Thread: Road-Handling and Ride Quality

Originally Posted by garrywlh

Thanks so much, gents. Lots to be going on with.

She has 7.50x16s because she began life as a GS Command Recon truck for the Army. The front tyres had brilliant tread when I got her, but were very old and hard. I have new ones on as of today and can't wait to try them out.

If it had 7.50x16 from new, it probably has the right wheels and speedo

John, you mention standard and parabolic leaf springs. The difference is lost on me. Which would a S2 military LR have had, as I suspect these are original. I'd like to look at refurbishing them, as I did with Hedley's; so, apart from de-rusting, lubricating, painting and new bushes, what is involved in 'resetting' them? It sounds like a specialist job?

The springs you have are standard. Parabolic springs have the tapering of the springs by changing thickness of the leaves, not by having progrssively shorter leaves, and in Landrover applications have only two or three leaves, the leaves touching only at the tip of the lower leaves (and, of course at the axle).

And I'm a bit daunted by the issues related to steering, though really appreciate the great, detailed advice. And reassured to hear that a bit of 'wander' is to be expected. Fortunately, I don't intend on any high speed driving!

I do not believe that "a bit of wander" is to be expected. Every time I have had that with mine I have been able to find and rectify the problem. Although the steering is probably not as precise as is expected with modern road cars.

Enjoying the challenge of fine-tuning all these issues now that I can actually road-test changes as I make them.

Garry

Hope this helps.

John

Hi Garry,

If the vehicle was originally army then it would have had the extended spring hangers, extended shackles, longer shock absorbers and probably a small scoop cutout at the top front edge of the cross member under the gearbox. All these gave a little extra clearance under the body but did not require a change of the actual springs. Parabolic springs usually are set to give some lift themselves so on a military chassis may be a bit too much.

Resetting standard springs can be done at home but methods vary in their requirement for tools and experience, an internet search may help there. Resetting can also be done by a spring works and may be the best way depending on your confidence. No guarantee that they will get them right as far as height goes though. The amount of "set" that a spring has is measured from the ground to the spring when they are sitting upside down and in some of the manuals there is also a measurement for the distance from the spring to the bump stop. Yet again this would be different for a military chassis. It is also worth noting that the set of a standard spring is different on the driver side to the passenger side to allow for the weight differences due to diffs, fuel tanks and driver.

It is possible to do things like chamfer the ends of each spring, diamond cut the ends and add UHDPE or Teflon tape or strips between the leaves to get better action and ride. You can also remove a leaf or leaves from a spring pack to soften them up depending on the load you plan to carry, the army usually went for a load rating rather than a comfort rating . With a leaf spring though an improvement in ride is always relative and will never match a well set up coil for that though they can be very impressive with articulation offroad.

Hope that helps a little bit.

Cheers,

TimJ.

Yeah, got to agree that when sorted it shouldn't wander.

My 101 (which is very similar apart from the steering box) had plenty of wander when I bought it, but after finding the arm on the steering relay loose and a buggered ball joint, it now tracks well and doesn't wander - even at speed (well 110KPH) even sitting on the huge 255/100/16 Michelin XZL's it runs. It's tight and I can throw it around a lot more than most would believe.

There are a lot of points that have to all be spot on - a bit of wear in each will add up to a lot at the steering wheel. You've got the steering box, 6 tie rod ends, steering relay and railco bushes in the system - and they will all have some wear with the age they are.

The vehicle in question is a Series 2 88" Comm/Recon car and it will not have extended shackles etc, but will have std Land Rover shocks front n rear, cheers Dennis
ps good work Gary, on getting it registered, now you just need the time to get it fine tuned, cheers,,.

Disco 1 steel rims improve road handling due to the wider track.
Purists wont like them!!!!!,another option is the Defender 130 rim to widen the track,at least it looks as it should.
You need the later hubs/studs,early series have thiner studs with the same PCD.
You cant use Disco/DefendeRRC alloys unless the correct studs are fitted,from memory they have a | mark across the end of the stud.
Andrew

They might improve the handling (although why you have a Series Landrover if your major concern is handling is a mystery), but they increaser the steering load parking speeds and increase the already substantial turning circle. And they look ridiculous, although this is hardly a worry if they really do something for you (they also provide you with tubeless rims and a wider variety of tyres).

John

My S3 shorty has parabolics and I have been right through the steering to ensure anything that was worn was replaced. It steers very well.
I have fitted a new relay unit, but before doing so I used to find that the steering would wander when the old relay box was low on oil. Try topping yours up and it may improve things. You could also reposition the arms, it improved mine whilst I was waiting for a new one to arrive from the UK.
Remove the arms and rotate the shaft 90 or 180 degrees and then replace the arms and see how that goes.
I also find if my tyre pressures get down it does not drive as well.
I am running Bridgestone 15x7 tires (9R15LT). They are not a high profile tire, about 28-29 inches, as I also run 3.54 diffs and a "Roamerdrive".
Good luck!!!


Cheers, Mick.

I'm running 7.50 x 16s on Bill, and I wouldn't want to go any wider as slow speed turning is heavy enough as it is thank you very much.

Going though all connections in the steering, making sure there's enough oil in the steering box and the relay on the chassis, and removing any play in the steerer box did the trick for me. Bill steers certainly as well as my coil sprung 80 series Landcruiser.

If all that stuff checks out and its still vague, check for play in the hubs. Actually check for play in the hubs anyway, its a good thing to do and makes your Land Rover feel loved.

Resetting the springs doesn't affect the ride quality, just the height. Strip the springs and refurbish them first, that makes a massive difference in comfort.
If the springs have sagged you can get them reset, I did but it didn't really last so I don't think it was great value for money.
Best thing I did was buy an extra leaf for each side, cost me less than $30 shipped to my door, and that raised the front end to just above stock, and is not harsh at all.
Another thing you can do is cut half the height off your bumpstops to stop that heavy crash as you go through all the travel. Give you an extra 20mm or so upward travel and still stops the axle before the shock is fully compressed.