Uprated idler bracket?

[clive P62]

Looks like Rover uprated the idler bracket on really late cars.
The shiney one was taken off almost the last Brasilia VIP i broke several years back.
Its reinforced by the idler mount points by gusseting, an attempt stop flexing?
Clive.

 

[sdibbers]

That's really interesting. Considering how little they changed things after the introduction of the 2200 4 cylinder cars it does make you wonder.

 

[cobraboy]

Clive
It looks as though there is also additional thickness to the bolt holes for the idler. Can you confirm if there is another layer to one or both sides of the original piece.
Thanks

Mark

 

[clive P62]

Hi Mark.
There is additional thickness on the side the nut goes, part of the gusseting.
Clive.

 

[cobraboy]

Great thanks.
I will attend to mine this winter.

 

[SydneyRoverP6B]

My Rover is a 1974, although in reality much of it is from 1973, and it has the stiffened idler bracket.

Ron.

 

[clive P62]

Strange the old rusty one was on my 1975 3500S.
No evidence of it being replaced at anytime and not replaced in my 30+ years of ownership.
Perhaps more than one manufacturer of them?
Clive.

 

[sdibbers]

Do you think it's worth adding a rib to the earlier design? I assume it was to stop flex and the backing off of the mounting bolts.

 

[clive P62]

I would add the gusseting but it is noticeably thicker on the idler mount point.

 

[cobraboy]

Thanks for the additional pics Clive

 

[SydneyRoverP6B]

Looking in the spare parts book, there are 4 distinct part numbers for this bracket, 2 each for R/H and L/H, then broken down again for manual and power steering.

Ron.

 

[Demetris]

Perhaps the uprated one was fitted on PAS equipped cars?

 

[thamesroverp6]

might check my 35oos against 3500 , both same year, both pas

 

[mikecoombs]

The welding is very hand done and rather unusual in being welded into the three way corner. Welders will normally avoid that as it's really hard to do it without creating a void at the apex. I have a couple of ex flynn NOS replacement damper units which come with a steel plate strapped to the mounting holes. The reinforcement might also be the heavy duty suspension part

 

[SydneyRoverP6B]

The welding is very hand done and rather unusual in being welded into the three way corner. Welders will normally avoid that as it's really hard to do it without creating a void at the apex. I have a couple of ex flynn NOS replacement damper units which come with a steel plate strapped to the mounting holes. The reinforcement might also be the heavy duty suspension part

T.R Spares in Sydney produced steel plates to sandwich the idler between the plate and the bracket, as the weak link is idler mounting attachment. The aluminium alloy can eventually suffer from fatigue failure where it is bolted to the bracket, hence having steel either side can prevent such an occurrence.

Ron.

 

[clive P62]

I've checked my 69 NADA today ( L/H/D) and that is also uprated, has PAS as standard .
Clive.