standard or Hd springs ? when to change

Hi all

so carrying on with stuff on my 110 td5 , newbie questions ...

I was looking at new shocks and springs , the springs were an advisory on the mot, due to corrosion prob surface ..
Seems like there are a lot to choose from , between makes heights and rates .. but when to opt for heavy duty springs ?

at the mo , I am getting ready for some winter mountaineering trips , there is 5 of us, three adults my two young lads and a dog ( Im 82kg my wife and daughter about 58kg 11year old lad 40kg 6 year old 15-20kg or there abouts) .. The landy has full checker plate in the normal places, Hd steering guard , going with the old heavy basket roof rack for a time maybe 20kg, was going to fit Hd steering rods and new damper, will be carrying camping gear mountaineering size tents , small gas hob, sleeping bags , matts.. climbing equipment such as ropes , axes crampons, boots, snowboards and the boys plastic sledges ..

I also use the landy other than going away too , which is more or less empty ..

Was wondering if need Hd springs , or medium .. or just stock .. ?

I looked at some terrafirma stuff, but seem to have such bad reviews ... and old man emu are pretty expensive

A little advice or direction would be greatly appreciated as always cheers ..

aevans692 said:

Hi all

so carrying on with stuff on my 110 td5 , newbie questions ...

I was looking at new shocks and springs , the springs were an advisory on the mot, due to corrosion prob surface ..
Seems like there are a lot to choose from , between makes heights and rates .. but when to opt for heavy duty springs ?

at the mo , I am getting ready for some winter mountaineering trips , there is 5 of us, three adults my two young lads and a dog ( Im 82kg my wife and daughter about 58kg 11year old lad 40kg 6 year old 15-20kg or there abouts) .. The landy has full checker plate in the normal places, Hd steering guard , going with the old heavy basket roof rack for a time maybe 20kg, was going to fit Hd steering rods and new damper, will be carrying camping gear mountaineering size tents , small gas hob, sleeping bags , matts.. climbing equipment such as ropes , axes crampons, boots, snowboards and the boys plastic sledges ..

I also use the landy other than going away too , which is more or less empty ..

Was wondering if need Hd springs , or medium .. or just stock .. ?

I looked at some terrafirma stuff, but seem to have such bad reviews ... and old man emu are pretty expensive

A little advice or direction would be greatly appreciated as always cheers ..

Click to expand...

I wouldn't worry too much about a corrosion advisory on springs, testers like to put an advisory or two, show the ministry they are actually looking at the vehicle.
You need to change the springs when you feel they have sagged beyond what you think is acceptable. There are clearances between axle and body listed in the genuine manual, you can measure them with a ruler.
Myself, I have never had a problem with standard springs, Britpart are as good as any, and I just used good quality shocks, Boge or Armstrong.

Heavy duty springs will give a very harsh ride unless fully loaded.

I am with Turboman,standard springs and shocks for what you do. Made the mistake of fitting HD springs once, lasted a fortnight before fitting new standard as my back could take no more.
What you are carrying is pretty much standard load for a landy.

tottot said:

I am with Turboman,standard springs and shocks for what you do. Made the mistake of fitting HD springs once, lasted a fortnight before fitting new standard as my back could take no more.
What you are carrying is pretty much standard load for a landy.

Click to expand...

Made that mistake once, when I was young and errrr, enthusiastic!

I thought HD would last longer, and they probably did, but my back didn't.

I stuck with it, but ended up carrying a couple of toolboxes and a couple of sandbags around all the time, to try and soften the incredibly harsh ride.

Came out of the factory standard for a reason. Don't mess with that sort of stuff unless you have a specific task (driving across the oz outback for example) in mind.

H.D. springs are the best way to ruin your off-road performance. They don't do a lot for axle articulation.
I wouldn't bother about rusty springs if the rust is merely surface rust.

thanks guys ..

I hoped that may be the case , I will be sticking with standard springs then , I will have to have a look about checking the sag in the springs , Tho I like getting under and taking stuff apart , Im not wanting to change stuff just for the sake of change .. most the stuff we are carrying isn't heavy , I was just dubious as the roof rack, steering guard , hd steering rods, chequer plate, all weigh a fair bit ..

This year/ early next we are off around Scotland for 3-4 weeks, going for the winter climbing really, but I was looking forward to doing a bit of exploring in the landy , the following year we are going to head down to the alps .. so I wanted things all good ..

I made another thread with a few pics of the springs , as I was looking for advice on what I already had fitted ..

I had a chat with a few places today and , everyone advised something different lol.. one place advised medium front and heavy rear , another said heavy all round, Im thinking I'm going with whats recommended on ere , standard .. im pretty happy with whats on there , but what they are is hard to tell ..

aevans692 said:

I made another thread with a few pics of the springs , as I was looking for advice on what I already had fitted ..

I had a chat with a few places today and , everyone advised something different lol.. one place advised medium front and heavy rear , another said heavy all round, Im thinking I'm going with whats recommended on ere , standard .. im pretty happy with whats on there , but what they are is hard to tell ..

Click to expand...

There should be colour bands on the springs, sometimes it is difficult to see them if the springs are very old, there may be just a few flecks of paint left.

Chart here to help identify them, and select new ones.

http://www.red90.ca/rovers/springinfo.html

that chart is handy , its showing the front yellow and yellow , which would make sense on the right front .. I did think as I could see the yellow that they may have been Hd springs .

Change them when they look like this:-

lol.. they do ...

TD5 standard springs will be fine, they are progressive for the ‘best’ of both worlds. I’ve got them fitted on my old OneTen and am always carrying heavy loads or towing, I have 1.2t of road salt in the back not so long ago and they handled that fine!

Brand new standard springs with new TerraFirma standard Dampers.

Rear RKB 101111
Front NRC8044/45


I can now hear all the chatter from the worn upper/lower link bushes and the Front Radius Arms - it’s like the Golden Gate Bridge.......

that looks nice ...

I looked at the terrafirma , was thinking of the super gaz fitted with some standard duty springs ..

Lol im expecting to be changing other bushes so have planed for this already ..

I'm pretty sure that im going to go with standard springs .. I just have to decide on make and where from .. ?

Britpart from Paddocks - Bargain

I thought these looked well priced , but was a bit concerned as people seem to give them a bad review ..

but I thought for that price if they fail or sag out they are cheap enough to replace .. How have you found yours ? any issues

Britpart - good for lots of things, but also have some dreadful quality issues on some parts sourced from China - forums are full of stories of same.

My past experience of their Springs and Dampers has been positive - and represent good VFM, I only chose TF dampers this time as I had a credit to use up.

I would second britpart springs and shocks. I have the TD5 progressive rear springs, standard 200tdi 110 front springs, and the cheapest britpart shocks all round. It rolls a little when covering, but I don’t have any ARBs fitted, so can’t really fault the springs/shocks combo. Have a look here for part numbers against body/model type.