Time to start the suspension then. I began to make the U brackets from 50mm x 50mm box section.Marked up and sliced through and then the waste side chopped out. They were then divided to form rough cut brackets
Once i had these sliced up, i made a template out of sheet steel which i could then use to reproduce a good shape and centre punch them for drilling
With the rear axle prepared i made some brackets from 50mm x 50 mm box section and cut out semicircles so that they would fit snugly around the axle. My U brackets were attached to the chassis according to the book.
My red trailing arms were manufactured using a jig so that they are all the exact same length (x4). My bush tubes welded onto the ends and bushes fitted, the axle, brackets and trailing arms were assembled and the axle clamped into place so that it was centred perfectly. Everything was then welded into place.
wooden boards were used to raise the axle up so that the trailing arms were parralel to the ground
I made sure that the axle casing was square using a spirit level on the diff mounting face before welding
Top rear shock mounting plates made from 3mm sheet steel 100x100mm and a length of 19mm box section along one edge. Also 2 plates welded on to accomodate shocker bush
Top rear shock absorber plates were then mounted ensuring that they were flat.
I bought a pipe bender but struggled to bend the thin 1.6mm tube required for the rear body hoop. After a quick look on t'internet i found that if you fill the tube with water and then pour in sand, the sand will sink to the bottom and displace the water until the tube is full of sand. The tube can then be cappend and bent much easier. To aid even more, i used Oxy Acetylene to heat the tube up to cherry red at the area which needed bending (WARNING - too much heat on a short tube can cause the water to turn immediately to steam causing the steam and red hot sand to exit the tube VERY rapidly)
Then attached the bent hoop to the rear of the top shocker mount plates and levelled it up using clamps and wood.
Rear suspension done!!!!!
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