Bolted up the springs finally. New washers fitted and nearside u-bolts trimmed to correct length. I had to grind a bit of the rivet head away on the bottom leaf to allow the u-bolt saddle to seat against the bottom of the spring without a gap. All the cotter bolts and nuts are fitted and tight but the greasers still need to be screwed into the shackle pins. This series of pictures shows the new springs:
Axle is now sitting on the springs and the LHS u-bolts are fitted and tightened up. Awaiting washers for the RHS u-bolts but they are in place ready to be nutted up when I next get down to the bus shed.
Fitted the first of the new rear springs today. Jacking and packing until the spring was aligned in the front mounting and the forward shackle pin was through the spring eye and the chassis mounts. The forward shackle pin is a brand-new item intended for a Matador so has a UNF threaded section. Once hung from the forward mounting, the spring could be jacked up until the cast hangers could be fitted. The topmost shackle pin had a short threaded section so the castellated nut had to be turned down to fit properly with a split pin to lock it. The pinch bolt nuts are the wrong length at this stage. Here is the spring in place when first hung from the chassis:
Second spring (left hand/near side) fitted today. This one needed a packing washer fitted on the outer side of the spring eye to get it to align correctly without bending the rearwards hangers. I made the packing washer by boring an old shock absorber bush washer in the lathe. Started turning down the pinch bolt nyloc nuts.
Finished turning down the nyloc pinch bolt nuts and fitted them to the nearside spring mountings. Made two new washers for the forward shackle pins and fitted them and the nyloc nuts to tension the pins. These need a final tighten/torqueing. All that remains to do to complete the rear suspension is to fit the remainder of the pinch bolt nuts and tighten it all up, then the axle can be lowered onto the springs and the u-bolts fitted.