Below are 2 pics on my trailing arms. The drivers side stick out at an angle but the passenger side is almost straight.

Is this a major problem as it looks to me? If it is what can i do about it and where should the arms be?

Drivers side pic

Image deleted by owner

Passenger side pic

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theyre not bolted up to anything ?

its possible the inner tube on the bushes are caught up/ at a different angle , you also might have snagged them on the bush inner tube .

if your on de dion that should hold the arms correctly - there will be some compliance in the bushes .

the panhard rod , keeps everything straight !!!

once the axle is in it should get things straight especially with the panhard rod in

How much force do you need to apply to the axle ends to get them into the poistion they should be?

Mine were similar, in fact each arm was slightly differenct. When I rotated each arm about it's axis by 180 degrees the direction of the offset reversed so I assumed it was due to trailing arm not being welded exactly square with their bush tubes.

Mine only needed slight pressure to locate them in the axle brackets and they seem OK now the car is finished.

Cheers
Gary

I would try flipping them over swapping ends and swapping sides until they are all as close as possible to parallel to the chassis. If you consistently find one side sticking out then the problem is with the brackets, you could try hitting them with a big hammer to se if you can get it to straighten out if this does not work cut them of and weld on a new set.

IMHO it is more important that the front and back axles are parallel with each other and the centres are on the chassis centreline of the chassis than anything else so it depends on the general accuracy of the chassis build but setting brackets out can resolve some tolerance issues.

Caber

I can't move them in so i'll have a play swaping them about just incase they are a bit pissed. Drivers side is 1/2" out midway along the rod from the chassis.

I have just been looking in my archive and when i 1st saw the car it had it's axle and shocks fitted so it all should go back together

You could always ovalise one of the holes in the bracket and then weld on a 2mm or so thick washer on the outside of the bracket to align the rod correctly.

I don't see any problem ---- the bushes have enough compliance to allow the trailing links to move from side to side (and twist) anyway.

Yeah i think it's not as bad as it 1st looked. I'll have a fiddle when i get my axle back.