one rear wheel does not sit central in the wheel arch. It seems too far forward. Others have mentioned the sam on their Stags. I plan to add a similar number of shims to both the inner and outer brackets. I have not measured the distance between front and rear wheel centers, but the wheel not centered in the wheel arch bothers me more. The shims for the outer bracket won't fit on the inner brackets. The slot for the bolt spacing is smaller for the inner bracket.
Sujit

[mikethemechanic]

Hi -trailing arm shims are to set rear wheel position and are set in conjunction with front wheels (assuming front wheels are set correctly) there are 3 ways to check - first is on optical alignment equipment that sets the front then the rear is set to the front and car overall - the second rather crude method is to measure the wheel centres and adjust to realign but with this method if the front is wrong then adjustment at rear may appear correct but is not - third method is assuming front is correct tie string to exhaust tailpipe then run string across rear tyre to the front and allow string to touch the front tyre at both points of contact, pull sting tight and assuming front is toeing in slightly you will see toe in on rear in that string will touch rear of rear tyre but will show how much toe in rear has -- then do other side and from results you will see if both sides are toeing in the same - if not adjust by altering number of shims SOUNDS SIMPLE BUT ISN'T AND DONT FORGET AFTER ANY JACKING UP OR ADJUSTMENT ROLL THE CAR BACK AND FORWARD TO SETTLE IT

[trunt]

I have always used the string method, not around the tyres but on axle stands spaced out from the wheel centres, it can be pretty accurate. I recently found this utube which is a neat way to do it

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IxnK1XE6ZAA

[APS]

The shims for the outer bracket won't fit on the inner brackets. The slot for the bolt spacing is smaller for the inner bracket.
Sujit

Hi Sujit, I agree that the slots for the bolt spacing on the shims is suited to the outer bracket, but they can fit the inner bracket. The lower slot slides over the lower bolt and the whole shim fits under the upper bolt. It is the inner bracket where I removed it from when I dismantled it several weeks ago. It was only when I went to replace it I felt it was not right that there would be a gap above the shim and that tightening the bolt could have distorted the bracket. My concern was confirmed in the conversations above that the shims ought to be on the outer brackets only.
I have reassembled it now but put that shim with the other 4 on the outer bracket. So I have five each side now on outer brackets only. Once I finish the work I will get it properly realigned at a stag specialist.
I will have a look at the wheels not being central in the wheel arch when car is back on the ground, it was not something I thought was a problem before though. Could your issue be due to distorted trailing arms or subframe misalignment ?
Alan