Spring has sprung :o(

Spent an enjoyable day trialing. Just about to go and use the hose pipe to
cover our drive in mud.

Anyway, having now had a check round on getting home I find the near-side
rear shock absorber has mainly disappeared (there is a stub left on the
chassis) and the spring on the same corner is half out of its seat on the
chassis.

If I jack up on the rear bumper (hi-lift) with another (trolley) jack under
the diff, and then take off the wheel and lower the trolley jack will that
give me enough play to get the spring back in its socket? Will this work?

Also, the loss of a shock absorber seems to have made no difference to the
vehicle at all (I thought it was driving better than normal on the way
home). Any problems with my leaving it a few days until I can replace both
back ones as a pair? The vehicle is never heavily laden. Any
recommendations for shocks for a 90? :0)

Thanks.

M.

McBad wrote:
>
> If I jack up on the rear bumper (hi-lift) with another (trolley)
> jack under the diff, and then take off the wheel and lower the
> trolley jack will that give me enough play to get the spring back in
> its socket? Will this work?

Loosen the wheel nuts first, then just lift the bumper with the hi-lift
until the weight is off the wheel, take wheel off and raise until spring
will pop back in. Beware - heavy weights and strong boingy things involved.
Take care not to strain things like brake lines. It's quite possible,
though - done it several times. However...
>
> Also, the loss of a shock absorber seems to have made no difference
> to the vehicle at all (I thought it was driving better than normal on
> the way home). Any problems with my leaving it a few days until I
> can replace both back ones as a pair? The vehicle is never heavily
> laden.

Yes, lots of problems. Apart from the fact that you will almost certainly
be driving uninsured, the handling will be totally unpredictable. It will
seem fine on a flat, straight road, but come to a pothole/wet corner/speed
bump/emergency braking situation and that corner of the car will bounce
around out of sync with the rest of the car and probably spit you out.. And
you won't know until it's too late. Don't take the risk - use the bus for a
few days and keep yourself and the 90 in one piece. (Don't ask me how I
know this.)

>Any recommendations for shocks for a 90? :0)

OE were good when I did mine.

> Thanks.
>
> M.

HTH

--

Rich
Tiggrr - V8 trialler
RR 4.6HSE

"Her name was Mia
From North Korea
I said come over
Bring your Land Rover"

The shock keeps the axel from overextending hence the spring comming out.


"Richard Brookman" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> McBad wrote:
> >
> > If I jack up on the rear bumper (hi-lift) with another (trolley)
> > jack under the diff, and then take off the wheel and lower the
> > trolley jack will that give me enough play to get the spring back in
> > its socket? Will this work?
>
> Loosen the wheel nuts first, then just lift the bumper with the hi-lift
> until the weight is off the wheel, take wheel off and raise until spring
> will pop back in. Beware - heavy weights and strong boingy things
involved.
> Take care not to strain things like brake lines. It's quite possible,
> though - done it several times. However...
> >
> > Also, the loss of a shock absorber seems to have made no difference
> > to the vehicle at all (I thought it was driving better than normal on
> > the way home). Any problems with my leaving it a few days until I
> > can replace both back ones as a pair? The vehicle is never heavily
> > laden.
>
> Yes, lots of problems. Apart from the fact that you will almost certainly
> be driving uninsured, the handling will be totally unpredictable. It will
> seem fine on a flat, straight road, but come to a pothole/wet corner/speed
> bump/emergency braking situation and that corner of the car will bounce
> around out of sync with the rest of the car and probably spit you out..
And
> you won't know until it's too late. Don't take the risk - use the bus for
a
> few days and keep yourself and the 90 in one piece. (Don't ask me how I
> know this.)
>
> >Any recommendations for shocks for a 90? :0)
>
> OE were good when I did mine.
>
> > Thanks.
> >
> > M.
>
> HTH
>
> --
>
> Rich
> Tiggrr - V8 trialler
> RR 4.6HSE
>
> "Her name was Mia
> From North Korea
> I said come over
> Bring your Land Rover"
>
>

"Gordon" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> You don't need to take the wheel off. Lift up with high lift until the
> wheel is starting to come off the ground, and lever the spring back
> into position with a crow-bar or similar. The whole thing's slightly
> safer leaving the wheel on as it all can't fall so far if it falls off
> the high lift.
>
> While it's lifted and once the spring's back, put a couple of jubilee
> clips round the top of the spring and chassis bracket to stop it
> unseating in the future.
>

This procedure worked easy peasy; didn't even need the crowbar - just gave
it a firm shove.
Put a jubillee clip on one but forgot to do the other, so I'll see if one
pops out and the other doesn't. JC looks a bit feeble to support the weight
of the wheel, axle, etc.

> We (three drivers, two 90s) were averaging a dead shock every other
> trial until we changed all the rear ones to Pro-Comp ES... with the 2
> inch extra travel.
>
> "Tying" the springs on may be enough by itself to save the shocks, you
> might want to try that before splashing out with cash.
>
> Like you I've never noticed any different on the road with broken
> shocks; I suspect it's not so critical with the rear ones as it
> probably is with the fronts. I can, though, tell that the combination
> of a loose (very) rear radius arm nut and a caravan made for an
> intersting journey home from the Nationals this year!
>

Couldn't detect any difference in handling with the broken shock and seeing
I'd driven home 20 miles over all sorts of roads and up to motor-way speeds
I took the view that I wasn't going to kill myself (or anyone else) by
driving it to work and back for a couple of days. Replaced both the rear
shocks last night in the rain (doesn't it always?) and still can't detect
any change. (

Thanks for your help.

Cheers,

M

McBad wrote:
>
> If I jack up on the rear bumper (hi-lift) with another (trolley)
> jack under the diff, and then take off the wheel and lower the
> trolley jack will that give me enough play to get the spring back in
> its socket? Will this work?

Loosen the wheel nuts first, then just lift the bumper with the hi-lift
until the weight is off the wheel, take wheel off and raise until spring
will pop back in. Beware - heavy weights and strong boingy things involved.
Take care not to strain things like brake lines. It's quite possible,
though - done it several times. However...
>
> Also, the loss of a shock absorber seems to have made no difference
> to the vehicle at all (I thought it was driving better than normal on
> the way home). Any problems with my leaving it a few days until I
> can replace both back ones as a pair? The vehicle is never heavily
> laden.

Yes, lots of problems. Apart from the fact that you will almost certainly
be driving uninsured, the handling will be totally unpredictable. It will
seem fine on a flat, straight road, but come to a pothole/wet corner/speed
bump/emergency braking situation and that corner of the car will bounce
around out of sync with the rest of the car and probably spit you out.. And
you won't know until it's too late. Don't take the risk - use the bus for a
few days and keep yourself and the 90 in one piece. (Don't ask me how I
know this.)

>Any recommendations for shocks for a 90? :0)

OE were good when I did mine.

> Thanks.
>
> M.

HTH

--

Rich
Tiggrr - V8 trialler
RR 4.6HSE

"Her name was Mia
From North Korea
I said come over
Bring your Land Rover"

The shock keeps the axel from overextending hence the spring comming out.


"Richard Brookman" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> McBad wrote:
> >
> > If I jack up on the rear bumper (hi-lift) with another (trolley)
> > jack under the diff, and then take off the wheel and lower the
> > trolley jack will that give me enough play to get the spring back in
> > its socket? Will this work?
>
> Loosen the wheel nuts first, then just lift the bumper with the hi-lift
> until the weight is off the wheel, take wheel off and raise until spring
> will pop back in. Beware - heavy weights and strong boingy things
involved.
> Take care not to strain things like brake lines. It's quite possible,
> though - done it several times. However...
> >
> > Also, the loss of a shock absorber seems to have made no difference
> > to the vehicle at all (I thought it was driving better than normal on
> > the way home). Any problems with my leaving it a few days until I
> > can replace both back ones as a pair? The vehicle is never heavily
> > laden.
>
> Yes, lots of problems. Apart from the fact that you will almost certainly
> be driving uninsured, the handling will be totally unpredictable. It will
> seem fine on a flat, straight road, but come to a pothole/wet corner/speed
> bump/emergency braking situation and that corner of the car will bounce
> around out of sync with the rest of the car and probably spit you out..
And
> you won't know until it's too late. Don't take the risk - use the bus for
a
> few days and keep yourself and the 90 in one piece. (Don't ask me how I
> know this.)
>
> >Any recommendations for shocks for a 90? :0)
>
> OE were good when I did mine.
>
> > Thanks.
> >
> > M.
>
> HTH
>
> --
>
> Rich
> Tiggrr - V8 trialler
> RR 4.6HSE
>
> "Her name was Mia
> From North Korea
> I said come over
> Bring your Land Rover"
>
>

McBad wrote:
>
> Couldn't detect any difference in handling with the broken shock and
> seeing I'd driven home 20 miles over all sorts of roads and up to
> motor-way speeds I took the view that I wasn't going to kill myself
> (or anyone else) by driving it to work and back for a couple of days.
> Replaced both the rear shocks last night in the rain (doesn't it
> always?) and still can't detect any change. (

I still think deliberately driving with a shocker missing could invalidate
your insurance. Give 'em any excuse...

Glad it worked out.

--

Rich
Tiggrr - V8 trialler
RR 4.6HSE

You don't need to take the wheel off. Lift up with high lift until the
wheel is starting to come off the ground, and lever the spring back
into position with a crow-bar or similar. The whole thing's slightly
safer leaving the wheel on as it all can't fall so far if it falls off
the high lift.

While it's lifted and once the spring's back, put a couple of jubilee
clips round the top of the spring and chassis bracket to stop it
unseating in the future.

We (three drivers, two 90s) were averaging a dead shock every other
trial until we changed all the rear ones to Pro-Comp ES... with the 2
inch extra travel.

"Tying" the springs on may be enough by itself to save the shocks, you
might want to try that before splashing out with cash.

Like you I've never noticed any different on the road with broken
shocks; I suspect it's not so critical with the rear ones as it
probably is with the fronts. I can, though, tell that the combination
of a loose (very) rear radius arm nut and a caravan made for an
intersting journey home from the Nationals this year!

Gordon

"Gordon" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> You don't need to take the wheel off. Lift up with high lift until the
> wheel is starting to come off the ground, and lever the spring back
> into position with a crow-bar or similar. The whole thing's slightly
> safer leaving the wheel on as it all can't fall so far if it falls off
> the high lift.
>
> While it's lifted and once the spring's back, put a couple of jubilee
> clips round the top of the spring and chassis bracket to stop it
> unseating in the future.
>

This procedure worked easy peasy; didn't even need the crowbar - just gave
it a firm shove.
Put a jubillee clip on one but forgot to do the other, so I'll see if one
pops out and the other doesn't. JC looks a bit feeble to support the weight
of the wheel, axle, etc.

> We (three drivers, two 90s) were averaging a dead shock every other
> trial until we changed all the rear ones to Pro-Comp ES... with the 2
> inch extra travel.
>
> "Tying" the springs on may be enough by itself to save the shocks, you
> might want to try that before splashing out with cash.
>
> Like you I've never noticed any different on the road with broken
> shocks; I suspect it's not so critical with the rear ones as it
> probably is with the fronts. I can, though, tell that the combination
> of a loose (very) rear radius arm nut and a caravan made for an
> intersting journey home from the Nationals this year!
>

Couldn't detect any difference in handling with the broken shock and seeing
I'd driven home 20 miles over all sorts of roads and up to motor-way speeds
I took the view that I wasn't going to kill myself (or anyone else) by
driving it to work and back for a couple of days. Replaced both the rear
shocks last night in the rain (doesn't it always?) and still can't detect
any change. (

Thanks for your help.

Cheers,

M

McBad wrote:
>
> Couldn't detect any difference in handling with the broken shock and
> seeing I'd driven home 20 miles over all sorts of roads and up to
> motor-way speeds I took the view that I wasn't going to kill myself
> (or anyone else) by driving it to work and back for a couple of days.
> Replaced both the rear shocks last night in the rain (doesn't it
> always?) and still can't detect any change. (

I still think deliberately driving with a shocker missing could invalidate
your insurance. Give 'em any excuse...

Glad it worked out.

--

Rich
Tiggrr - V8 trialler
RR 4.6HSE