Boing (Part 2)

Back in July I spent a day fitting new rear suspension  to Katy. Now was the opportunity for finishing of the job

I had done quite a bit of preparation for this one by loosening off all the nuts and bolts and identifying the things you needed to move in order to get at other things

Steve's workshop was full of a series 2 chassis that he's rebuilding for a client so I had planned to work outside. It was a cold day so Steve suggested I work in front of the hay barn which was out of the prevailing wind and sheltered if it came on to rain. It felt right... a natural home for a Land Rover

First the wheels came off for access and Katy was resting on the new axle stands I bought recently. This allowed the wheels to drop and take the compression out of the springs, but you need to be careful not to allow them to drop too far or the brake lines will be damaged, so I kept Steve's trolley jack under the axle for control and adjustment.

It was then then a relatively simple job of unscrewing the bottom of the shock absorber (damper) which needs the shock to be held in place or it just turns. A flexible strap is a great tool for this and the job was quickly done.

Then the suspension turret nuts came off using ratchet spanners and a socket as shown below

Removing the access panels in the engine bay to get at the top of the shock absorbers. In Katy  this meant moving the coolant expansion tank first so I could get at one of them. The Drivers side came off easily, but the passenger side was well rusted on and it needed 2 of us (me holding on the flexible strap and Phil pulling on a long socket bar for leverage, but within a few minutes the old shocks and springs could be lifted out

Before rebuild began I took the opportunity to clean a few things up and put some liquid grease on the brake pipes and into the corners behind the springs that had not been east to get to when I was doing the waxolyling

The new springs and shocks simply slotted into place and I had a spot of help from Dan who dropped by and showed me something I hadn't spotted (that the shock have a pair of flat sides at the top of the screw thread which you can put a set of mole grips or in this case a 9 mm spanner on. If you look back to the top of this post you can see them clearly, and realise what a dope I felt

Compressing the springs by lifting the axle up on the trolley jack allowed the bottom bush and nut to be put on and the job was done..

Wheels back on and time for a test drive ...

Crash

Not Katy before you worry... 

Unfortunately right outside our house tonight we had a bump (a lady passed out at the wheel (medical not alcohol  and hit someone hear on. Luckily she had slowed to about 20 MPH when it happened and the other car was slowing hard as well so no-one badly hurt and once the paramedics had done their job every walked away.

The paramedic who turned up did so very quickly in a very fast looking Landy ...

With a lot of expensive kit in the back

 Tidy snorkel

And lights everywhere

This was a very well equipped vehicle and shows the preparedness of the services who use them.

It is good to see a Landy doing a good job and I have to say that I saw excellent work by the paramedics who kindly said I could take pictures of their car

Mind you I had and won a good argument with the PC who took exception to that - it's a pity that more police do not know the actual law

All ended well which is even nicer - apparently it was a medical reason that caused the young lady to lose consciousness at the wheel, not alcohol. She'll be prevented from driving until she's got medication sorted out, but it could have been a lot worse

Nothing is simple

It's been quiet on the Katy Front for a while as work has got in the way again

I finally found some time to start again. I was going to replace the front springs and shocks, but in the end I thought I'd take on a few small jobs as I only had a small amount of time

The 1st job was to look into a rattle on the front - it tuned out to be the front brake disc mud shield where s small bracket had broken off. These are expensive for a small bit of metal so I'll see how I can repair it and give pictures then

Whilst the wheels were off I noted a patch of rust that needed dealing with on the bulkhead. It started small so I started with the rust killer 

But as I worked on it I kept finding more ... 

In the end there was about 6 inches that had to be rust killed and then for now it's been undersealed.as It isn't structural at that point

Next was to fit the nice new mudflaps which once I got the old ones off turned out not to be the right shape as you can see 

Also, the old ones look riveted to the frame which is a pain

Even if I cut them they are not going to fit .. 

So I'm posting here so I can link to these pictures and ask for help on the forums before buying more

Not a successful session