Hi
@Boots in Action,
many thanks for taking the time and effort to take the photos and give such a detailed explanation. Very much appreciated.
I have taken and attached a couple of pictures of the axle on our standard touring Penguin. Comparing your pictures and these we should be able to determine how your Penguin was raised and what the effect would have been.
Correct me if I am wrong, but on comparison, it would seem that your complete axle assembly was simply moved from being above the springs to below the springs. Considering that the protection stripfor the electric brake cable is still in the original position, there has been no other rotation etc.
So, the process seems to have been:
undo the ubolts, electric cables, and handbrake cables,
undo the spring shackle and remove the complete axle assembly,
grind off the positioning plate from the bottom of the axle beam and re weld it the top of the axle beam, and
reassemble
If that is indeed the case, you should be able to see some marks on the bottom of your axle showing where the positioning plate was ground off.
If this is all correct, the total lift you achieved should have been the width of the spring assembly plus two times the thickness of the backing plate.
The only other slight difference is that the welds for your backing plate are North-South whereas on mine they are East-West.
However, my original axle assembly was subject to an ALKO recall and was replaced by the dealer prior to delivery. I remember them saying that they
had to grind the positioning plates off the original axle and re-weld them onto the new replacement assembly. So, Penguins coming out of the factory may be welded differently.
What do you think?
My how times change. When I was 17, I had a Holden FJ, then an FC. Big deal then was to replace the 15" wheels with wider 13" ones, put in lowering blocks on the rear and cut a turn or so off the front springs. Then other tricks to the rear to reduce axle tramp and swaying. Oops, I am off-topic again!
cheers
Mike
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