Thread: Smoother ride from leaf springs?

Pull the shackles and springs out. Disassemble the springs, grease, reassemble. Grease the shackles well and replace worn bushes. Should improve the ride.

Hadn't heard about the tape though some use teflon pads between the leaves.

Hi Roger
There are parabolic springs available,apparently much softer but but not that good for heavy loads.
Im sure there are guys on here that have used them that may be able to offer more info.
Andrew

They say para's are as close to the ride of coils as you'll get for a leaf sprung vehicle, however in the same line of speech they say para's aren't cheap.

I'm keen to see how heavier loaded springs go in my shorty as most of the time it's loaded fairly well, and 109 rears should keep things taught. I greased (moly di) them before installing them underneath with new poly bushes. Tanks back in tomorrow and will have a kidney belt on order just in case things turn bad. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif[/img]

Hi Roger,
I've fitted parabolic springs to my 109" 2.25. The vehicle also has a capstan winch & steel bullbar on the front. The parabolics are very good, they have taken the harshness out of bumps, even though I have the extra heavy duty 4 leaf rears (note that this is in conjunction with better shock absorbers - which you will need). Off road though, they're not as good as coils; they give a better ride than standard leaf springs, but don't provide the same axle articulation as coils do.

I have heard from suppliers of parabolics though, that they have had returns from Stage 1 owners. All the parabolic brands come with only 2 leaf front springs, and it seems that 2 leaves are not enough for the extra weight of the V8 & Diesel engines they're fitted with. (As I've indicated though, mine seem OK with the extra weight I've got).

I'd recommend you try the cheapest option, which is to dismantle, wirebrush and grease your springs and make sure the bushes are up to spec, as already suggested.

If you want to go further after that, then upgrade your shock absorbers. You're going to have to do that if you go to parabolics anyway, but you might find that well oiled springs and decent shock absorbers will give you a surprisingly differant ride.

Let us know how you go.

I had rocky mountain parabolics on my ser III. It had a 3.3ltr diesel and a thomas pto winch and a solid steel bumper bar. They were only two leaf and handled it quite well. I was assured by rocky mountain themselves that the weight would be ok. You must also put long travel shocks on too. My wheel travel and ride was inproved quite a bit.
Rat 8)

you run the uppermost leaf soft(or with more of a curve in it) so it gives you a smooth ride unladen, then the rest of the leaves are stiffer to carry the weight.

as the weight is added it quickly compresses the first leaf and everything sits on the rest of the spring stack, which will be again smooth due to the weight of the load.


however.....just by simply cleaning and lubricating old rusty springs will make it feel like new suspansion. it should make a big difference.

I own SIII Stage One V8 too. I decided to remove some leaves, as my landy is usually not heavy loaded. But more interesting was that I put 1mm thick metal strips between leaves (rectangular shape), just above mounting plate. This way interleaf friction was meaningfully reduced and landy is much softer. To have really good effect, packs should be taken to specialist to reset them and than put back with mentioned metal strips-I expect this can work very well. I wanted to do it, but my beautiful stage one is for sale [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif[/img]
Potential disadvantages:
- I am not sure if my "patent" is legally OK
- Leaves may wear faster, as friction surface is reduced

adam

There's a guy in Melb who will convert it to coil suspension using Range Rover axles (2nd hand) for about $3000. That way you get coils [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif[/img] , disc brakes [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif[/img] & a better turning circle [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif[/img] . Rego-wise you chassis no. doesn't change :wink: .

I think he's joined this forum recently, but I don't know his user-name. PM me and I'll email you his contact details.