The rear suspension was dismantled along with the rest of the car. However the rear transverse leaf spring had been replaced in May 1981. I obtained this from Demon Tweeks (see invoice below):
Above before refurbishment (painted and polyurethane bushes fitted), and below after. The car sat evenly, so I decided that no further refurbishment was necessary.
This particular spring was made by British Springs Ltd in Bridgnorth under the brand of ‘Duraflex’ (see sticker below)
In 2007 the OSL Group (Owen Springs Ltd) purchased British Springs Ltd and Bridgnorth became a warehouse, but this closed in 2008. Owen Springs still make leaf springs, and according to their website “Made in Britain does not get stamped on many products these days, but here at Owen Springs we are proud to manufacture and repair leaf springs for the vintage car sector at our purpose built factory in Rotherham”. To visit their website click the logo below:
The rear shock absorbers had been replaced by Armstrong Red Max adjustable ones in 1981. I originally intended to restore these by sanding down and painting, as they are quite rare, but when I started to clean one up, it had several dinges I hadn’t noticed before so I decided to buy some new ones. Konis are the best (they have been fitted at the front) but they have discontinued those for the rear, so I decided to get Spax. Why Spax? Well, I had thought of AVOs (promoted by Jigsaw) or GAZ, all of which are made in the UK and I am sure are excellent. I decided on Spax purely because on reading an article in Classic & Sportscar on the Bristol Britannia (Sept 2017) Bristol had switched from Koni to Spax. I thought if they are good enough for a £46,000 Bristol, they are good enough for my Triumph!
Above are the new Spax and old Armstrong shock absorbers. Below are a picture of a pair of Red Max shock absorbers which were recently on eBay.
The thick washers which go on either side of the mountings (Plain Washer – 1/2 X 1 3/8, 41 below) are no longer available, so I bought some equivalent stainless metric ones (13mm x 35mm).
