Series leaf springs.

Most of the effort involved is found in changing all the spring bushes when you do it. TBH, if the springs are tired it's not worth it, as they really need re-tempering to do any good. And if they're spread with rust, they tend to explode when you release the centre pin, and leaves will break - if they havn't already. If the springs are bad, get a new set, otherwise just change the bushes if they're worn.

Alex

Yes, done my rear springs, going to do the front when I get round to it. Whether it was worthwhile, I am not sure. The idea was to reduce the wear on the spring leaves and the friction, hence improve ride quality. But the springs were not in bad condition, and no more than surface rust. JD

On or around Wed, 27 Jul 2005 12:54:29 +1000, JD enlightened us thusly:

they don't look all that bad, but they don't actually spring noticeably, either. They're not spread or anything. Mind, I know series LWB aren't exactly noted for softness of ride, but this one seems especially harsh. Perhaps I'll see if Chris has any second-hand or otherwise cheap parabollocks..

Just before I sold my series III LWB I fitted a set of Para's and matching dampers which I obtained from Simmonites. The ride was a couple of inches higher, more comfortable on the road (firm but not harsh and solid). Far more forgiving off-road. The job was fairly easy as I had replaced the chassis 3 years previously, as part of the kit you got u-bolts and shackle bolts.

I've never been sure about greasing leaf springs, the grease holds the road dirt and then acts as a lapping compound giving the springs a nice shiny surface but also wearing the springs down quite rapidly. Land Rover used to offer leather spring covers to prevent excessive spring wear in extreme conditions, but whether they were effective is anyone's guess. My guesss is that they just held more more dirt for the grease to absorb.

The road transport industry gave up on greasing leaf springs years ago replacing the grease with various plastic "sliders" and even they wear out.

I also read that over greased springs put miles more stress on dampers as they moves too freely!

Nige

-- Subaru WRX (Annabel)

Landrover 110 County Station Wagon (Tyson)

'"Say hello to my little friend"

On or around Tue, 26 Jul 2005 22:05:01 +0100, Austin Shackles enlightened us thusly:

Just done a deal for a set of pre-owned (but not much used) parabolics. Was gonna fit 'em this evening, but it started raining.

Obviously put more load on the dampers - but were the dampers designed to have freely moving spring leaves or not? Good question. JD

The problem is mainly in dusty conditions. In wet conditions the grease repels the slush, but in dusty conditions the grease attracts dust, although oil is worse than grease because with grease the dust stays more on the surface, not in between the leaves.

I suspect that the reason the transport industry gave up greasing springs was mainly a combination of labour costs - both in fitting the gaiters and regular greasing, and less need with the spread of sealed roads.

Inserts between the leaves are not new - in the early days of motoring sheets of zinc between the leaves were not uncommon. JD

When I was in the army in the 60s we had to oil the springs on our S2 landys, champs,

On or around Wed, 27 Jul 2005 20:17:07 +0100, Austin Shackles enlightened us thusly:

did start fitting 'em this afternoon, and sure enough, it started raining again. Buggrit narse. 'sposed to be fecking summer.

however, so far the bolts show evidence of coming undone (front spring bolts, U bolts tried thus far), nor were the bolts siezed in the bushes.

Looks out window - middle of winter, 24C in the shade, clear blue sky, but very chilly at night 15C.

And will someone please do something about the English cricket team, do you know how hard it is to be a Pom living in Australia during an Ashes series. I can barely leave the house.

Well, if it helps, an Austrailian customer was *very* keen that we should keep Shane Warn..........

Richard

Champs??? My memory says they had torsion bars, so not clear what you were oiling. Mind you, I have no personal experience of them, but knew a bloke had one about thirty-five years ago. He swore it had six hundred grease nipples. Possibly a slight exaggeration.

JD

I can't believe that even the Eeeengleeeesh summer couldn't help us out. (Mind, it didn't need to as we're pretty good at helping ourselves - 'out' that is...) :-(

The general concensus seems to be that he ain't the sharpest tool in the shed, and a bit of a drongo, but hes OUR drongo.

Cheers.

Last car i had with torsion bar suspension, it used about 5 strips of spring steel for the torsion bar, rather than one solid bar, hence it required oiling same as a leaf spring, to prevent rust getting between the leaves.

Alex