Series leaf springs.

Anyone gone to the trouble of taking 'em off, stripping the springs down to
their component leaves, cleaning and greasing and re-assembling 'em?

and if so, was it worth the effort?

--
Austin Shackles. www.ddol-las.net my opinions are just that
Satisfying: Satisfy your inner child by eating ten tubes of Smarties
from the Little Book of Complete B***ocks by Alistair Beaton.

On Tue, 26 Jul 2005 22:05:01 +0100, Austin Shackles
<[email protected]> wrote:

>
>Anyone gone to the trouble of taking 'em off, stripping the springs down to
>their component leaves, cleaning and greasing and re-assembling 'em?
>
>and if so, was it worth the effort?

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

Austin Shackles wrote:

>
> Anyone gone to the trouble of taking 'em off, stripping the springs down
> to their component leaves, cleaning and greasing and re-assembling 'em?
>
> and if so, was it worth the effort?
>
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 <[email protected]>
enlightened us thusly:

>Austin Shackles wrote:
>
>>
>> Anyone gone to the trouble of taking 'em off, stripping the springs down
>> to their component leaves, cleaning and greasing and re-assembling 'em?
>>
>> and if so, was it worth the effort?
>>
>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.

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..

--
Austin Shackles. www.ddol-las.net my opinions are just that
Appearances: You don't really need make-up. Celebrate your authentic
face by frightening people in the street.
from the Little Book of Complete B***ocks by Alistair Beaton.

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.

"Austin Shackles" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> Anyone gone to the trouble of taking 'em off, stripping the springs down
to
> their component leaves, cleaning and greasing and re-assembling 'em?
>
> and if so, was it worth the effort?
>
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.

Roger & Lorraine Martin wrote:
> "Austin Shackles" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>>
>> Anyone gone to the trouble of taking 'em off, stripping the springs
>> down to their component leaves, cleaning and greasing and
>> re-assembling 'em?
>>
>> and if so, was it worth the effort?
>>
> 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
<[email protected]> enlightened us thusly:

>
>Anyone gone to the trouble of taking 'em off, stripping the springs down to
>their component leaves, cleaning and greasing and re-assembling 'em?
>
>and if so, was it worth the effort?

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.

--
Austin Shackles. www.ddol-las.net my opinions are just that
Travel The Galaxy! Meet Fascinating Life Forms...
------------------------------------------------\
>> http://www.schlockmercenary.com/ << \ ...and Kill them.
a webcartoon by Howard Tayler; I like it, maybe you will too!

Nige wrote:

> Roger & Lorraine Martin wrote:
>> "Austin Shackles" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>> news:[email protected]...
>>>
>>> Anyone gone to the trouble of taking 'em off, stripping the springs
>>> down to their component leaves, cleaning and greasing and
>>> re-assembling 'em?
>>>
>>> and if so, was it worth the effort?
>>>
>> 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"

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

Roger & Lorraine Martin wrote:

>
> "Austin Shackles" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>>
>> Anyone gone to the trouble of taking 'em off, stripping the springs down
> to
>> their component leaves, cleaning and greasing and re-assembling 'em?
>>
>> and if so, was it worth the effort?
>>
> 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.

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

On or around Wed, 27 Jul 2005 20:17:07 +0100, Austin Shackles
<[email protected]> enlightened us thusly:

>On or around Tue, 26 Jul 2005 22:05:01 +0100, Austin Shackles
><[email protected]> enlightened us thusly:
>
>>
>>Anyone gone to the trouble of taking 'em off, stripping the springs down to
>>their component leaves, cleaning and greasing and re-assembling 'em?
>>
>>and if so, was it worth the effort?
>
>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.

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.


--
Austin Shackles. www.ddol-las.net my opinions are just that
Blue: The sky is blue for a reason. Blue light is a source of strength
and harmony in the cosmos. Create a blue light in your life by
telephoning the police
from the Little Book of Complete B***ocks by Alistair Beaton.

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

When I was in the army in the 60s we had to oil the springs on our S2
landys, champs,
1 tonners, 3 tonners, trailers & any thing else the powers that be decided.

--
[email protected]
also driving S3 Exmilitary Landrover

In message <[email protected]>
"Roger & Lorraine Martin" <[email protected]> wrote:

> >
> > did start fitting 'em this afternoon, and sure enough, it started raining
> > again. Buggrit narse. 'sposed to be fecking summer.
> >
> 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
--
www.beamends-lrspares.co.uk [email protected]
Running a business in a Microsoft free environment - it can be done
Powered by Risc-OS - you won't get a virus from us!!
Helping keep Land Rovers on and off the road to annoy the Lib Dems

Ted Taylor wrote:

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

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.

> 1 tonners, 3 tonners, trailers & any thing else the powers that be
> decided.
>

JD

On Fri, 29 Jul 2005 07:43:46 GMT, "Roger & Lorraine Martin"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>And will someone please do something about the English
>cricket team

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...) :-(

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

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.

On Fri, 29 Jul 2005 21:44:50 +1000, JD <[email protected]> wrote:

>Ted Taylor wrote:
>
>> When I was in the army in the 60s we had to oil the springs on our S2
>> landys, champs,
>
>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.
>

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