Which spring, if a spring at all

[supa_fox]

Well, finally got the van all sorted out
gone are the 15" rims and 30.5x9 tires, now on 265 70r17 now. much nicer!
A mild crank on th torsion bars and the airlift bags inside the rear coils and she is riding nice!
A couple observations
-The tighter torsion bars give a way nicer ride, along with the stiffer sidewalls in the tires
-The tires are to big straight away, I had 3 episodes with the grinder and the bits of body work to stop the rubbing, even with the torsion bar lift. all good now but have to sort out some mud flaps
-wider offset on the rims (-6 if i remember) pops the tires out about an inch, looks rad! makes a mess, need some fender trim now.
-The Airlift springs ran me 150$ shipped took an hour to put in (put em next to the space heater before installing and they are WAY easier to slip inside the spring coil) bit of fudgery but a monkey could do it. Watch the hands, jacking up the body of the van but not the wheel, then adding an axle stand is scary, dont stick those fingers in the coil!
- The airlifts are awesome, still need to tweak the pressure but the ride is firm and she doesnt slouch anymore

[nxski]

That looks sweet!

[jessef]

nice glad you went with the airbags

good lookin' wheels

[monnomania]

Nothing is ever easy...It is all about keeping you on your toes...

I have a 1996 LWB L400. As we are ‘on the road’ for the grand trip from Canada to Argentina we are quite loaded. I have found the tail is dragging but it became problematic during the 4WD trails of Moab UT. There we started clunking on some of the larger bumps. The van was down to about 2” of rear suspension play and what I thought were the shocks bottoming out was the rear torsion bar banging on the lift blocks. So I started looking into the idea of new springs (with the help of Supa_fox and Airgonzo) or airbags (Thanks Jesse) to lift up the rear end.

Turns out that all the discussion and research was all moot due to my L400 being imported with a Zeal ProStaff 4,25” lift and its 265/75R16 tires, and that, as they say, changes everything. By the way, it is a very nice and complete lift.

As for Supa_fox, the supplier for the Lovell’s couldn’t supply the RFR-26 (aka RFR-20HD) springs in a reasonable time and price, I ordered from a local LandRover shop a set of BRITPART NRC9448 springs that arrived the NEXT day. Cheap – under $200 including shipping - and reportedly the same specs as the Lovell.

This is where things fall apart.

Expecting to trim down the new LandRover springs, the ZEAL springs are actually 1cm longer (400mm) free height over the LandRover NRC9448 springs (390mm). Thus no need to trim the LandRover springs, direct and easy fit (small challenge fitting the slightly smaller ID LandRover springs onto the spring seat on the lower trailing arm) and the truck came off the jacks and... the truck settled to the same wheel-arch height as the the ZEAL – ie about 2” short of even ride height!
The LandRover springs at a free height of 390mm are now compressed with this (mostly) ‘unloaded’ state to 210-220mm or just over HALF of free height. This is not good when I put the rest of our cargo aboard....

Time to augment with PLAN B

A long discussion with the AIRLIFT rep , it was decided the best AIRLIFT 1000 kit for this application is #60792. The bags in this kit are 8”x5” intended to fit into a 10” ‘free space’ unloaded springs. AIRLIFT says that the airbag are NOT to touch top and bottom (risk of friction and breakage) and in fact should be given 1” of free space above and below. As the bags balloon out ½” above and below and actually SUPPORT the springs by the inner sidewall pressure on the springs, and not top to bottom; so he said.

So now the front wheel arch height is 98cm from the ground the rear wheel arch height is ONLY 97cm from the ground. Again this is with a small cargo load. So at least we achieved an equilibrium of sorts.

Moral of the story?
I am not seeing that the BritPart springs are much stronger than the aftermarket ZEAL that come with the lift. Thinking of our journey and its limitations (mechanics and suppliers) I figured it would be a more durable solution to replace the springs. In the end the solution remained the cheaper and easier airbag. And that STINKS.

At the very least we got new springs AND airbags and that should give us some redundancy in our setup and maybe a little longevity?

Thanks to everyone for pitching in to this thread.
Chris

[jessef]

at the ride height you're sitting at, the zeal kit is overkill. your rear lower control arms are very low to the ground. They were probably in perfect proportion when it came from Japan.

Have you considered simply removing the lift components and just keeping it stock or a mild lift ? That way parts are a plenty including uprated springs that can take the load you are putting on it/air bag selection/suspension parts if needed down the road.

You've got a nice rig.

[monnomania]

Hey Jesse
Yea I like our 'bip bip' and am actually quite impressed by the lift. We went around on some of the trails around Moab in Canyonlands and Arches National Park and didn't have any clearance issues - despite the sagging problem and load. I broke a upper A Arm when the upper balljoint pulled out...but that is another issue... and I put that up to a long-standing issue that should have been caught during importation rehab and not a spontaneous event.

I am not sure what you mean about the lower trailing arm being close to the ground - you must mean the front of the trailing arm that bolts to the frame and not the rear which bolts to the rear axle? - as the rear of the trailing arm is limited to wheel and tire diameter. It is undoubtedly lower due to the sag, but not significantly and certainly did not cause any issues to this point. Alhumdilla.

I never considered removing the lift as I like the flexibility it gives - considering our trip ahead. It DOES, as you rightly point out, limit the parts availability... however saying that everything underneath - bushings, springs, airbags - are now new and should get me to Ushuaia if things go well. maybe???? Besides, I am now on the road and an extensive repair is just too complicated to even consider at this point.

Peace
Chris

[jessef]

you're right about swapping things out at your situation now. keep as it is and continue along ! good vibes your way for the rig to take you to your destination. you have it nicely kitted out.

[supa_fox]

Hey Guys,
Just wanted to post the part number I used for the Airlifts before I lost it
61792
fits perfectly and definitely fills up the whole inside of the spring, had them on for 5 or 6 m now through the winter and all, no problems, working like a charm

[403delica]

Supa fox your in a stock delica right? i have the same problem and was going to upgrade to HD springs in the rear but might just do the air bags? PM me and maybe we can meet up, ill buy you a coffee and i can check out your air bags?

[thelazygreenfox]

Jesse
Bruce from Canada Spring doesn't recomend custom coil springs. He says they're too expensive and always a pain to make.

What about air bags. You liked them before, any change in your opinion??

TLGF

[Artacoma]

ccautos has heavy duty springs on their web site