Thread: My first series 2a project

The spring and other suspension bushes used in Landrover suspension systems comprise two steel sleeves vulcanised to the rubber in between them. Movement is accommodated by distortion of the rubber.

The rubber can be expected to last for the most time if it is not distorted when sitting with the normal weight on the springs. The outer sleeve is a press fit into the spring eye or the chassis, but the inner sleeve is prevented from moving on the shackle bolt by clamping between the shackle plates, If it is not clamped, movement takes place between the sleeve and the shackle pin, wearing both and usually resulting in rapid bush failure. If it is clamped while the spring is unloaded, the distortion of the rubber on full spring deflection is much more than it is designed to accommodate, resulting in early failure of the rubber.

So the correct procedure is to leave the shackle pins loose until the full vehicle weight is on the springs, and then tightening them.

Hope this helps.

OK, so how do the bushes/pins work on the chassis (eg dumb irons) when these dont tighten against the bush as they arent adjustable obviously?

The bolts tighten into the threaded end of the shackle plate - the bolts have a fixed length of thread so bottom out and tighten up in the shackles. Clear as mud? 😁

Originally Posted by Cap

OK, so how do the bushes/pins work on the chassis (eg dumb irons) when these dont tighten against the bush as they arent adjustable obviously?

The dumb iron ends clamp the bush when u tighten the bolt up.

Cheers Rod

Yes. There is enough flex in the dumb iron cheeks to clamp. But if there are grooves worn in them you must fill these with weld and grind flat. (Or if you wear a striped apron, grind a little off and put in a washer!)

Thanks all, good to check these things. So im glad i did leave the backs lose, so will do for fronts until the whole series is built... effectively leaving these to last. Cant believe the dumb irons will flex that much, its thick steel!

Originally Posted by Cap

Thanks all, good to check these things. So im glad i did leave the backs lose, so will do for fronts until the whole series is built... effectively leaving these to last. Cant believe the dumb irons will flex that much, its thick steel!

Leave urself a note somewhere to remember to tighten them or u may forget...

Seeing i am working on the front end, i decided to look at the tie rod ends for all 3 arms. After reading more about them on this site, I am glad i did! The front end is a S3 diff and came with track rod and steering rod. I pulled the tie rod ends out and they looked reasonable new. These are the fully threaded ones, i believe post mid 70s? After careful inspection of the arms, i noticed that the 2 from the S3 diff had shouldered ends, yet the rods are full thread.

As a result i now need to buy the rods with the flange... i would like to thank all the members that contributed to previous tie rod end threads for this info, especially give how critical this is. Luckily i am planning one more UK order before end of financial year, to include these 6 rods.