Springys...

Also, it's just struck me, how does one get them back together again?

in the immortal words of Mr. Haynes ... "assembly is the reverse of disassembly"

do the fronts first. at least if you then get really hacked off with doing it, and only do two of the four springs, you've done the ones that will make the most difference to your ride.

I'm in the middle of a rebuild and have recently done the rear two on my rolling chassis - resurrecting two very rusty springs from near dead - and the rolling chassis is now so supple that you can bounce it easily.

make sure you don't get the springs mixed up as they're handed left/right.

Mix petrol with used engine oil about 50/50, paint it on and wire brush. Make sure spring hanger bolts turn, not loose though. Some peeps say take some of the leaves out but that will upset the majestic handling.

the best way to soften leaves is to jack the body up to take the pressure of the springs wire brush the crap off. then brush oil all over & between the springs more the better cause they soak loads up, go out for a drive over as many speed bumps as you can then jack up and repeat the oil. and finally spray white grease over the springs to seal them i did mine 2 years ago and now there goin hard again so i will be doin that in the next few weeks,

Oh ar, what to do! Some say stripping the leaves is the best, some say don't bother!

stripping the springs is not the only way to get a bit of lubricant between the leaves - you can do it in situ. aerosols of motorbike chain oil are pretty good too.

but - stripping the leaves IS the only way to get the accumulated rust and crud out. you'll just have to take a view of how thorough you want to be, how long you intend keeping your landy, and how rusty your springs are. it is a real shag of a job ... and thats assuming you can get your spring eye bolts undone and you can get your U-bolts undone!