Series 3 88 parabolic probs!!

Are you sure the rears were not handed? I have just installed paras from Jones on my 80 and the rears were handed.

Not that that droop on the rear would explan the sag, No matter how you try set your shackles with that geometry all you would do is feck your bushes fighting the springs.

My rears are two leaf, machined to fit the narrow rear hangers of the 80"

Hi killa,

I'm pretty sure they were not handed but I will be taking them off this weekend to sort this annoying problem out so will double check. The angle of the rear shackles I'm not sure of but they are very close to the rear x member.


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They are definatly wrong, I cant be certain but they should usually be only 30-40 degrees from vertical, you could try sourcing some of the longer extended shackles from military 109s, these would lower the springs and give you a better ride height.

To say that they are heavy duty, they do not seem to have much arc in them.

As one of teh other posters mentioned it may be worth checking the dimensions between the front and rear spring hangers to be sure.

That said my brother always had a drooping conventional O/S rear spring like that. No matter what he did changed springs around and replaced springs. However the chassis came from an ex military S11 that had been flipped by a joy rider into a ditch.

Even though nothing seemed apparent in chassis deformaty the measurements were slightly out. so the spring always ended up flat.

Personally I have never come accross pre-loading the springs, I have always installed them loose, run it around for a few miles to let the springs settle into the natural geometry then tighten them up.

Otherwise I would have thought that being permanently under stress the rubber in the bushes would fail sooner rather than later.

But I am quoting from the S1 workshop manual here!

+1 those shackles look to be too angled. Its not to say my series is correctly set up, but my shackles are a good 25 degrees odd more towards 90 degrees. Check the manual on that point maybe?

The shackles _will_ push out like that if the springs are flexing too far (either due to being way overweight or the springs being made out of recycled cheese). I'd still say that those springs are worse than scrap. I'd not even drive it in that condition.

With decent paras and all the shackles loose it should sit up too high not too low. Then you need to put a load of weight in the back to make it go lower before tightening, not the other way around. The shakles/bush tightening thing is to just pre-load the rubbers in the bushes, I'm fairly sure it doesn't matter so much for poly bushes as they are free to spin.

D

Saw this photo on a website which shows, presumably, what the angle of the shackles should be roughly.

Enhancements for older Land Rovers - Glencoyne 4x4 (Thetford)

The chassis on that picture looks to be quite high up - I suspect that it's on stands (also the shackle bolt looks to be loose). I'm pretty sure mine stick out the back a bit. I'll go and get a picture when it stops raining....

Another vote for the quality of GB springs and the helpfulness of Paul.

I think the simple answer is that I have paras made of cheese. However the thought of spending £200 on another pair and the same thing occurring could be disheartening. Just a thought... Could the rear chassis bush be at fault? I not sure whether a bad bush would cause this??


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Its not a bush failure, it is that the spring is squashed so that it is almost flat which pushes the shackle out like that, this is the position you would expect when the leaf was on max deflection, e.g. when you are hitting the bump stops..

The shackles should sit roughly like the image of my old springs when I started.



According to various suppliers there was a huge glut of cheap springs from India that flooded the market a couple of years ago and the local suppliers could not compete cost wise. Unfortunatly these springs are of such poor steel that they regularly failed so folk are now prepared to pay for good spings again.

I know how expensive they are having butten the bullet earlier this year, but I can honestly say they are well worth it. My 80 is a delight to drive, it bounces like a spring lamb down the road instead of crashing over the slightest imperfection.

It was great fun and really comfy when we gave it a good shakedown on Sunday in my local RTV

GB Springs it is then. Lol!!


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i fitted para's that i bought secondhand, unknown make/quality to my 88" and this was how it sat on the first day of fitting, 2 plus helper leaf rears



it has since settled at both ends but not drastically arse down like yours and rides pretty level when loaded (on the helper leaves)

even my 109 on standard 8+2 rears doesn't sit too low when loaded although a little lower than i'd like when empty

Just checked mine and the shackles on my paras are pretty much the same angle as Kilajoules....

I think that even if the chassis to shackle bush was slightly out on the new crossmember it wouldn't sag as drastically as that so it is probably a crappy spring. Especially as there is hardly any weight in the back apart from the rack and spare tyre. Nite I expected to see mine like yours and having to weight it down but the first picture I put up was literally a few hours after fitting the springs.


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Or Jones Springs. I can highly recommend them. They were very helpful.

Just don't bother with their email enquiry as they never seem to answer them. But very good by phone

Ordered my springs from GB on Wednesday and they turned up this lunch time. Cannot fault the service they have provided, and the springs look the dogs!!! Just gotta fit them now!!

Excellent, plus all your bolts should be easy to remove after doing them already.

....Don't forget that these are handed - marked on the springs to ensure you get them the correct way around. Think you'll see the difference in quality even before you fit them - :5bcheers2:

Yeah they are marked N/S and O/S on each and the quality of them look excellent. If the rain holds off I'll have them on by lunchtime!

You won't be dissapointed,mine have been on for nearly 10 years and are still going strong!