Removing springplate without losing alignment?

[K Sykes]

I have a groan from my ER Polybronze springplate bushing on one side. I found a grain of dirt/sand on the outer part which has gotten rid of most of the noise. I would like to ease out the inner busing enough to wipe the races clean to get rid of the rest of the noise and limit any damage to the bushings. What I am trying to figure out is where can I scribe some of the adjusting bolts are now so that I can keep my very good alignment and cornerbalance intact?

I assume I want to undo the end attached to the banana arm, so bolts 18, 19 and 21?Any tips on where, what to scribe to keep it reasonably close? I have a digital level to measure the angle to reindex the bar once it's hanging free.

[stlrj]

Sorry for the bad news. You'll need to budget for another alignment. No amount of indexing will get you where you started no matter how hard you try.

[DRACO A5OG]

+1, if you re-index you will lose the alignment. If just the plate for servicing you may get lucky if you mark it well and put it back exactly where it was. Ask me how I know :-(

[K Sykes]

Not sure if I am being clear.. or using the right term. By re-indexing I meant getting back on the SAME splines I am on now.. Was asking about the various eccentrics and and such..

[175K911]

Corrected.....

Since you have to pull out the camber and toe eccentrics (25&26) as well as the pinch bolts (21), you will lose all your alignment settings. You can try to use a punch and mark the bolt heads and the spring plate to attempt to get it back together so it's close enough to drive to your favorite alignment shop. But that's probably the best you can do.

[john walker's workshop]

with a scribe, scratch a line around the spring plate onto the swing arm. match it on reassembly and you will be pretty damn close. you only need to remove the larger rearmost eccentric, as the head of the front one just sits in a hole in the arm. measure the angle of the free hanging spring plate with a protractor or just scratch a line against the body for reference.

[K Sykes]

Ed,

Thanks - if all I want to do is ease the bar out enough to get at the inner bushing and race with a rag, do I need to undo 18 and 19? Thought I could do just 26, 25 and 21 which leaves ride height eccentric?

I couldn't find a good "which bolt does what" chart when I was searching.

Thanks

[175K911]

Oops, I read the diagram wrong. Sorry. Not 18&19, but 25&26. That's what I get for multi-tasking.

I've never had luck trying to take it all apart without removal of those bolts. The spring plate is a pretty precise fit on the ER Polybronze so I don't see how you'd remove it otherwise.

However if you're thinking you got a bit of dirt in there, have you tried pumping a lot of high quality grease into the fittings to see if you can force the dirt out with the grease? Give Chuck a call and ask his advice.