Bundalenes '51 Restoration

**Bundalene** · 7th January 2015, 11:06 PM

We have been having a play with some front springs. The vehicle we are restoring came with only 1 front spring and the vehicles we have purchased haven't fared much better. One has both left spring and right spring broken main leaves as per pic

So I am assuming the axle housing end is a weak point with these. We have several vehicles I can use for parts, but 1 has narrow front springs, another I am reluctant to touch at this stage and one has a pair of badly worn main leaves, see pic below. I have disassembled these and dropped them into the molasses bath

I have a single sagged front spring was given another set of sagged front springs by a friend, so I decided to have a go at resetting these using a ball pein hammer and an anvil. The free camber for these should be 102.5mmmm and were around 90mm. A bit of trial and error and the free camber was back a tad over required. I was contemplating on re-tempering them but probably won't at this stage

BTW we open the spring packs at the base and not the top as I find less likely hood of breaking the clamps and also easy to re-clamp in a vice.

Also, I thrive on constructive criticism as I make a lot of things up as I go and don't always get it right the first time. I am often way out of my comfort zone as today flogging springs with a crook finger

.

Erich

**Bundalene** · 8th January 2015, 11:33 AM

Originally Posted by Bundalene

I have come across this on 4 sets of wide 80 inch front springs to varying degrees.

Just thinking - to stop the above happening, would it be a problem to cut a piece of spring the length of the base of the axle housing and attaching this to the top of the a good main leaf of the spring with a longer center bolt? Could use another material such as stainless, it would work harden and crack, MS too soft????

This would alter the free camber a little.

Erich

**Lotz-A-Landies** · 8th January 2015, 11:50 AM

Hi Erich

You could do a number of things, however first thing that you have to do is throw those ones away.

For the wide front springs, you can salvage the main leaf off any later S1/SII/SIII original front spring which are only marginally thicker leaves (5.16mm (same as narrow 80" front) versus 4.2mm for wide front 80")

**wrinklearthur** · 8th January 2015, 11:58 AM

There are plates between the rear axle housing and the springs and you are right that stops a lot of wear.

That plate is part of the bracket that supports the rear brake lines to the backing plate on the 86" / 107" and later, leaf spring models.
.

**JDNSW** · 8th January 2015, 01:05 PM

Originally Posted by Bundalene

I have come across this on 4 sets of wide 80 inch front springs to varying degrees.

Just thinking - to stop the above happening, would it be a problem to cut a piece of spring the length of the base of the axle housing and attaching this to the top of the a good main leaf of the spring with a longer center bolt? Could use another material such as stainless, it would work harden and crack, MS too soft????

This would alter the free camber a little.

Erich

The wear on the top leaf is due to movement between the axle and the spring. This should be prevented by a tight fitting centrebolt and check tightening of the U-bolts every service as recommended. Of course, a wear plate could be fitted (if just the size of the axle pad, but with ends rounded up, it will not affect the spring), but if properly maintained, there should be no wear.

John

**groucho** · 10th January 2015, 11:25 AM

80" rear springs I had re set
6" drivers side 5/34" pas/side

**klonk** · 11th January 2015, 01:18 AM

Be carefull setting the springs up to 6" free camber on an 80" landy, due to the short rear driveshaft it makes it run at an extreme angle causing the universals to wear out early.

The 80"s were set at 4" free camber, the 86,88 etc had the 6" camber. Some spring people don't know the difference .

Cheers Steve

**groucho** · 11th January 2015, 07:39 AM

Good point there klonk.
Allowing for the fully assembled weight and a little settle and enough food water gear plus fuel and spares for 2 people for a pretty epic trip it should be close to the mark on the 4/12" set. Those springs don't have a big load rating, that was the plan. Sadly the good mate passed away that we planed to do a good trip so I kind of lost a bit of interest....

**groucho** · 11th January 2015, 07:54 AM

The land rover that belonged to this door went all of these places with a 1.6 motor that was wore out and re sleeved and wore out again no trailer and only the one fuel tank. It was set up well.. That is what a Land Rover should be used for not sit and looked at...

**Bundalene** · 11th January 2015, 03:57 PM

Just a quick one on springs, are we measuring from the same place on the spring? I believe Free Camber is the measurement taken from the base of the spring shackle bush and not the center of the shackle bush. Free Camber is measurement referred to in the Workshop Manual, not Arch................ Any Comments?

This is a typical NON Land Rover example found on the internet.

I found a few hours today to play Series1's, seems as it has been raining all day.

I now have a set of front springs I can work with. They need to be reset slightly (they both measure 92 - 95mm. I will get into them later in the week on the anvil. All associated hardware is pretty good. I have a set of U bolt nut locking tabs.

The tops are in very good condition. Not sure what the "D" represents

This lot went into the bath today. Even the shocks seem to work, but I will probably be looking for some replacements.

Springs still in the vehicle. I will replace these with another set to keep the car rolling

Also, I now have BSF common sizes taps and dies, still would like die nuts.

Erich

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