1968 AMC Rebel

[AMCrebel]

OK - the Pitman Arms

Is the pitman arm etc unique to the RHD models?

Yep - and there are two kinds (of RHD ones) as well!

Er - no actually, I had remembered that wrong. The Pitman arm on the Chevy is "handed" and therefore unique.
The AMC ones aren't - although they did fit different ones to LHD and RHD from 68 on.

[AMCrebel]

So this happened -

23 June 2015
FAIL
Mileage 43,548 miles
Reason(s) for failure
Drag link end ball joint has excessive play (2.2.B.1f)
Nearside Front Steering system fouling (2.2.D.2a)
Front Exhaust has a major leak of exhaust gases (7.1.2)

[AMCrebel]

Turns out the "Drag link end ball joint" meant the Pitman arm.

I phoned my usual source in the USA - he couldn't help.

The an excellent chap from Australia answered my post on the AMC forum with an article he'd written for their club newsletter that told me everything I needed to know. I ordered from suppliers in the US and Australia so I'd have an extra good spare one and in case one got held up/was the wrong part.

[AMCrebel]

Confusion over the correct parts for '68 on is caused by the switch to collapsible column in '68 for the US while we didn't. That means the listed parts for 68s are not right for RHD.

Parts must've arrived pretty quickly as a month to the day after this I had an MOT again.

BTW the reason the mileage had about 60K shaved off is that I used the speedo from the 67 parts car as the one in the 68 packed up (although the odometer still worked).

[AMCrebel]

Phil - why are people doing this in the USA?

Postal workers. Drive down the right side of the street with traffic, lean out and put mail in mailbox. Requires RHD vehicle, and importing an RHD vehicle is a pain, so spatchcocked contraptions are added to LHD vehicles.

Interesting - I have seen a few of those USPS jeeps with 2wd and RHD. Some of he brake and steering parts are common with my AMC. I haven’t checked but I bet the steering boxes are too.

[DodgeRover]

Grumman?

[Warren t claim]

Maybe some obscure uk or jap cars weren't made in left hand drive form.

Certainly Rambler were eyeing the UK market very strongly - I have brochures for both the '65 and '66 range specifically in RHD form but as AMCRebel points out they weren't always updated as the LHD cars were as presumably the market didn't warrant the additional expense.

I had a hand me down 1967/8 copy of Autocar that featured a road test of a UK spec Rambler Javelin. IIRC from 40 years ago, they were quite complimentary about it, especially the performance.

[AMCrebel]

'kin 'ell. https://www.postalrhd.com/acadp_listing ... onversion/

[Hooli]

Oh my, that's lovely*

[AMCrebel]

Grumman?

I was talking about the Jeep DJ, but I remember seeing those Grumman ones too -

https://www.bryantmotors.com/car-buying ... hicle.html