Rear Axle bracket problem?

[Westfield 129]

The suspension arms are offset, so they have to be in the right orientation. If they are tight one way, (maybe slightly out of alignment) flip them over...

You may have to tap them into position, and there is a bit of compliance in the "bushings", so all should go together without too much drama.

I have installed several axles with new bushings, and at least three with freshly welded brackets. No problems.

Tip: Don't install the Panhard Rod until the axle is hanging. The Panhard rod will cause all sorts of alignment problems with the rear arms if not properly adjusted. The rod will force the axle out of alignment, making the initial installation of the trailing arms difficult.

The Panhard Rod is adjusted with the car laden after the ride heigh and corner weights have been set. Note that the Panhard Rod is also offset to match the mounting angle.

Most of the builds that I have seen have has improper Panhard Rod installation, including misalignment of both the arm and rear axle.

I hang the axle on the dampers with the upper arms installed to start. All 4 arms should install easily if they are properly oriented in the chassis.

[seajayare]

I just noticed that I haven't used the bigger repair washer on the shocks so I will get the "opportunity" to change things when I take it all apart again.

On the pics I have seen the trailing arms but I can't see both sides on one car to confirm. I am guessing that the upper and lower arms on each side of the car go in the same orientation and that the left is a mirror of the right to (tried to do a plan sketch of how I think the arms supposed to sit or at least this way my axle seems pretty central ). Does that sound right or does it change car to car?

[Daggers-xi]

Just come in from the garage after fitting my arms the same way as shown in your sketch, all went well.
Used reamer through all bushes/mounting plates and copper grease to help. When all finished notice that my shock adjusters pointed the wrong way, seemed quicker the second time of fitting.
Now on to the brake pipes.

[Westfield 129]

Use chassis grease on the bushings and the bolts. When you finally set up the car, you will not be tightening the bushings down to the recommended torque (somewhere between 12 lb.ft. to 24 lb.ft) unless you want to replace the bushings after the first 200 miles. I recommend 5~7 lb.ft, using only a NEW nylock nut, or AN7 aircraft bolts with castle nuts and a cotter pin (far and away the best setup, but may be too dear). Much nicer ride and improved handling. In any case, the nuts don't come off by themselves if you use new ones. Just don't re use a nylock nut on the suspension, EVER.

The bushings have to rotate about the bolt to survive, so you need to put a good chassis grease on the bolts so that the bushing can smoothly rotate around the bolt, and to prevent squeaks, and seizing, which is common when the bushing fails and the center tube sticks to the bolt.

Copaslip, or copper anti seize is not a very good lubricant for chassis parts, but is certainly good to use anywhere you have a bolt you want to remove later, or when threading steel into aluminum.

Note that after reaming, there should be no play in the bushing around the bolt. Hopefully, you have a nice, smooth rotation.
I place the damper adjusters aft, or inside, or on top if the dampers can be mounted inverted (not applicable with the GAZs).

The bigger washers are used for all of the suspension components that are installed with one side "open"(not held in shear against a metal plate), to keep the part from slipping off the bolt should the bushing fail.

You might want to turn up the rear spring adjuster about 1" more preload on the driver's side spring(s). This will save you some time when it comes time to set the ride height and corner weights. This is much easier to do when the car is on the work stand, and there is no weight on the suspension. Don't forget to do the same to the front as well. Saves a lot of time for your chassis setup. I am sure that someone on this site can tell you how much more preload there is on the driver's side than on the off side so that you can have the car roughly correct when you finally put it on the ground.

I would check my own car but the dampers on the early cars are longer in front, and a lot longer in the rear than what Westfield has been shipping for the late, steel drop floor chassis.

If you need any images of various assemblies, let me know. There are also a lot of images on my Westyxiownersbuildersdrivers site at Yahoo.