broke down because I was sloppy

landrover light weight

Well I’ve driving her about for 3 years but never checked the u bolts . Yes I can hear what your thinking . However taking the dogs out I watched a leaf of my left hand side leaf spring depart . I pulled over and spent the next two hours messing around so I could drive it back kinda safely .
My question is I could only find parabolic replacement springs . So I bought a pair . Will they have the same ride height . Are they any good




Sorry that pic thing again

Had mine five and can’t remember checking a U bolt.
Praps I should

I took ages to fix it . I had to take the u bolt back to the work shop and recut the thread and then get two jacks to mess around . Well I drove back with 3 leafs missing .

Been driving series in all sorts of conditions for nearly fifty years and never lost a U bolt. The new parabolic's should have the same ride hight or even a bit higher as they are new. If you are driving it a lot/hard would recommend getting gas dampers to go with the new springs. They move more than standard springs that have built in friction between the leaves and so dampers have to work harder.

Never had a U bolt fall off, have had a spring break though and gouge a groove into the inner tyre wall.

tottot said:

Been driving series in all sorts of conditions for nearly fifty years and never lost a U bolt. The new parabolic's should have the same ride hight or even a bit higher as they are new. If you are driving it a lot/hard would recommend getting gas dampers to go with the new springs. They move more than standard springs that have built in friction between the leaves and so dampers have to work harder.

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Thanks for that .

The dickhead who refitted my back axle left mine a few turns loose on both sides. Passed its post-rebuild MoT without a problem, but it was the annoying clunks on accelerating and braking that eventually persuaded me to check.

After reading somethign on here I checked mine - 109 with orginal springs) and sure enough they were loose, not very loose but not fully tight either.

boguing said:

The dickhead who refitted my back axle left mine a few turns loose on both sides. Passed its post-rebuild MoT without a problem, but it was the annoying clunks on accelerating and braking that eventually persuaded me to check.

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I forgot to say - I was the dickhead.

The usual telltale sign of slack U bolts is powdered red rust at joint of spring and axle slightest movement shows it up as the two parts rub against each other when your driving.

Blackburn said:

The usual telltale sign of slack U bolts is powdered red rust at joint of spring and axle slightest movement shows it up as the two parts rub against each other when your driving.

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That covers 90% of my whole series then

I snapped a new ubolt, welded a std bolt to the ubolt and carried on driving it until new parts turned up.
Turns out new quality u bolts are rubbbish, and britpart ones are actually pretty dmaned good.

I've had a simialr expreince, some BP stuff is better than the "premium" parts. I now look carefully before paying extra for "quality". For oil seals I pay for the best, but for brackets, steelwork and gears I'be found BP good.