Series 3 Check straps

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TheMegaMan

TheMegaMan

Well-Known Member
Posts
516
Location
Cambridge
Someone on here just mentioned check straps, which reminded me that I've not fitted any to my '79 S3 SWB rebuild, yet. I'm on parabolic springs, and when I tried to fit the ones I'd ordered, they were about 3 inches too short.

Looking at the parts catalogue, I see a number of different part numbers:

237100/274469 left and right for 88 inch
598854 for 109 inch (same each side)
NCR8102 for 1 ton (same each side)

Would anyone happen to know how long each of these would be? Any why would the 88" straps be left/right handed, but the other variants aren't?

Or does anyone know where to get lengths of straps without holes that I could cut and drill to size?

Thanks,
 
I like and have check straps. I took the view that LR engineers put them there for a reason and in the absense of sound reason what they were wrong I would keep them. Way to sort it is to buy Balata belting off e-bay - there is a size that is a match, then measure them up to give around a 1" clearance under the axle unloaded This is not exact, its from me measuring a few Series and scaling off LR manual pictures.. That's with their natural bend so the axle could probably come down 2". I would be expecting them to reduce our lean on a side slope as we are top heavy.
 
I thought check straps are there to protect the damper in extreme axle articulation situations. You shouldn't really need them as the damper should be able to resist the forces. I guess it comes from the series having dampers that are really a little too short on travel, fronts don't need it as the springs are so short they wont allow much articulation. If you are going to use straps their length should be adjusted so that they come into play just before the damper tops out, I would assume or would hope there should be a top out bump rubber in the damper.
 
Citizen Kane said:
I thought check straps are there to protect the damper in extreme axle articulation situations.
Click to expand...
Yeah, that was my assumption. The dampers are indeed a little on the short side, and are right on their stops with no weight (ie. body) on the chassis. So while I realise a bit of weight might make it OK in most scenarios, I can imagine possibly hitting a bump at too high as a speed such that the rear axle unloads, and whacks the bumpstop. I don't know what kind of force could be exerted, but I imagine the springs might push hard enough to damage the damper.
So I'll take a look around for some Balata belting. Thanks for the pointer, @rob1miles .
Could be a different axle case shape, but I assumed the 109 was the same 88 rear axle, just moved back a bit. Wasn't sure what that would need a different strap on each side, compared with the 109...but I won't waste any more brain cycles on that.
 
Early dampers had the habit of ripping their eyes off doing rough stuff. Land Rover quick fix, check strapso_O. Have never bothered with them and have only broken one eye off in nearly fifty years of series use including hard off road stuff.
 
I think it is rather well established that check straps have not been needed in the real world. People have been extreme off roading Land Rovers for quite some time now!

Plus there are other damper options these days.

Btw - you won’t get extreme axle travel with check straps fitted. That’s the point, they limit the travel.
 
Last edited:
TheMegaMan said:
Yeah, that was my assumption. The dampers are indeed a little on the short side, and are right on their stops with no weight (ie. body) on the chassis. So while I realise a bit of weight might make it OK in most scenarios, I can imagine possibly hitting a bump at too high as a speed such that the rear axle unloads, and whacks the bumpstop. I don't know what kind of force could be exerted, but I imagine the springs might push hard enough to damage the damper.
So I'll take a look around for some Balata belting. Thanks for the pointer, @rob1miles .
Could be a different axle case shape, but I assumed the 109 was the same 88 rear axle, just moved back a bit. Wasn't sure what that would need a different strap on each side, compared with the 109...but I won't waste any more brain cycles on that.
Click to expand...
88" and 109" rear axles are different.
 
I've taken the view that they limit axle articulation but stopping the downgoing side and forcing more load onto the compressed srping. But what really puzzles me is that my ex-mil 109 has check strap brakets on both the inside and outside of the chassis rails. The ouside set up matches with the brake pipe protection plates, but I wonder whether its posible to put the plates on the othe way around and use the inner set up? This would leave axle travel (horizontal) the same but increase articulation. Do all chassis have two sets of mountings?
 
...and I've just fitted my home-made Balata belting ones. I realise I *shouldn't* need them, but I don't want to damage a damper and losing half an inch or so articulation is a reasonable price to pay, IMHO.
 
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