In <
[email protected]> fanie wrote:
> Hi
>
> I recently notced that my disco (serI) seemed to be siting a little
> lop sided. I thought I must have parked it on a slight slope, but this
> weekend I finally got around to having a look underneath and discoverd
> that the Left Rear Spring had popped off its mounts and was sitting
> skew.
>
> I got stuck in with the spring compressors this am and sorted it out,
> however I am now curious as to why this happens as I certainly have
> not been giving this wagon too much stick off road.
>
> Has this happened to anyone else?
This is "normal" behaviour, assuming that the spring came out at the top.
If it came off at the bottom then the clamp needs replacing.
It happens when the axle drops, at that side, further than the spring
can expand. When the axle comes back up again it sometimes misses the
hole and ends up hooked on the edge of the top spring mount. It's not
unusual with standard springs or heavy duty springs for this to happen
in quite "mild" off roading.
The bodge it and scarper way of stopping it happening is to attach the
top of the spring to the mount using jubilee clips or similar BUT this
can result in bending the bottom retaining bar so the spring starts
lifting away from the bottom plate. I've seen a vehicle equipped in this
way manage to spit the spring out completely when the bottom plate bent
and the jubillee clip gave way.
If you are using the vehicle off road regularly then you might want to
consider a more permanent solution. You can buy "off the shelf"
solutions to this problem in the form of dislocating cones. They aren't
the best way of doing it but they do work and can be bolted on in a few
minutes.
If you have some fabrication/welding facilities then you can make your
own dislocating system out of a few bits of scrap bar that works better
and is a lot cheaper than the dislocation cones. You make a permanent
clamp for the top of the spring and weld a sort of triangular pyramid
onto the bottom spring mounting plate in place of the retaining bar.
In the case that you are anticipating taking part in any events run
under the ARC banner I am led to believe that they have just banned
dislocation cones so clubs that are members of the ARC will not let you
play.
cheers
Dave W.
http://www.yorkshireoffroadclub.net/