109 suspension upgrade

Hi NiteMare, thanks for the detailed process instruction.

Ours is 109, originally hard top, but I have put a truck cab on it for better useability. My Father in law bought in brand new in 1976 and it is has not spent much time off the farm since then. Fundamentaly no maintenance for the first 20 years of it's life, and only rudementary stuff from me since then. Still runs well and is warranted and road registered. I very much doubt it has heavy duty springs unless they were standard.

When I have been crawling around under it in the last few weeks (exhaust repairs and full fluid replacment) I have looked at the springs and wondered what was inside those rusty looking stacks. Diesel and waste oil I have, so will give your method a try. No desire to pull them apart as it seems like a lot of work for possibly not a lot of gain. The bushing repalcement in particular sounds horrific from what I have read. It is not as though it is a daily driver!

spring bushes "can" be difficult but that will mainly be due to the bolt having rusted solid inside the inner sleeve of the bush , if you're lucky it might not have ....

when i change my spring bushes i slip small chisels into the rolled over end to assist releasing them, then attack them with an air chisel to drive them out ...

pull the new ones in after cleaning the spring eye using a nut and bolt with a heavy washer over the bush and another at the other end of the spring eye i usually coat the bush and eye with copper ease to hopefully reduce corrosion for the next time....

occaisionally you'll find the bolt refuses to come out of the bush and it requires cutting either side of the spring, hacksaw if you like exercise, 1mm cutting disc on your angle grinder if you're lazy like me ...

you might possibly get it to move just by heating it but that will most likely require oxy/acetalene cutting gear to get it sufficiently hot to free the rust (this is not to be used to heat the spring or it'll be buggered/scrap, just heat the head of the bolt repeatedly to get the heat to travel down the inside)

i've so far not had to change a chassis bush (dreading that)

Spring cleaning and oiling has been discussed in detail here:
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/series-2-2...g-leafs-2.html

Modding leaf springs for more comfort and wheel travel has been discussed here:
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/series-3/4...ml#post1195078

And here:
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/technical-...s-springs.html

As for bushes, I swapped all mine to (soft) poly bushes many years ago. Much easier to change, and if anything they give more suspension travel than standard bushes. SuperPro make nice, soft poly bushes (mine are another brand).

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/

Isuzurover...

i want your wings, radiator panel and bonnet (the tools would be nice as well) :p

i've just got one of those Aussie Combat chassis'd 88"s, but it's had a standard Series3 front end fitted :(

would you be prepared to share any I.D. details with me ?? mine is a 1970/71 CKD that i found in a field just outside Birmingham

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NiteMare

Isuzurover...

i want your wings, radiator panel and bonnet (the tools would be nice as well) :p

i've just got one of those Aussie Combat chassis'd 88"s, but it's had a standard Series3 front end fitted :(

would you be prepared to share any I.D. details with me ?? mine is a 1970/71 CKD that i found in a field just outside Birmingham

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What would you like to know?

There is plenty of info in the REMLR section. I didn't think they were making OZ military 88's as late as that. Does yours have a plate with "body by pressed metal corp, sydney".

check out his 88 in this thread.

http://www.aulro.com/afvb/series-2-2...-identify.html


it needs some bits (or instructions to replicate things like cut guards) and will look the ducks nuts with a bit of work and a coat of olive drab!

(nitemare the advantage of olive drab is that anyone can paint it -no gloss etc to give it all away! easier to touch up etc etc...look at vehicles in REMLR, start with DINTY and see his vehicles for inspiration..

(and I plan to copy his style re names and placement of plates etc... then you'll also need some AMF plates!)

cheers
digger


Ben, thanks for the tips re: the springs I have a solid set of 4 on VET...

@ Ben...

i believe mine actually was imported back here from New Zealand as i found an advert that had been scanned, i've been in touch with the company but unfortunately they've lost the paper records of the time

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...11/10/1159.jpg

going by that, there is the possibility that it is one of only seven in this country (makes finding original parts very difficult)

all the identifying plates have been removed but the chassis number is easily readable which told me that it is a 70/71 CKD, i've also put the engine number thru CalVin (just as a thought) and that came back as having originated in a 109 CKD :confused: engine number 25357878 K

p.s.
i've grabbed the pictures of yours and saved them to my hard drive from your P/bucket account for future reference (even modified parts are worth refering to)

Guys,

I had a hard time sourcing parabolics in Oz so I saw Peter at West Coast Rover who fitted a set he could get locally. They've been a huge improvement over standard as far as ride is concerned and the travel is mind-boggling compared with before. The standard shocks were adequate, but were restricting travel, so I then went to WA Suspensions and they fitted four Konis that they modified to fit. I have no idea of part numbers, and I know I could have done most of this myself if I'd had the time, but I can assure you it was all worthwhile.

Cheers,

James