109 rear springs replaced

Well, I gave it the ol' college try......and failed.

    Starting off in the cool of the morning I jacked up the back of the 109 and put it on jack stands.

Removed the tyres and supported the outer axle with a jack stand and the spring with a bottle jack.

From here I loosened the spring pins at the frame and shackle and then I removed the nuts holding the U-bolts on slowly. The spring came down until it bound up on the shock plate and then I had to use a hammer to get it to fully release. Then I removed the chassis pin and dropped one end of the spring.

Here you can see the LHD spring next to the old HD springs.

Dragging the spring under the vehicle I connected the chassis pin first and then the shackle pin. I had to slip my floor jack under the spring with the shock plate between them. It was just a matter of jacking up the spring and aligning the brake pipe protection plate and the spring locater pin into the axle housing hole. This went well on the LHD side but the shock expanded on the RHD side to make it harder. On that side I had to use a 2 x 4 to pry the axle forward so it all aligned.

Once the locater was located I had to fit the u-bolts. I decided to reuse the Rocky Mountain u-bolts as I had previously drilled out the shock plate to fit the larger diameter. Somewhere, somehow the u-bolts no longer lined up with the holes. In the pic below you can see that it was about a half a hole out.

Putting them in my vise I could squeeze them down and re-set the width. This took repeated trips because the plate was under the spring and above the jack.

When I did the other side I took the shock plate with me and fit the u-bolts to it. IIRC the finished center to center was 3-3/8".

    In the next pic you can see the old spring loosely bolted in place with no weight on it.

Here is a couple of pics of the old RM springs, the shackle bushes totally shot. I can only surmise that somehow I put them in incorrectly.....I don't know, maybe it is because my driveway is slanted and I need to be flat?

At any rate I did one side and then the other, jacked it up and removed the jack stands. When I lowered it to the ground I thought it was never going to stop! I even stopped lowering it and checked to make sure I had all the bolts in.  The LHD side spring is flat, well maybe even under flat. Be that as it may I moved the 109 back and forth about 20 feet to settle the springs and then tightened the u-bolts to 58ft-lbs and the pins to 70ft-lbs and the wheel nuts to 80ft-lbs.

The RHD side is not much better;

The left rear from the outside;

Crap I can't even drive it!

Time to bite the bullet and order 1 ton springs.

Land Rover 109 rear spring bushing install

I received the new spring bushes yesterday so before it got too hot I installed them in the old rear springs.

First I used a hone and cleaned out the accumulated rust in the eyes.

Next I smeared some antisieze on the inside of the eye, Then with a metal wedge and a BFH I spread the eye to make the installation easier.

Now using an old bushing outer sleeve I could pound in the new bushing;

Make it flush on both sides and yer done!

Repeat 3 more times...... Then go inside and wait out the heat for a few days until I can put them on.

109 cot update

On the trip to the desert with Glenda it became apparent that my dual cot set up needed some work. The problem was the rings that I was using on the legs and spreader bars. We found out the hard way that with all the tension on them that a small bump would cause them to fly off dumping the sleeper on the floor.

I needed something more stable. With much thinking I decided that if I just drilled holes in the support tube I could both support and spread the tubes and maintain tension on the cot for sleeping.
   Once home I marked the ends of the tube for the holes;

Then drilled them;

At the other end I also wanted to make that more secure. A bit more tricky to do. What I came up with was modifying the existing U bracket with a tab over the bottom and cutting a corresponding slot in the tube. Once again marking the tube;

Then making a tab and welding it to the U bracket;

Cut the slot and mount the U bracket;

Of course there was plenty of trial and fit going on until the deed was done;

On the spreader bars I kept the ring on the side nearest the windows because it is not in the way and on the feet I shaped the top of the leg so it would distribute the weight evenly on the inside of the pipe. I had to make all new bars and legs because the new system requires longer rod sections.


Simples! then just repeat for the other side...........

I have the 2 cots color coded for parts as you may notice, white and black, each set of legs and spreader bars are kept in the overhead storage bins.

109 Land Rover front springs remove and replace

Hi,

    Well I came to a decision based upon a lot of factors mainly that the Rocky Mountain parabolics were not working for me. So due to the Brexit vote and drop in the exchange rate for the British Pound I purchased a set of 11 leaf front springs form Craddocks.

    These are part number 265627G. You can see in the picture below how they differ from the (used sparingly) RM para's.

Indeed the paras had lost much of their arch as witnessed by the tape measure; wish I had measured them when I bought them for a comparison.

One hot day I set about to make the swap. Jacking up the vehicle and supporting it by the bumper with a jackstand, I could use a floor jack and bottle jack to manipulate the axle and spring into place.

Tthe first one was hard with a learning curve that made the second one go much faster. Some 4 hours for the first and only 2 for the second, once I figured out that I needed to jack the axle up all the way and then jack the spring up into it then the centering pin would fit into the hole on the underside of the axle housing.
     Terriblely hot day working in the sun and getting up and down and crawling in the gravel. It really wore me out. But I got it done.

They look a much better fit than the para's. Well, they should they are brand spanking %^&*%^&* new! After putting them on I drove the 109 about 20 feet back and forth to settle the springs in the bushes and then I torqued them down. The U bolts get 58ft-lb and the shackle pins got 70ft-lbs.

The next day I took it for a short ride and the ride wasn't much different from the para's. No fooking clunking though!  Time will tell how it will all work out.

This is what I discovered about the RM para's; not made for a direct replacement of stock springs as they do not seem to be able to handle the same weights. Even Jeremy at RM will try to dissuade you if you tell him you are building a workhorse or expedition rig. RM's are fine for daily drivers and light loads. Just my personal experience.

Land Rover 109 HD rear spring rebuild

All right, with the trouble with my Rocky Mountain parabolics I have decided to refurbish the original heavy duty springs. first off I dragged then out of the shed into the light of day and took a look to see if they would be salvageable.

     In the above pic you can see the 11 leaf fronts at the top and the HD rears at the bottom. The part number for the rears are 279678 for the right rear and  279679 for the left rear. This is because they are handed springs to allow for the extra weight on the right side, in the original design, of the driver and fuel tank.
I had started looking for 1 ton springs (pn535173) for my rears but decided to try these as money is tight. The fronts I decided to scrap because one set had some bent ends on the leafs and some rust issues between the leafs. With Brexit happening the pound Sterling fell and I purchased some fronts some $40 cheaper overnight!

     BUT, before all those decisions were made I removed the bushings from all the springs. I used my torch and burned out the rubber on one bushing and removed the inner tube. Then using a socket and a metal wedge under the curl of the spring I was able to extract the sleeve. Then with the wedge and the sleeve I could remove all the rest of the bushings. Once the rust grip was broken they came out fairly easily.

 I had to replace the spacers on the alignment brackets simply due to rust and age.

On the bracket for the HD part the bolts were in-fact slotted machine screws. I was able to remove the ones from one spring with my manual impact driver before it gave up the ghost after a 40 year career! These machine screws proved problematic, on the other spring I had to cut them off to remove them. One side of the bracket being threaded and peened over. Then there was the issue of size. They are M9 x 1.25 x 80 something unheard off these days.

   Since I couldn't find them anywhere I re-tapped the threads to 3/8 x 24 and replaced them with stainless bolts and tubing, I used grade 8 nylock nuts.

Once the bolts were all off I removed the centering pin which runs through the spring leaves. It too is M9 x 1.25. I decided to retain these. You can see the pin and the rust buildup on the springs in the following pics.

   Before they came apart I used a center punch to put witness marks so I could tell which side went where.

Once apart I set them up on a plywood table and went to work. first I clamped them to my welding table and then took the wire wheel to them, one side and then the other. The rust was so thick I wore my respirator to breathe! On the second spring I had the idea to use my palm sander to further smooth the leaf but it died after doing over half the leaves. Not bad for a 11 year old tool! It got a lot of work on this restomod.

Before wire wheel;

After wire wheel;

After sanding;

When all the leaves were clean I sprayed them with rust converter with hope that they won't rust up so easily next time.

In the above pic you can see the wear from the lower leaf on the spring with the fold.

On the RH spring I had to fix the alignment brackets as they had quite a bit of wear. I cleaned them up and filled in the wear areas with weld and  then filed the weld down to make them "normal".

After the rust converter dried and set I painted them with BBQ black 'cause that's what I had, and once that dried I reassembled them. I wanted to put teflon tape between the leaves for better/longer sliding but it is too expensive at this point. I will use motorcycle chain lube once I am ready.

 I ran a hone thru the bushing holes to remove some of the rust buildup.

I have ordered all new spring bushes and U-bolts they shall be here in a week or so along with the new front springs. Then the swap work will begin.

    Here is a side by side look at the handed springs;

    I was really surprised after rebuilding the first spring at how much more flexible it was. I thought I had done something wrong.......  When picked up by the spring eyes you could feel it flex, something which did not occur while all rusted up. The same thing happened with the second one so I figured it wasn't me. :^)
    With the wear issues on the RH spring I figure that I probably will replace them next time I win the lottery.
Funny thing as of now the 1 ton springs are cheaper than the HD ones by about $20.

   On Thursday last I bought a can of Belray chain lube. then using a screwdriver to pry apart the leaves I generously sprayed the wax lube between the leaves.

It was kinda messy on the springs but, O, well......

Just for learning I took apart one of the 11 leaf front springs. Boy has rust taken its toll! Look at the top of the centering pin in the pic.

Glad I bought new!

Look at the difference between the old and new!!!!

Should be a good ride!