Thread: Defender 130 suspension

Looking good mate....

Thanks to those who have offered information. That link made for good reading and confirmed what I am coming round to thinking. The alignment between Gwyn's fittings and the availability of OME components seemed too good. While I think the components would transfer to weight bearing tourers well. My situation is not carrying much and taking on less travelled tracks. I am also no speed demon on the road and am happy to trade off road manners for offroad bias when decisions are to be made. At this stage I have booked the car in to weigh each corner and have an idea of required height and spring rate to start the discussion.

dont forget to update this thread with your findings

Changed back to the original springs today. It gave me a good opportunity to better scrutinise the two side by side. The aftermarket springs were 10mm taller, 1mm thinner diameter and one less wind over the length.
Someone out there with more knowledge than me may be able to tell me my current spring rate
front drivers side- blue/ red
front passenger side white/ yellow
rear both sides brown/purple
The other omission was that the front were linear and the rear progressive.

To answer my own question, I just found a link. blue/red 225lb 388mm free length. white/ yellow 225lb 376mm free length. Could not find the Defender 130 rear brown/ purple.
My thoughts were lineal 225lb front and progressive 300-320lb rear The purple that Swaggie mentioned may be very close for the front with a free height of 17 inch's 420mm. I will just bide my time until weigh in and a talk with Ken to see what he has to suit

Originally Posted by brendanm

To answer my own question, I just found a link. blue/red 225lb 388mm free length. white/ yellow 225lb 376mm free length. Could not find the Defender 130 rear brown/ purple.
My thoughts were lineal 225lb front and progressive 300-320lb rear The purple that Swaggie mentioned may be very close for the front with a free height of 17 inch's 420mm. I will just bide my time until weigh in and a talk with Ken to see what he has to suit

Brendan,a quick search came up with this RKB101111

Thanks Wayne that is exactly what I have got.

While I was waiting for the weigh in for the suspension I decided to jack up the car to simulate the expected lift. This way I could measure the difference in tail shaft length
As it currently sits with sagged old original springs carrying a winch and bar the tail shaft length was close enough to 700mm. When lifted 2.5 inches the tail shaft length grew to 705mm. Not a lot given a new shaft would hopefully have a longer slip joint.
Reading through old posts I became aware that Les Richmond Automotive was an agent for Tom Woods Shafts. As luck would have it they had a low km second hand item to fit the Puma. That saved measuring and quoting information to America that I would imagine are more conversant in imperial and Jeeps.
I did have a low km Discovery 2 Cardan shaft complete with heavy duty uni's which was the spare from my last vehicle. I was tempted to lengthen this to suit as I had already picked up a D2 TC flange.
The Tom Woods shaft arrived today and makes an interesting comparison. The pictures show increased articulation in the joint, increased angle in the flanges, larger uni's and larger diameter shafts with increased slip, the internal of the Cardan joint is also greasable.
Thankyou to Paul at Les Richmond who also supplied a flange to suit the TC knowing it would be needed in the installation. It is a nice surprise to deal with people who not only know the product but can also think ahead to solve problems that are likely to arise. He also recommended locktite on the nut as Puma's with more than 30mm of lift have worked loose in the past.