Thread: spring retainers a good idea even if your not having dislocated springs

Originally Posted by ROVERNIT

Are spring retainers a good idea even if your not having dislocated springs

I assume that is meant to be a question?

As far as I know, the standard suspension on any coil sprung Landrover is designed so that the suspension travel is limited by the shock absorbers before the spring becomes unseated. The only way this suspension could become dislocated is if the spring has sagged a little or the shock absorber breaks (see the thread on this!). Fitting spring retainers to allow for this may be a bit of overkill for an ordinary user, but if you are into extreme offroading, perhaps it may be worthwhile.

As soon as the suspension is modified in any way, the possibility of dislocation becomes more likely, especially if the suspension travel is deliberately increased - it is probably easy in this case to get the situation where a spring runs out of stretch before the shock absorber does, or at least to the extent that there is little pressure on spring pad - and since this is likely to happen when the axle is at an angle beyond that envisaged by the designer, placing a large side force on the spring, with the result that it will pop out.

John

A firm colled something like 'Equipe xxxxxxxx' located around the Thornleigh/Hornsby area (had a display ay the recent LROC Expo) imports extended spring aligners. If the spring dislodges as a result of extended suspension travel then the it simply realigns automatically.
Seems a better way to go if modifying suspension for increased articulation as spring then wouldn't limit travel........... although something has to!

JDNSW is spot on.

When the shockie travel prevents the springs dislocating, it is still a good idea (for the reasons John stated), to retain the bottom of the coils. At least the rears and the fronts as well if you have freed up the articulation there.

Xtreme takes a view which is common in the UK, but which I disagree with.

Dislocating cones give impressive articulation.

But for modified vehicles (locked and lifted), on actual difficult trails, retaining the springs top and bottom will give as good or better performance. With off camber obstacles, retained springs are far better and can save a roll over that dislocating cones promote.

No expert But I would have imagined that at full articulation that the wheel that has been forced down and in particular the rear that the spring may become loose on its seat, not pop out but become loose never the less.

I would of imagined that putting in spring retianers would at least hold the spring where they shold be and limit extreame cluncks when the spring is forced back in its spot and limiting the spring from sitting in a incorrect position for any length of time

I thought Ive spent bucket loads so far and if spring retianers would help in any way I might as well buy them to

Im not intrested in the disolocation aspect although it looks awesome however a lot has advised and in particular D2 it would be of no help

Originally Posted by Xtreme

A firm colled something like 'Equipe xxxxxxxx' located around the Thornleigh/Hornsby area (had a display ay the recent LROC Expo) imports extended spring aligners. If the spring dislodges as a result of extended suspension travel then the it simply realigns automatically.
Seems a better way to go if modifying suspension for increased articulation as spring then wouldn't limit travel........... although something has to!

Good points made by 'Bush65' & 'Rovernit'.

I'm not into the excessive articulation scene myself - prefer to accept vehicles limits as design engineers saw fit to put the package together. Only slight mods such as standard heavy duty front springs, decent shocks all round and polyairs on rear. Just thought I'd pass on what I saw at the Expo.

A bit off the thread but on our recent Madigan Trip I experienced a fair amount of the right front spring rubbing on the chassis. One other member also experienced same.
The front springs are retained at the bottom end so can't rotate but I was wondering if this was caused by reinstalling the springs at maybe 90 deg to their original position when fitting the front Konis - any thoughts/suggestions?

It's usually caused by a spring that is flexing too far sideways (poor quality spring) IMO.
I'm betting that if you removed it and stood it on a flat surface, it would have a lean rather than sitting parallel and square.
I also have an aftermarket spring that does this. The OE ones (same rate, shorter free length) don't