From the Rolls-Royce experimental archive: a quarter of a million communications from Rolls-Royce, 1906 to 1960's. Documents from the Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation (SHRMF).
Letter addressing complaints of wear and rattle in shackle pins and proposing an alternative design.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 43\2\ Scan051 | |
| Date | 8th August 1923 | |
| Oy7-W-8823 August 8, 1923. Mr. Claude Johnson, Rolls-Royce, Limited, London, England. (Copy for attention of Mr. Royce) (Mr. Platford) (Mr. Hives) Dear Sir: Re Shackles X3900 One of our principal complaints is wear and rattle of the shackle pins, and our service reports indicate that this occurs within 6000 miles of running. While this occurs to a certain extent on all cars fitted with metal shackles, when run with the very stiff American cord tires, and under our road conditions, it is more difficult on a Rolls-Royce than on most cars to tighten up the shackles and eliminate the fault. The wear which gives trouble is almost entirely wear on the end faces. We consequently find chauffeurs sawing through the crossbars of our shackles, splitting the front horn brackets back to the frame, and in other ways tampering with the car in order to get the endwise adjustment which they expect. This is done principally on cars which are more or less remote from our service facilities. Amongst our personal cars here we probably have a dozen which have the new American type of shackle and pin, introduced by Buick about three years ago. This consists of threading the end of the shackle pin at its full diameter and screwing it through a tapped hole at one side of the shackle with a grover washer and lock nut to lock the threads. | ||