New a-frame bushings....how tight or loose?

[ppeters914]

I have new A-frame spindles and bushings. The new bushings threaded easily on the new spindles, however, it was a major PITA to install them in the A-frames......required a good air impact driver.

Once the bushings were seated, the spindles are extremely hard to impossible to turn by hand. Have to use the rod you see in the picture. Even then.....

a-frames.jpg

Is this normal? Do they loosen up a bit/wear in after greasing and a few hundred miles?

Thanks.

[Nissanman]

I didn't tighten those spindle nuts too much because they bind up.
From memory, I left some clearance to allow the "A" arms to rotate on the spindle during normal suspension travel.
The nuts should have locking tabs to prevent them from loosening during use.

A arm lock tabs.jpg

[devo]

About 3/4 of the way down the list. I tightened to the specs and it works great. Certainly couldn't turn by hand off of the car.

http://www.311s.org/pmwiki-311/pmwiki.p ... ueSettings

[ppeters914]

Nissanman: Only the uppers have lock tabs.

devo: Yes, I tried using those settings. Interesting there's no torque spec in Sheeler's Roadster manuals, and "assembly is the reverse of disassembly."

FWIW, when I disassembled the front suspension, I had to use a 4-foot cheater bar to unscrew those bushings.

I redid the A-frames yesterday with David McP (aka pebbles). I'm going to bolt just the A-frames to my chassis (no wheel spindle or ball joints), then see how tight they are.

[ppeters914]

Yeah, I'm still fixated on this. Started assembly of driver side. So nice working with clean parts.

The coil spring is not installed. I collapsed the shock by pulling up on the wheel spindle until the lower bump stop touched the chassis, and it stayed there.

aframe without spring.jpg

Should the shock have enough force to e‎xtend without the coil spring?

Pete