Back to the spring adaptors............................
So Monday after work I cut a slit in the 2 discs and folded a piece over.
I was then able to bend and tack weld one around the spacer to create a spiral.
I then cut a strip of 3mm steel on the guillotine and started to tack weld and bend it around the spiral I had just welded on.
Fully welded it, and then trimmed the 3mm down to follow the contour of the spiral. The idea was to leave an upstand to help hold the spring tightly in place.
Tack welded the 3mm around the other one, and marked what needed trimming of.
Trimmed.
All done.
I then came home and removed the front wheels on LJ and started trying to jack the chassis high up to give me enough room to pop the springs out. I was struggling a bit as I didn't have my huge 3ft+ axle stands as I'd taken them to work to use on the Jimny I'm building.
So Michael suggested going to his factory and using his forklift. For some reason I'd totally forgotten hed got a forklift.
So anyway......................
Off to Michaels factory we went and we soon had the front of LJ lifted off the ground.
I was concerned that the exhaust was restricting my articulation by not allowing the front prop shaft to move down as far as it needed to, so we unbolted it.
A quick measurement for reference so we could see how much lift we were getting. I wanted about 40-50mm to match the back and get the truck sitting right.
Other side.
After removing the top bolt on the shocks, we were able to lift the front of the truck higher and then compress the shock and pull the spring out.
Old spring compared to new spring.
With spring adaptors fitted.
About 70mm bigger than the old +2" ironman springs.
With the new springs and adaptors fitted it lifted the truck far too high.
It had lifted it 100mm.
So after discussing the options we decided to put the old springs back in.
We then decided to lift each wheel in turn and look and measure and see what is happening with the current suspension setup.
The front springs and shocks never compress fully, even with a wheel lifted in the air and one of us stood on the corner of the bull bar.
We checked if any of the tyres were rubbing or likely to rub and how compressed the springs and shocks were.
The rear suspension is now set up perfectly.
The shocks although they need replacing, they are the perfect length. With the old springs these shocks were actually slightly too long as the rear springs could and would fall out some times when the rear got really articulated.
We removed the bottom nut on one of the rear shocks to check that the rear shocks weren't the limiting factor on the articulation. With a rear wheel in the air and shock disconnected the limiting factor is the bushes in the trailing arms and not the shocks which is good.
More lifting of wheels and checking.
Michael was impressed with how equally the 2 axles flex. We managed to lift each wheel half a meter off the ground, meaning each axle flexes equally. I didn't think it was particularly high, but it is such a short wheel base that its not bad.
We found that the exhaust doesn't limit articulation by preventing the front prop shaft from dropping enough. We found we were able to hold the 2 flanges together with every wheel off the ground, so I now know the exhaust doesnt need altering yet.
I'm really pleased with the 80 series front springs that we've fitted to the rear, they work great.
So just new shocks and obviously changing the trailing arm bushes and thats the rear done.
Not sure what springs were going to fit to the front yet. I'm going to see what Old Man Emu list for an LJ70. I suspect +50mm might not be enough to get LJ sitting level.
Tonight I removed one of the rear shocks. Going to take it tomorrow and ask my boss to order me a new pair. Tempted to get some of the Old Man Emu Nitrocharger Sports.
The bushes were totally worn out.
As are the trailing arm bushes.
We haven't had any building work pics for a while.................
Tonight I removed the window in my toilet.
Its a terrible window. Not secure, lets all the cold air in and mozzies in the summer.
So I built a new one out of hardwood. This will have a fixed piece of glass and when we gut and rebuild the toilet we will fit a ceiling extractor.
Will get a pic of the fence and gate I've built tomorrow.
