DII Rear Spring Change

**Bytemrk** · 1st August 2009, 10:17 PM

Hi All,

I am soon to do an outback trip and I've been a bit nervous that the air suspension might make my life a misery.... so I decided to do something about it.

I like my air suspension - and will most likely put the bags back again. But I decided for this trip there was too much risk of being caught in Upper Cumbuctor West with out the proverbial paddle. (even if i do have a spare bag.)

Anyway... here is what I did the other day:

Firstly a month or so back I got some lower spring plates and the upper rubber mounts from Bundalene (Thank you again Erich). And I purchased some 220lb 'purple" springs from LRA that match nicely with the 180lb LRA "red's I have in the front.

Removing the airbags is pretty easy, I put the car on axle stands and removed the rear wheels:

Yes.. I know.. I didn't rake the workshop floor

Then I let the air out of the system by slowly releasing the connections at the compressor end.

Then I was able to release the clips at the top of the airbags and push them down a little - allowing access to remove the airlines form the top of the bag.

A quick twist and the bag was out ( I forgot to take a photo of this process -

) - but for those that need to change an airbag - you can see how dead easy it is. I also removed the shocker on the first side to give my self a little more room.

I then positioned the lower spring plates and bolted them in place (lock tighting the bolts) and used some electrical tape to hold the top rubber mounts in place as I wrestled the spring

Next I used some spring compressors to get the spring down to a size i could squeeze in. I did use some larger compressors than I pictured. I also undid the ABS sensor plugs - as i was a little concerned about how far I was stretching them and the brake lines. ( Initially I wrongly thought i would need to remove the calipers.)

After easing the springs into place - it was simply a matter of removing the spring compressors, reconnecting the ABS sensor and bolting the shock back in.

Then I set about tidying up the air suspension - as I probably intend to re use it.

First I seals up the ends of the air bag lines and cabled tied them out of the way.

Then I reconnected the compressor end and put the cover back on the compressor.

I then removed the relay in the engine bay fuse box that controls the compressor.

Before using Nanocom to tell the SLABS computer that it was now Coil suspension.

Hopefully this will be of use to someone..

Any of those real mechanic out there that want to chip in and tell people what I did wrong - feel free.... but all is working fine.

I just need to sort out the shocker rubbers on my new rear shocks and it will be complete....

Cheers,
Mark

**Redback** · 2nd August 2009, 09:01 AM

I know this is not going to help as you have already taken out the bags, BUT I think you should have just left the bags in, on our Cape trip Icefye had an ACE/SLS D2 and no probs at all, the corrigated roads and bulldust up there are pretty bad, not to mention some of the OTL creek crossings.

Anyway, the springs seem a bit light if your going to have a load in the back. I'm assuming your loading gear in the back

Baz.

**scarry** · 2nd August 2009, 12:18 PM

I am no mechanic,but i changed my rear coils couple of weeks ago.I have a 5 seater,coils all round ,stock height,& the front shocks were stuffed & coils sagged .MR changed these,& then after they had settled the car was levell,so i replaced the rears with Kings,stock height.It actually only brought the rear up around 12mm,so the originals weren't too bad,.Cant se any colour marking on them.

I didn't use a spring compresser,did remove the bolt that holds the brake line bracket & you get another inch or so of distance.I wired up the old ones to get them out,but the new ones seemed to go in with the help of a pinch bar & a large screwdriver.

Also the instructions said to put the coils closest together at the top.

And its off to the cape in 10 days

Before i had this 5 seater,i had two 7 seaters withSLS,& never had any problems.

It was the last cape trip & a Simpson trip that wrecked my front shocks,& the fronts coils probably sagged with age.I do have a steel bar,no winch.

I recon if you have SLS & the fronts sagg,it probably re levels & hides the fact they have sagged.

**Slunnie** · 2nd August 2009, 05:28 PM

Bit of fun for you. You may want to load it up and take it for a spin. I think that you'll find the coils are waaaaay too light for that type of touring. The rear of a D2 needs stiff springs and stiff shocks in comparison to other Rovers, especially when you load them.

**justinc** · 2nd August 2009, 05:50 PM

Originally Posted by Slunnie

Bit of fun for you. You may want to load it up and take it for a spin. I think that you'll find the coils are waaaaay too light for that type of touring. The rear of a D2 needs stiff springs and stiff shocks in comparison to other Rovers, especially when you load them.

Agreed, I'd be thinking a minimum of 270, better with 300 to 320.

JC

**Pedro_The_Swift** · 2nd August 2009, 05:56 PM

A lot of normal gear will be in Marks camper,,

maybe just people and a fridge in the D2??

**justinc** · 2nd August 2009, 06:02 PM

Draw bar weight? I ended up going from 270 to 320 pound LRA springs in the back of the last D2 we did, towing the Kimberley camper had a draw bar weight of 90 to 110 kgs, plus full fuel load and fridge etc etc it really needed the extra. Slunnie is right about these D2's, I wouldn't have picked the 320's first up, but it needed them

Used Bilsteins all round, and fabbed lower top mounts on the rear to be able to use standard off the shelf shocks
The report back from the owner was very happy with ride quality and no fade etc reported.

JC

**Bytemrk** · 2nd August 2009, 07:26 PM

Originally Posted by Pedro_The_Swift

A lot of normal gear will be in Marks camper,,

maybe just people and a fridge in the D2??

Yep Spot on Pedro,

Vast majority of the weight is in the camper... and the ball weight is about 80kg fully loaded

So far (unloaded) I am very happy.... sounds like i need to hook up the trailer, fill the water tank and jerrys and go for a bit of a wander..

Hopefully I haven't stuffed up... but at least with LRA I can change them over... better to work out if I need to now rather than after we leave...

Thanks guys..

Mark

**Bytemrk** · 2nd August 2009, 07:30 PM

Originally Posted by Redback

I know this is not going to help as you have already taken out the bags, BUT I think you should have just left the bags in, on our Cape trip Icefye had an ACE/SLS D2 and no probs at all, the corrigated roads and bulldust up there are pretty bad, not to mention some of the OTL creek crossings.

Anyway, the springs seem a bit light if your going to have a load in the back. I'm assuming your loading gear in the back

Baz.

Yeh I was really in 2 minds about it Baz... most of my gear will be in the trailer - so not a huge weight in the back.

I'd just heard so many stories of people getting let down in remote areas by the bags I chickened out

I still have a month till we go.... so I will do some load tests and see if i need to upgrade the weight to the springs... I think I probably will go back to air when we return anyway.

Cheers, Mark

**scarry** · 2nd August 2009, 07:52 PM

If you were a bit closer you could have tried mine.........

They are sitting here waiting for a new home

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