Evening All
Sorry that wasn't supposed to sound like Dixon of Dock Green!
The parts list for a 27 model list a front spring packing.
Is this item strictly necessary and what is its purpose.
Does it fit between the spring and chassis.
Many thanks.
Adrian.

Location: The New Forest

Hi Adrian

Try searching for 'spring packing' on the forum...

There's quite a bit!

Regards
Nick

Location: Still too far from Dublin for a decent pint of Guinness

Thanks Nick and apologies for not searching first.
Adrian.

Location: The New Forest

Absolutely no need for apologies - just wanted to point you to a nice quick answer! I'm just wondering whether to rake over the coals of the whole 12v conversion topic again...

As the packing piece was split when I took mine apart I used a bit of UPVC fascia trim the same thickness on mine when I put it back together.

This was what I wrote on 22 Dec. 2009 under the thread of 'Ruby front axle rebuild'. If you put 'Ruby front axle rebuild' into the search box you will find the complete thread.

I had to make an angled piece of steel to go between the top of the spring and the underside of the mounting, when rebuilding the front axle on my Ruby based special. Without this it was almost impossible to get the spring in place. There was also tremendous strain on the shackle pins, which I felt would cause rapid wear.

My steel wedge would presumably be equivalent to the beech or ash one mentioned previously.
The wedge is the width of the nosepiece x the width of the spring. From memory it tapers fron 3/16 inch at the back to nothing.

Best of luck,
Hugh

Location: Lichfield, Staffs.

I've never used spring packing on any car that I've worked on. It doesn't seem to make a difference.
Hugh, am I right in supposing your special has reduced camber front spring? If so, what has happened is this:
Flattening the spring effectively lowers the chassis relative to the axle. That means in a normal fitted position the back end of the radius arm will sit too high. You can just force them down to fit, but as you say, this twists the spring and loads up the shackles. A wedge fitted between the spring and chassis will correct the twist situation, but it will give increased castor angle. This might be no bad thing, but excessive castor does have negative effects, like heavy steering away from centre for example. The other way to do it is to lower the front end of the radius arms, either with special end forgings- like an Ulster, or by drop links commonly found in specials. Either way, the geometry stays correct.

Agreed Alan. A wordy exposition (from me) which details the several pitfalls can be found in the thread "radius arm interchangeability" which started on 13/10/13.

Regards,
Stuart

Thanks everyone.
There was no packing on my car when I took the spring off and as long as everything lines up on assembly then I will leave well alone.
If it aint broke don't fix it.
Adrian.

Location: The New Forest