Yet Another Frame Issue !

December 2010

After having the trailing arm frame sections replaced, I thought my frame repair days were over...alas,it was not to be !

I knew about this "repair" from a collision  in Tillie's past, but I figured the repair was adequate and didn't give it much thought. The mounting area in the above pic is where the driver's side lower/rear wishbone bracket attaches to the frame (front suspension).  When I took that bracket off for cleaning, I noted it had a bunch of shims in place (used for the tire alignment), so I bagged and labeled the shims for use at re-installation time.

 Well, it's time to start mounting some of the suspension pieces and guess what, the bracket that bolts to the frame and holds the wishbone has bolts that are welded in place.  Once all the shims are added, the bolts aren't long enough for the nylock nuts to be securely fastened.

 A quick post on the 6-Pack forum confirmed what I was thinking...my frame needs to go to a frame / body shop for a correct repair which would eliminate the excessive shims used to mask the problem.
 Everytime I think I'm going over the top with this restoration, I think about this critical front suspension part being held on by just a few threads !  YIKES !
 
The body shop closest to my home is a place called Fairfield Collision which has been owned by Dave Wagener since 1980...no fly by night outfit ! When I called, I could tell Dave was not real interested in messing with an old Triumph frame, but he agreed to take a look. By now I was an expert at loading the frame in my truck, so within 20 minutes after hanging up the phone, I was backing into his shop. He was very relieved to see that I had a solid frame and called over his frame guy, Rick, to look at what could be done. Rick has been fixing frames for 40 years, so I was fairly comfortable that I'd come to the right place !

A week later I got a call that the work was done....no more Rube Goldberg repairs left in place !

 Thanks guys !