Thread: My 1955 86" rebuild.

I'm sure I had said that it rides like a 'dray' and kills my lower back, well I decided to take a look at the rear springs.
Another day another set of tasks, I had retrieved my Series 2 C/R Land Rover on Wednesday relocating it here at our home we now have 10 Land Rovers here + wife's car 3 ex-mil trailers and our camper trailer, it's tight LOL, anyway to work safely I put the Series 1 under the carport attached to the house

I had placed it on stands just forward of the front eyes rear springs and have removed the split pins from the shock absorbers, it took me about 40 minutes and I had both springs off, when the left spring came off, the diff/housing moved slightly to the left and rearwards damn

the Series 1 springs are on the left, the others will be going under the rear of my S2 C/R soon

but I'm a one man band here and my age is telling me with sore arms/shoulders lower back etc but if I don't do it well you know
the 3/8" nuts were seized, I applied some heat but it did nothing to alleviate the situation, so out with a very sharp cold chisel and I split the nuts x 2

at some point in it's distant past some dimwit did this

that added extra time using my 5" angle grinder (Metabo) with a thin 1mm disc I releived some of the welds and then hit them with cold chisel
that finished it off, apply heat to the tabs and bend them back, with a G clamp holding them together, I needn't bothered as they were stuck on
the center bolt


a few sharp blows with a 2 hammers the heavy one like a dolly under the spring the other to hit the spring, I soon had them separated
rust and ****e everywhere

in my mind it's no damn wonder it rode like a dray, the springs would not work as they should with all that crap on them, anyway when the washing has dried on the clothes line, I will be into it using the angle grinder with a flap disc, cheers Dennis

I have seen leafs greased, collected, and wrapped in hessian of all things to go racing,,
I understand this was a daily(every time possible) exercise,,

I was talking to a truck driver about greasing springs & he said they dont grease springs because it causes the springs to brake. In saying that the P3 Rovers springs were packed in grease with leather shesves on them. When I pulled the rear springs out of my P3 & cleaned them they were like new steel.

With the spring clamps welded to the top leaf, no wonder it rode like a dray! Forget about the rust.

I used to be against greasing springs because it attracts dust, resulting in more rapid wear but I am now convinced that it is the way to go.

Traditionally, trucks were not fitted with shock absorbers, relying entirely on interleaf friction for damping. This being the case, greasing these springs could certainly lead to broken leaves. But as far as I know, all trucks today have hydraulic dampers.

I have several old (1920s-1940s) books on mechanicing, and they all have sections on how to grease or oil your spring leaves.

John

There was only one spring clamp welded, 3 of them are very ordinary, I feel like **** this morning and have been run over by a bus LOL, anyway cheers Dennis

The joys of crawling around under motor cars aye Denis.
I know the feeling well, or at least my knees do!
I often feel the same way, like I have played chicken with the Indian Pacific, then think maybe I should just start collecting stamps.
But then I come to my senses.


Cheers, Mick.

I'm still not anywhere near 95%, but pushing myself along,like I sometimes say 'another day another set of tasks' so with that in mind I took myself down to the local steel supplier to get the materials
that I would need to make rivets and clamping straps

next was to remove the old straps and knock out the rivets

then take a rough measurement of the holes in the springs and straps and come to a happy medium with the rivets, after grinding
the rivet flush I knocked it out, so the rivet diameter ended being 0.406" or 13/32".

here is the first rivet I turned up, the shaft was 1/2" in length the head diameter was also 1/2", it fitted like the proverbial

the rivet before fitting, it has a 20deg taper on the head as well

The next strap was knackered as this was the one that had been welded to the spring, so some measurements were taken and
checked again as I have no trade skills and I didn't want to stuff it up, here is the second rivet and half of the strap LOL

after heating and bending the 25 x 5 flat bar and drilling a 13/32" hole in it a quick check to make sure everything is in alignment

then with my T/A aka wife LOL using the Oxy/acetylene to heat the rivet end, when red hot I had two hammers a large ball pein
and a brass faced hammer, three hits re-apply the heat and repeat until the desired mushroom shape has appeared

the underside it all looks very neat, was still very hot when image was taken, but it has cooled now and it's all very tight,

anyway
that's been my day, I must be coming down with something as I have absolutely no energy, and I still have to make 2 center bolts 2 1/8" long x 3/8"UNF anyway cheers Dennis

Originally Posted by Dinty

The next strap was knackered as this was the one that had been welded to the spring, so some measurements were taken and
checked again as I have no trade skills and I didn't want to stuff it up...

Ahhh your telling porkies again Dennis! Not everyone can just knock up a rivet in their backyard!!!

Great work as always

Dan