Front left of 110 is sitting low?

[PieEater3142]

So I am about to get the 110 on the road, however having just put new tyres on her (thanks slomofo) I find that the front left is sitting lower than the rest of the car????

To my knowledge these are new springs (still got the colour coding paint on) - they came fitted when I bought her as a rolling chassis.

Question is, how can I find out if the spring is knackered already (no idea how this can happen since she's only been sat being worked on). Alternatively, the previous owner put the wrong springs on.

Does anyone have the colour coding for a 110.

At present the Front passenger is yellow, rear passenger is red, rear driver is (can't remember and no pictures), front driver is white. Does this sound correct?

[mmgemini]

No it doesnen't

Here's the latest list I've been given.

http://www.landrover...ring_rates.html

I run yellow/ yellow on the front and red/ green on the rear both sides of my 110 station wagon. It sits level like that.

HTH

[PieEater3142]

Thanks, sorry its white on driver front, driver rear is the colour i don't know.

So would the unlevelled look be because I have driver front = white and passenger front = yellow?

The passenger side is VERY busy in the engine bay but I wouldn't have thought the weight would be large enough to drop the body by 2-3"

Does this sound like a knackered spring? Do I replace the pair together or is it just a swap out of the passenger side? Could it be anything else? I have checked and it is located correctly on both sides (didn't dislocate the springs when swapping tyres - used highlift).

[PieEater3142]

I was eventually going to put a 2" lift on the 110 but I was going to do that a couple of years down the line. I have already put wide angle prop shafts from devon 4x4 (GKN) on. In light of this, could I upgrade the springs without doing the shocks for now, doubtful and probably ill advised right? Just a thought

[reb78]

Your front colours are right. I asked that question in a thread a couple of nights ago.

http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?showtopic=76275

[PieEater3142]

Pics of springs -

Passenger Rear:

Passenger Front:

Driver Front:

I think the driver rear is red red also.....

[PieEater3142]

Your front colours are right. I asked that question in a thread a couple of nights ago.

http://forums.lr4x4....showtopic=76275

Thanks for the confirmation, so does yours sit a low on the passenger side? Looking at the link mmgemini put down the spring lengths are different by about an half an inch - but I am sitting lower than that..

Of course I haven't seen what the level is like once I'm sat in the car and thats definitely going to drop the front drivers side

[reb78]

Before changing the springs it always had a slight tilt (down on the passenger side), but i put that down to the different ratings to account for the driver weight etc. Mines still on axle stands, so i cant report back on its height post change yet. Yours might level out as the bodywork etc is added and weight is put on the other springs i suppose. I'd say measure the heights between the axle and chassis at the spring and compare them to mine, but it wouldnt be a direct comparison at the moment as mine has the bodywork etc. (having said that, you could measure them and we could assume that yours should be longer as they have less weight on them, so if they turned out to be shorter, then they may be a problem with your springs).

[PieEater3142]

Sorry - old photos - the bodywork is all on, just waiting on some tiger seal to put the passenger floor pan down and the non moving hinges (tail gate, bonnet windscreen) to come back from power coating. Then its off for MOT (after filling the drivetrain with oils and fixing the wiper issue). The last pic I took before I put the wheel arches on and drained down the drivetrain:

[Diff]

Yellow yellow on the left side front and white white on the right side front is correct for the older spec 110s...

BUT this will give a slight lean to the left. This is because the right side spring is about half an inch longer (but the same rate). The same applies to the rear springs.

HOWEVER, during production of the 300tdi 110 models (and onwards inc. TD5), the standard springs were all the same length and colour codes on both sides. This ensures the vehicle sits level side to side.

Here is the spring specs copied from the 1997 300tdi workshop manual:

ROAD SPRING DATA

90 (2400 Kg) Part No. Colour Code

Front - Driver’s side NRC 9446 Blue/green

Front - Passenger side NRC 9447 Blue/yellow

Rear - Driver’s side NRC 9448 Blue/red

Rear - Passenger side NRC 9449 Yellow/white

90 (2550 Kg)

Front - Driver’s side NRC 9446 Blue/green

Front - passenger side NRC 9447 Blue/yellow

Rear - Driver’s side NRC 9462 Green/yellow/red

Rear - Passenger side NRC 9463 Green/yellow/white

110 (3050 Kg)

Front - both sides NRC 8045 Yellow/yellow

Rear - both sides NRC 6904 Red/green

110 Levelled (2950 Kg)

Front - both sides NRC 8045 Yellow/yellow

Rear - both sides NRC 7000 Green/white

110 (3400 Kg)

Front - both sides NRC 8045 Yellow/yellow

Rear - both sides NRC 6904 Red/green

Rear helper springs - both sides RRC 3266 No colour code

110 (3600 Kg)

Front - Driver’s side NRC 9448 Blue/red

Front - passenger side NRC 9449 Yellow/white

Rear - both sides NRC 6904 Red/green

Rear helper springs - both sides RRC 3226 No colour code

130 (3500 Kg)

Front - driver’s side NRC 9448 Blue/red

Front - passenger side NRC 9449 Yellow/white

Rear - driver’s side NRC 6389 Red/red

Rear - passenger side NRC 6904 Red/green

Front/rear helper springs - both sides RRC 3266 No colour code

If you have a very significant lean, you may have other problems.

You can cure the standard lean either by fitting the same colour code springs on both sides as per the specs above, or you can put a thin spacer under the left hand spring seats to even up the height of the springs.

Hope this helps,

Regards,

Diff.

[PieEater3142]

Thanks Diff,

I think it's a bit more than an 1/2 inch but I will look at putting a yellow yellow on the drivers side as well to even it up after I get someone to look at it once i'm sat in it. If it's level when i'm in there i'm tempted to leave it. It is exaserbated by the drive being unlevel so can't tell the real difference easily, just going on looks from the front.

You can see the difference here (although as I said the drive isn't very level and the grill is not attached):

I will measure the difference in height between spring turret and axle on both sides and see what the difference is - only really noticed when I put the arches on and my foot fits under one arch and not the other.

[western]

looks like it's parked on a soft gravel drive, might be worth putting the 110 on a hard surface first then measure.

[PieEater3142]

Yep soft drive, will put it on the road first then. Thanks guys

[rochie]

Apologies if this is stating the obvious but is it possible that the top of the rear drivers-side spring is not properly seated in it's mount? I had the same symptoms while I was changing springs and found this to be tha cause...