The final word on springs

1) Always fit the right springs: sticking 109 rears on an 88 for a quick 'lift' creates more problems than it is worth (ditto for fitting 1 ton shackles!).

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What problems?

4) Change all of the chassis bushes - it's a bugger of a job (oxo and an air chisel helps but if all else fails find a big friend with a big hammer!).

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Yup, and thats how you end up denting or even bending the chassis (previous owner did a nice job of that on my land rover). I made a bush extraction tool.

6) I would generally use new U Bolts as they strech a bit and tend to 'waist' around the plate holes. New nuts go without saying - get nylocs from your local nut and bolt supplier rather than pay silly money from a landrover shop - somebody else will have to remind me what the thread pitch is (9/16 UNF??) 'cos I've forgotten....

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They were 20p each I think for Land Rover ones, not a huge expense!

Rusty Rhino;

To answer your points (as best I can):

1) A leaf spring is designed to work at 90 degrees to the plane of axle travel. The angle at which the spring sits is dictated by spring length and shackle/hanger length. Hence if you put longer springs or shackles on (like 1 ton items) it changes the suspension geometry and the spring won't work quite as intended. I'd concede that the differences in ride and/or spring life may be difficult quantify but if you want your Series to ride the way Landrover intended use the correct parts for the vehicle. In my experience that approach always produced the best results and I have to say that I tried and/or came across some pretty odd combinations (Diesel fronts & 1 ton shackles on a lightweight anyone?) and whilst some of them did get the vehicle to sit impressivley high most rode like Keith Moon on a pogo stick. The other thing people forget when doing a quick 'hi lift' is that it doesn't alter ground clearance; that's defined by wheel tyre combination. All the extra height is found in the spring to chassis distance. Unless the axles can articulate sufficiently to take advantage of that extra distance it's a waste of time unless you want to put big wheels and tyres on and need extra space under the arches. The proper way to achieve lift is to lower the hangers and shackles. It used ot be possible to buy 1 ton dumb irons and replacement rear hangers (dunno if you still can) which combined with 1 ton shackles gave about 3" lift for the sake of a bit of welding without corrupting the suspension geometry or impairing articulation. With that setup you could put 1 ton rims and 9.00x16's on an 88 which looked really butch but gave you the turning circle of a supertanker......

2) Fair play, you're quite right I should have been more specific and on reflection I have to admit that collapsing a bush sleeve with a cold chisel and a club hammer is probably not to be recommended for the faint hearted, inexperienced or (like the previous owner of your vehicle) the just plain cack handed. You're right with the bush extractor and they are easy to make if you have access to (or a friend with) a small lathe to make up a suitable seat. I used to have a less sophiticated set up made from an old shackle bolt with a couple of big washers welded to it so as to sit on the outer bush sleeve without hitting the inner bush sleeve although I mainly used it for fitting rather than extracting bushes.

3) If they're 20p now that's great - fill yer boots! All I remember is that I used to buy them in boxes of 100 for about a tenner and flog them for 50p a pop, which was still cheaper than a gen part. As I've said before I'm probably out of date on a lot of prices etc...

You didn't say whether you liked the rest of the advice, or are you still working on it?

Sorrys to lower the tone abit, but I'm comverting a petrol to a 300 tdi, you were on about diesel having diffo front springs, am I correct in assuming that the diesel landy has heavier front springs?, do I need these on mine.
Just because I need them doesnt mean to say I'm gonna fit them, I'm tight, its just that if summats gonna go knacked at least I know what and why.

dr pepper said:

Sorrys to lower the tone abit, but I'm comverting a petrol to a 300 tdi, you were on about diesel having diffo front springs, am I correct in assuming that the diesel landy has heavier front springs?, do I need these on mine.
Just because I need them doesnt mean to say I'm gonna fit them, I'm tight, its just that if summats gonna go knacked at least I know what and why.

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The fronts of diesels have more leafs that petrols, however the 300TDi is lighter than a 2.25, so i doubt you will need them.

Well thats ok then.
The 300 busted mi engine lifter, I'd have had no chance with a 2.25 diesel then would I.
The 2.25 petrol seems lighter than the 300, and isnt it the same block.

Virtually, but the Tdi has an ally head. Most of the extra weight of the 2.25 diesel over the petrol is the head, which is noticeably heavier.

Sounds like your saying that the 2.25 diesel and the 300 are the same block, I didnt think the 300 had such a vintage.

They're not interchangable, but the lineage can be traced back to the 2 litre of 1957.
You said yourself that the 2.25 petrol & 300Tdi are the same block, and the 2 1/4 petrol and diesel blocks are interchangable

Having a lineage back to the 50's is not surprising being rover, but I didnt know that.
Yep I did say the petty and diesel 2.25 are the same block, however I've no recollection of saying the 300tdi and petrol are the same, most owners have the knowledge thats not the case, I think I said something about one side of the front mount points are very similar, possibly the same centres, but the mount on the other side is absent, the 300 I have has the usual 300 mounts further back, and then where the series mounts would be further forward theres a set of holes, I think on the nearside, nothing on the offside.
Heres a 'ture, theres nowt on t'other side.

dr pepper said:

Having a lineage back to the 50's is not surprising being rover, but I didnt know that.
Yep I did say the petty and diesel 2.25 are the same block, however I've no recollection of saying the 300tdi and petrol are the same, most owners have the knowledge thats not the case, I think I said something about one side of the front mount points are very similar, possibly the same centres, but the mount on the other side is absent, the 300 I have has the usual 300 mounts further back, and then where the series mounts would be further forward theres a set of holes, I think on the nearside, nothing on the offside.

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Try rereading post 25, I think you will see the last comment reads two ways, I evidently read it the other way than you wrote it!

Yep your right Davy.
My english on that post was misleading, you were correct to assume that.
What I intended to imply was that the 2.25 petrol and diesel are the same block, and I was discussing what mseries3 was saying, as he implied that the 2.25 diesel was heavier than the 2.25 petrol, I wondered why if they are the same block, I tried to be too diplomatic on that one.
You have answered me that one however, as the head is where the extra weight comes from on the 2.25 diesel.

I suspect the injector pump is considerably heavier than a carb as well! Little things, but they add up.

Well at least I wont need to change the leafs at the front, I learned a usefull thing though, the springs are different each side, the o/s on the uk models are stiffer than the n/s, so I need to mark them up so they dont go back the wrong way around.