Rear Axle bracket problem?

[Westfield 129]

What you don't want to do is to have to make custom parts every time you need to change the rear bushings, and you will need to change the rear bushings often. They don't last long if over torqued, and even under the best conditions, have a life of less than 4000 miles (maybe 6000 kms). If you torque them to the book recommended specs, the life is less than 600 miles before you get the knock-knock of loose rear trailing arm bushings.

The idea here is to just use the parts as they come, so you can just press them in and install.

The wedge is brilliant! 'Should be part of every W11 builder's tool kit. You can use it on the rear shear plates as well (along with your reamer to true up the bolt holes)

The brackets are just bent metal, and are not always accurate. The wedge restores the accuracy in the same way that the bracket was manufactured. Not against the grain at all... Just part of hand fitting the car's various components. Nice work.

Before you install the axle permanently, mark the pan so that you can cut a nice triangular (sort of) shaped hole to clear the diff and the swing tree mount so you don't have to do it later when you add longer rear dampers.

[seajayare]

Glad the wedge worked. I am impressed that you have the lumps of metal around. must be a very well stocked workshop. I will see if I can get something like it locally, if I can't can I borrow yours daggers? (I am in Wilts and am fairly often in Hants)

I have reported to Westfield and it will be interesting to see what the come back with (if anything) I will of course share the info.

Why is the cut a wedge shape? Is it the shape the diff would make as it travels through the floor?

cheers all

[Daggers-xi]

The wedge is yours if it is of use to you, send me a pm and I can pop it in the post, no problem.
I've been a model engineer for a long time so have a small stock of useful steel, if I can be of help please ask.
Daggers

[Westfield 129]

The shape of the diff case and the rear axle housing is sort of triangular when viewed from beneath. Also, the swing tree bracket will contact the floor as well.

I drill a hole with a hole saw for the swing tree, and an opening shaped like the diff housing (traced around the housing on the inside of the floor with a marker, then cut with a nibbler (I make a few holes with a drill to make this a little easier. If you want, you can extend the opening to accommodate the swing tree mount.

[allymally]

Well done!

[seajayare]

After the gentle application of a chunky hammer all now fit. Had to drill through the bushes in the chassis and the trailing arms to get the 7/16" bolts to fit as the bushes were all a bit rough internally. Nothing back from Westfield so far. Thanks for all the help. Helps to get a feel for the quality of the fit of the bits and the extent of the bend/drill/file/cut to fit that are required on the X1.

[Westfield 129]

You should not have to drill through the bushes. It is important to note that ALL of the suspension bolts (save a couple of the small bolts for the anti sway bar end link) are fractional, not metric. Make sure that you have the right bolts for the application, as the kit contains both metric and fractional fasteners.

The bushes are precise, and should never be drilled out! Also, make sure that you grease the bolts liberally, along with the bushing tubes, prior to assembly. The bushings will be rotating with the arms, so the bolts need to be greased. I suggest a high quality synthetic chassis grease.

As for the suspension bolt holes in the brackets, they should not be drilled out as well, EXCEPT for the shear plates at the chassis end mounting for the trailing arms. Those may have a slight alignment problem, and will be corrected as necessary with a round file, or rotary file. Just insert the bolts and check the fit, grind the sheet metal shear plate to fit.

[seajayare]

unfortunately the supplied bushes are not the best quality IMHO and they have quite a bit of internal roughness which prevents the 7/16 bolts from fitting through some of the bushes on both the trailing arms and the chassis bushes. Some are fine and the bolts are a good sliding fit. Trouble I have now is getting all the four trailing arms to fit. I can fit 3 from the four but the fourth (which ever one I choose to do last) will not line up. Seems to me that there is not give in any of the components and that unless two brackets on the axle are exactly square and parallel with one another there is no way to get them to fit as the axle casing won't twist and niether will the chassis (hopefully). Is this another thing solved by the application of a hammer and some big levers?

[Si Richards]

I'm trying to remember back but I seem to recall that mine were also very tight but some levering did the job!!!!! Before you do it though just wait and see what everyone else says as mine weren't too far out.

Cheers
Si

[seajayare]

cheers Si. I got impatient and pulled/pushed/levered/hit and they are all in now. The axle is central in the chassis (ish) but the propshaft would be over on the right side of the tunnel (ie not central and about 2" out). It looks like this might be right from the pics on ELVA112 site but then I think that car has a non standard rear axle.

cheers