Hi. This is for you if you are considering replacing your front air springs, I hope it will save you some grief!
I realised my front air springs were nacked after hearing a hissing noise from the front end and finding that all the pipework was sound. The spring bellows were absolutely shot with wire braid sticking through like a bald tyre - how I never had an EAS fault trigger I'll never know.
I looked everywhere for fitting guides and ordered two new Springs (got em from Paddock in the end - pair for about £126) and they came with the top clips I'd read so much about.
Bottom clip/pin
One mystery was the bottom clip (which is more of a pin than a clip) - Everywhere I read said 'Remove the bottom clip' and 'Don't worry about using brute force to get it off' and even the Rave CD didn't go into any more detail.
The assumption was that this bottom pic/clip would come out if you rived at it for long enough. Two hours or riving later and at the cost of several knuckles mine were still in place, seized solid and going no-where.
I decided to take a look at what was inside the air spring by cutting away the rubber bellows and did this with my mate Stanley, not easy to do but very satisfying when you're @issed off.
Once off I could see the alloy piston which is what the bottom pin secures to the axle. It looks a bit like a mug or bowl. I discovered that if i used my other mate Casanova (cos he f()cks everything) I could bray the piston one way and then the other and eventually it came off.
When I looked at the pin inside I couldn't believe I'd wasted three hours trying to get it off. When I did the other side it was seized too and I didn't mess about - just cut it, ripped the top part out and brayed it off - easy peasy.
Just one thing. Make sure you buy the spring pin/clips before you start. I had to manufacture a pair just so that I could move the car somewhere safe but I've ordered two to replace them, if I'd had two (cost 95 p each) I'd have brayed them sooner.
Wheel arch liners - another thing, the liners are a pig. The clips are fine - bit of a faff on but the problem is the screws that hold on the mud flaps mine were completely rusted in and nothing was going to move them. In the end I just removed the clips and used a pry bar to lever the guard up a bit so I could get to the top clips.
Top clips - It's a good idea to see how these work before trying to remove them, I won't try to explain them here but make sure you get some new ones with your springs and have a few practice goes at it, there's a nack and once you've got it you can put these on with two screwdrivers, one small magnetic and one good long flat blade. On the off side you can do both from above using this method. Best advice - practice doing it on the new ones (and don't forget to protect the inlet on the new spring with something that will keep all the crap out of it as you present it up)
Anyway it's all done now and works well. The other guides that came in handy were Dateks and on Rangerovers.net (this was inspirational because the guy on there does it without even removing the wheel - amazing)
Have fun and if you want to talk about this give me a pm anytime.
Nige
I realised my front air springs were nacked after hearing a hissing noise from the front end and finding that all the pipework was sound. The spring bellows were absolutely shot with wire braid sticking through like a bald tyre - how I never had an EAS fault trigger I'll never know.
I looked everywhere for fitting guides and ordered two new Springs (got em from Paddock in the end - pair for about £126) and they came with the top clips I'd read so much about.
Bottom clip/pin
One mystery was the bottom clip (which is more of a pin than a clip) - Everywhere I read said 'Remove the bottom clip' and 'Don't worry about using brute force to get it off' and even the Rave CD didn't go into any more detail.
The assumption was that this bottom pic/clip would come out if you rived at it for long enough. Two hours or riving later and at the cost of several knuckles mine were still in place, seized solid and going no-where.
I decided to take a look at what was inside the air spring by cutting away the rubber bellows and did this with my mate Stanley, not easy to do but very satisfying when you're @issed off.
Once off I could see the alloy piston which is what the bottom pin secures to the axle. It looks a bit like a mug or bowl. I discovered that if i used my other mate Casanova (cos he f()cks everything) I could bray the piston one way and then the other and eventually it came off.
When I looked at the pin inside I couldn't believe I'd wasted three hours trying to get it off. When I did the other side it was seized too and I didn't mess about - just cut it, ripped the top part out and brayed it off - easy peasy.
Just one thing. Make sure you buy the spring pin/clips before you start. I had to manufacture a pair just so that I could move the car somewhere safe but I've ordered two to replace them, if I'd had two (cost 95 p each) I'd have brayed them sooner.
Wheel arch liners - another thing, the liners are a pig. The clips are fine - bit of a faff on but the problem is the screws that hold on the mud flaps mine were completely rusted in and nothing was going to move them. In the end I just removed the clips and used a pry bar to lever the guard up a bit so I could get to the top clips.
Top clips - It's a good idea to see how these work before trying to remove them, I won't try to explain them here but make sure you get some new ones with your springs and have a few practice goes at it, there's a nack and once you've got it you can put these on with two screwdrivers, one small magnetic and one good long flat blade. On the off side you can do both from above using this method. Best advice - practice doing it on the new ones (and don't forget to protect the inlet on the new spring with something that will keep all the crap out of it as you present it up)
Anyway it's all done now and works well. The other guides that came in handy were Dateks and on Rangerovers.net (this was inspirational because the guy on there does it without even removing the wheel - amazing)
Have fun and if you want to talk about this give me a pm anytime.
Nige
