Adjustable Trailing Arm Kit

First my story about how I came to own these $120 brackets........last summer I was washing the TR6 in the driveway when a truck pulled in and guy introduces himself as living on one of the cul-de-sacs off of my street. He had a TR6 that he sold a few years ago as it was too small for a big guy like him. Prior to selling the car, he had bought this kit and never got around to installing it and was about to toss it in the garbage when he remembered another TR6 in the area. And would I like the kit.....for free :-)

Richard Good, Goodparts.com, produces a varied assortment of high performance products for the TR6 including a kit which makes it very easy to adjust the camber on the rear suspension. The TR6 is known for the negative camber that gives it the "squatting" look. Up until now adjustments were made by following around with an assortment of Brackets/shims to get the result you were hoping for. With the Goodparts' kit, you turn the adjuster bolt with one turn equaling about 1/4 degree of camber. Basically, you replace the old trailing arm brackets with the new adjustable ones. Here's the directions that Richard emailed me.

The inner bracket (on the right) starts with the adjuster bottomed out while the outer bracket (on the left) starts with it about in the middle. That's anti-seize on the adjuster bolt threads.

I wish I could say these dropped right in but I ended up with a bolt length problem. The grade 8 bolts that come with the kit are a fine threaded 3/8" x 3" hex bolt. It was quickly apparent that a 3" bolt wouldn't work for me. (NOTE: Richard has told me that the kits now come with a 3-1/4" bolt and that I must have been given one of the very early kits.) I could catch the nut on the bolt head but couldn't tighten it down enough to engage the nylon part of the nyloc nut. A combination of shims needed between the bracket and the frame AND previous frame repair work meant I needed a 3-1/2" bolt. However, no one in my area carries this type bolt in a 3-1/2" size. Every hardware store went from a 3" size to a 4" size. Good old McMaster-Carr should have what I need delivered tomorrow.

The 3-1/2" bolts were perfect for me and I'm not sure if the 3-1/4" would have been long enough at all four locations. As usual one side hooked up perfectly while the other side was more of a struggle. I loosely attached the brackets on the passenger side and did a test fit of the trailing arm, removed it and tightened the bracket bolts with my torque wrench. I can only get the torque wrench on the bolt head side do to space limitations on the nut side. Once I got it all tightened down I put the passenger arm back on with no problem. So..................I did the same thing on the driver side only this time I couldn't get the arm back on with the bracket tightened down. I had to loosen that bracket and then install the trailing arm which means I won't be able to get my torque wrench on all four bolts.

One thing you'll notice on my bracket installation is the direction that the pivot bolts are installed. The Goodparts' directions follow the factory manual of installing the pivot bolts in the opposite direction so that they can't fall out should the nuts work loose and come off. Seeing as I'm using new nyloc nuts and can easily check them for tightness, I opted for the easier way of pivot bolt installation with the bolt heads on the inside looking at each other. I also checked with the folks on the Triumph and 6-Pack Mail Lists and they all agreed that they way I'm doing it shouldn't be a problem.

The troublesome driver side all installed and hanging down

Up close and personal

For now everything stays loose until I can put the car back on all 4 wheels and let the suspension settle and see what the camber looks like. Then the adjustments can begin.