Dumb Me ? Dumb Irons

Series 3 88" 1984.

Front drivers side dumb iron, massively corroded. I measured before cutting off.. I have spent the last umpteen hours trying to line up the new one (Britpart admittedly).

So long story short I have the iron where it should be, measurements correct... however when I spirit level between the old passenger one (in decent condition) and the front new one its off by about 1.5 CM (too high)!.. man alive so the bumper looks comical.

I haven't welded it yet but I have tried a jack to push it down as the spring is trying to push it up but all it does is drop below the original chassis which isn't right.

I am 100 percent sure the Landy is level and the front cross member with the hole in and steering relay going through is perfectly level. I have referred to pictures from the past and it looks level.

Any ideas ?

A. They need replacing in pairs ?
B. There could be a fault with the new one ? (doubtful)
C. The other one is not aligned (not possible as my issue is alignment to the crossmember)

I am hesitant to remove the other as I want it as a point of reference.

Do a search for divies dumb irons. Mine where done for me by nitemare. He has made a jig for aligning them and they are the perfect job. I do know that the spring has to be off before welding though, is that where you are going wrong ?

I haven't removed the spring however the jack and compressing it did as good as taking it off.

If I make a jig on the other dumb iron its just going to give me a slanted bumper..

PS Divies Dumb Irons returns 0 related searches

Compare old to new especially the section from box to spring bolt holes.
Post some photo's may help

OK take a search for series three chassis welding and you will find nitemares posting. Lots of pictures of welding dumbirons to my chassis. I think you must disconnect the front of the spring when attempting to line things up otherwise there is just a battle of pressure and tension from the spring. If Pete (nitemare) reads this he may put up a link to the post, I don't know how to do that.

The landrover first has to be on a perfectly level floor! The spring on the side of the new dumb ironto be fitted should be removed! Raise and support both sides of the Chassis underneath in exactly the same position, just under the footwell of either side, using two axle stands of exactly the same height. The new dumb iron can then be positioned correctly and BOTH dumb irons can be then measured from the floor and between each other until the correct alignment is achieved! Finally check that the distance between the 2 suspension hangers on both sides is exactly the same !Hope this helps! Kind regards. Chris

Probably easiest to take bolt out of other spring so axle is free from both dumbirons.
Then put a length of rod through both bolt holes and compare level with chassis cross rail.

to date i've never cut a dumb iron off before making up a jig to realign the new one in the correct place, luckily so far i haven't had a chassis come my way that's so rotten that they've collapsed completely

britpart dumb irons regularly seem to fit incorrectly so i quite often cut them about and only use what i need to from them

here's a link to my p/bucket library of Divies dumbirons

Divies Dumbirons Photos by NiteMare_08 | Photobucket

p.s.
doing it my way doesn't require level ground

Thanks Pete, I must learn how to do a link one day. Oh and how to add pictures to....