One Total Novice. Your Help. Job Done!

[BigSi110]

Guys,

Just wanted to say a collective thanks for the threads contained herein on this forum for helping me decide to replace the rear springs and dampers on my 110 CSW by myself.

To give an example. Total cost from my specialist @ £50 / hr inc genuine parts = £200 all-in.

I bought new Boge dampers for £40. New genuine rear springs £87. New trolley jack for £50. New 6-tonne axle stands for £10.

It took me 6 hours on Friday, but it's done.

Would have taken less, but my axle didn't drop enough for the rear springs to extracate and intricate easily, so I had to borrow a set of spring compressors. I put this down to the anti-roll bar reducing the rear axle drop.

Anyway, job done. Bit of waxoyl sprayed round the spring turrets and bottom seats.

Ran out of time to replace the rear brake pads. Shame.

But thanks! Reading the tech archive helped, past threads etc. Confidence boosted!

[Les Henson]

Glad you managed it ok and safely, and thanks for the general compliment.

Les.

[western]

Well done Simon

[Paul64]

Hi Simon, Well done to you, brave man. I still haven't struck out on my own yet. I am learning a hell of a lot from Rejo, but I take my hat off to you for tackling a job like that on your own. I noted the last remark about confidence boosted. It takes a lot to take on a job when you get to that point of no return. When it goes right and you don't have the embarrassment of calling someone in to finish off the job for you certainly does give you a good feeling.

Just out of interest what made you change them?

Rejo says my LR is sitting a bit low for use with the Sankey, so my back springs and shocks are going to be changed. I know everyone has their own preferences when it comes to what brand and he recommends Old Man Emu kit. He sent me a chart of the choices available. Now I just have to decide what will be the average weight I will be carrying etc.

Again well done.

Cheers, Paul.

[Hybrid_From_Hell]

I just read the post

and thought apart from "Well done that man" I also thought "nice that you felt the need to comment"..

So congrats on both fronts and

may this spur you on to other things that save you money and ensure the job is done properly and without "Dealer" Shortcuts

Nige

[western]

Paul, my OME springs are rated on front to carry a constant 110kgs [husky winch/150ft steel cable & bumper] upto max vehicle gross weight & rear springs rated for a constant 300kgs [or might be 400kgs -- to cope with my rally recovery kit] upto max gross weight, can't remember the OME part numbers but that give you some idea of why my 110 looks like it's empty -- pic below on recovery duty fully kitted & with 2 crew on board, trailer makes almost no difference to the rear when attached.

reckon your rear self levelling [boge] strut is duff.

[jamesm]

New genuine rear springs £87

Thanks - I had been wondering how much genuine rear springs were; I fitted some pattern ones about 3 years ago and they've sagged to the extent that I can now use multi-storey car parks

(btw, my tip for changing rear springs without using scary spring compressors is to jack the opposite side of the axle to the one you're changing once the axle stands are under the chassis. Worked for me).

[Paul64]

Paul, my OME springs are rated on front to carry a constant 110kgs [husky winch/150ft steel cable & bumper] upto max vehicle gross weight & rear springs rated for a constant 300kgs [or might be 400kgs -- to cope with my rally recovery kit] upto max gross weight, can't remember the OME part numbers but that give you some idea of why my 110 looks like it's empty -- pic below on recovery duty fully kitted & with 2 crew on board, trailer makes almost no difference to the rear when attached.

reckon your rear self levelling [boge] strut is duff.

Thanks Ralph,

Rejo says I need to gain about 4 inches to use his Sankey. I need this for when I move to Romania with all my kit. Just out of interest he measured the drop when I got in the back (100kg) and went down another inch. I think the spings are original from 1994 and my LR's first life was a ballon chaser and carrier for several years. It looks fine to me and there has never been a sloppy or rolling ride. Rejo says she should be sitting up a bit more at the back. I will talk to him about the self levelling strut as that never came up in the conversation.

Regarding the weight. I will have max 4 customers and all their kit in the back. So springs you have sound like they would do the job. I agree with you with the picture, she does look light and as you say carrying a lot of weight.

Cheers,

Paul.

[jjojjas]

Thanks Ralph,

Rejo says I need to gain about 4 inches to use his Sankey. I need this for when I move to Romania with all my kit. Just out of interest he measured the drop when I got in the back (100kg) and went down another inch. I think the spings are original from 1994 and my LR's first life was a ballon chaser and carrier for several years. It looks fine to me and there has never been a sloppy or rolling ride. Rejo says she should be sitting up a bit more at the back. I will talk to him about the self levelling strut as that never came up in the conversation.

Regarding the weight. I will have max 4 customers and all their kit in the back. So springs you have sound like they would do the job. I agree with you with the picture, she does look light and as you say carrying a lot of weight.

Cheers,

Paul.

Hi Paul,

Not sure where your from but I was told that not all CSW's had a boge self leveling unit. I think it was dependent upon the country it was sold in? Anyway, I got some good advice from Diff on here in a post a couple of month back, I copied it into my web page so have a look here. http://www.jojas.co.uk/rear_springs.htm

[western]

Have a trawl through this OME & Genuine LR spring specs

IIRC my fronts are the 751's & rears are the 754's with matching OME dampers

[Paul64]

Hi Paul,

Not sure where your from but I was told that not all CSW's had a boge self leveling unit. I think it was dependent upon the country it was sold in? Anyway, I got some good advice from Diff on here in a post a couple of month back, I copied it into my web page so have a look here. http://www.jojas.co.uk/rear_springs.htm

I live in Germany but I bought my LR where it spent all it's life in the UK. I don't even know what the self leveling unit looks like or where it is located to know if I have one. Looking at your photo post new springs it doesn't look much higher than mine. However, photos can be deceiving. Do you not find that your step and low mount from the cross member act as a plough? Looks a bit like mine and the last time I went off road I left the field in a state a farmer with a Massey Ferguson would have been proud of! Worries me a bit as when I move to Romania the terrain is a bit more rocky, so it may need to come off.

Cheers, Paul

[Paul64]

Have a trawl through this OME & Genuine LR spring specs

IIRC my fronts are the 751's & rears are the 754's with matching OME dampers

Thanks Ralph for the info. With these heavy duty springs how do you find the ride? For me it's a toss up between doing the job well, but making sure the customers don't feel like they have been to Alton Towers for the day.

Cheers, Paul

[Guest dew110CSW]

Yours looks about right tbh Paul, about the same as mine (Standard CSW but I THINK it's had the suspension changed at some point in it's life).

[western]

Thanks Ralph for the info. With these heavy duty springs how do you find the ride? For me it's a toss up between doing the job well, but making sure the customers don't feel like they have been to Alton Towers for the day.

Cheers, Paul

Mine rides well with all the gear on board, I can hustle it along winding roads fairly well without to much bodyroll, much better than the soft factory springs, there's not much difference when completly empty either just a slightly harder ride but no bone shakingly so.

you'll find the Boge strut under the truck forward of the rear axle adajacent to where the rear axle A frame arms attach to the chassis, & on top of the diff case on the axle.

[BigSi110]

Thanks for the comments and further encouragement!

James, your suggestion of raising the opposite side of the axle actually occured to me. This morning. Ho-hum, only 4 days late. But thanks!!

Paul, I changed the dampers as one of them was leaking a bit of oil. Not much, but enough to make replacement worthwhile.

As I'm a stickler for having a car in PERFECT working order, I figured that the springs were probably as old as the dampers, hence as old as the 110 (coming up for 13 years), so were probably getting a little tired, although there was nothing to suggest this.

So, I thought that, for the sake of removing two more bolts per side, the springs may as well come out.

Further logic suggests that the old springs may be worth a little bit to someone else as there's nothing operationally wrong with them. A bit of rust, as expected, and maybe 1 or 2 mm shorter than the new ones, but that's it.

Ralph also has a set of CSW springs to shift and his are much newer than mine.

By the way, I replaced the rear brake pads yesterday too. Again, never done this before. I found using a cold-chisel as a lever to get the pistons back in worked a treat, but only after 2 other attempts with a small G-Clamp. I've got the burst blisters to prove it!! Took ~ 2 hours and I could easily shave 45 mins off that now.

Once again, a MASSIVE collective thanks to you all!!

[jjojjas]

I live in Germany but I bought my LR where it spent all it's life in the UK. I don't even know what the self leveling unit looks like or where it is located to know if I have one. Looking at your photo post new springs it doesn't look much higher than mine. However, photos can be deceiving. Do you not find that your step and low mount from the cross member act as a plough? Looks a bit like mine and the last time I went off road I left the field in a state a farmer with a Massey Ferguson would have been proud of! Worries me a bit as when I move to Rmania the terrain is a bit more rocky, so it may need to come off.

Cheers, Paul

Paul, It doesn't look much in the pic, but I'd guess mines about 1.5 inches higher. thats about how much higher my 110 was when I changed the springs. The ride is better now as well, less roll, not too hard

jas

ps. does catch the odd rock, but not much. Depends how "off the road" you go.

[Paul64]

Paul, It doesn't look much in the pic, but I'd guess mines about 1.5 inches higher. thats about how much higher my 110 was when I changed the springs. The ride is better now as well, less roll, not too hard

jas

ps. does catch the odd rock, but not much. Depends how "off the road" you go.

I think I am just going to change them. As Rejo says the roads and tracks in Transylvania are going to punish my suspension much more than present so better do it before I go.

Cheers,

Paul