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 ...