What's most suitable for work leaf or parabolic?

Im a tree surgeon and use an 1982 land rover series 3 109 for work, it carries logs and wood chip daily and dose not seem the struggle to bad, however will parabolic springs cope as well? I can get 4 leaf parabolic from paddocks for £142 but not sure if its worth it. Im ok with the bumpy ride however my brother/work partner only seems to moan about the ride all day! any advise?

Tell him to "Man up"?

I've just fitted new rear leaves to my 109, and did a fair bit of research due to the high cost here in NZ. I use my truck to run a gardening business, haul trailers, play off road in the weekends and occasionally ferry up to 11 mates around, so needed springs that were going to be heavy duty but still relatively supple for the offroading.

By far the cheapest option was to get parabolics from one of the local parts importers at $550 a pair. But after many phone calls the conclusion was to stay away from them for my purposes. So in the end I got a local spring manufacturer to make a pair of springs according to the Land Rover 3/4 tonne design (with the two overloads), then add an extra two leafs each side. They cost $800 all up but were well worth it. The truck now rides nearly 6" higher than previously at the back (the old ones were pretty shagged), and ~300kg of gear makes no perceptible difference to that. My 33" tyres no longer scrape under any circumstances, the ride at the back is smoother, and the truck is still more stable than a coiler when cornering. All up very pleased, to the point that I will be doing the front ones as well even though the front leaves aren't that bad at the moment.

Para's are good but very flexible and soft,i've had them on my 2a for years but its mainly used for offroading hence wanting soft suspension for maximum articulation. If your carrying weight i wouldn't advise para's and would go for standard springs,if you keep them well lubricated the ride will be better and they will do there job like they should.

George Kempster said:

Im a tree surgeon and use an 1982 land rover series 3 109 for work, it carries logs and wood chip daily and dose not seem the struggle to bad, however will parabolic springs cope as well? I can get 4 leaf parabolic from paddocks for £142 but not sure if its worth it. Im ok with the bumpy ride however my brother/work partner only seems to moan about the ride all day! any advise?

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DO NOT BUY THE PARABOLICS FROM PADDOCKS

(sorry for shouting)

they are crap. I have them on my landy and would not recommend them to anyone.

Give GB Springs a ring. They will be able to provide you with some excellent quality springs and service and advise on what you need. (I have nothing to do with them, not actually even bought from them before, although intend to)

:5biagree:

Good point,they might be able to supply some for carrying heavy loads

Thanks for all the tips, will just stick with the road springs that's are on there, they are doing fine so far... touch wood

I seem to recall that Rocky Mountain had some paras on their website which were suitable for carrying heavy loads.

stick an inflated car inner tube on the passenger seat..... though he'll probable moan about banging his head on the roof..

ricc said:

stick an inflated car inner tube on the passenger seat..... though he'll probable moan about banging his head on the roof..

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just make sure the valve is pointing down!

offer him the use of his legs to get to work, suddenly your land rover is amazing or change the front seats for slightly more cuhseny items

V8jon said:

just make sure the valve is pointing down!

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No no no, pointing up surely?