- Joined
- Oct 19, 2014
- Points
- 174
- Model of Z
- 2.2i Sport
And frequently did.Any blacksmith could repair them anyway
I remember the days of turning a long leaf into a short leaf etc. Could repair cars in those days mutter grumble...
MOT woes.
- Thread starter Grumps
- Start date
I remember the days of turning a long leaf into a short leaf etc. Could repair cars in those days mutter grumble...
I had a leaf spring break on a Ford Consul. The top leaf broke, just in front of the rear axle. This allowed the axle to move backwards on the broken side. Very strange as suddenly the rear wheels start to steer and the car is crabbing along the road. Also the hand brake comes on and was very hot by the time I limped home. Did a temporary weld repair, but then got another spring. Wish I still had that car it would be worth a small fortune now
Land rover springs also handed and if you fit the wrong one they will lean quite a lot.
Tony.
Tony.
My 30yr old Merc is still running on original suspension
Proper cars back then Garry.
It's a W124 series which was widely acknowledged as being the last of the proper Mercs, but it's only done 136k in it's life, so hopefully she'll be around for a good while yet. The dreaded tin worm has got a hold of the front wheel arches and in a few other places, but overall she's a good example of an "unmolested" 30yr old motor. The interior still looks like no ones ever been in it, but that's German engineering for you. Saying that though, the Zeds interior wears well too
Love the old Mercs Garry. Can't stand the new stuff, keep on top of the tin worm and it should see many more years.
Never had a spring go on all the Mercs I have owned (old school Mercs)
When I had them lowered, the OEM kit that came off was pretty chunky kit.
This changed when I bought her indoors an A-Class, rear ones kept going 'boing'.....
When I had them lowered, the OEM kit that came off was pretty chunky kit.
This changed when I bought her indoors an A-Class, rear ones kept going 'boing'.....
Get no end of broken springs on Smart cars and they're as light as a feather. All the cars mentioned along with the Skoda I tested this morning have something in common, they're not running on "rubber band" tyres but 70 series or there abouts and that takes a lot of load off the springs.
Tony.
Tony.
Many years ago, about 1963 in my RAF days, a few of us had a trip to London in someones old Vauxhaul Velox. on th way back there was a bang from the rear and a leaf spring had broken. We found a block of wood and tied it between the axle and body with some rope and carried on, all went well until the driver tried to out accelerate someone from the traffic lights when it all fell apart. We tied it all up again and made it back to camp.
Haha a good story mike
Am I correct Tony in saying that even if the bottom coil has snapped and gone, provided it is still seated securely it's not an MoT fail? Obviously you don't want a lower ride height.
That did used to be correct Adrian, however the fail criteria now "Broken", so if you see a sharp ragged edge on the end of the coil it is obviously broken. IF, however you are unscrupulous enough to cut the last coil or half coil etc. off and leave a clean 90deg. cut it would be hard to tell. (unless you've seen it with your own eyes!). Even if a complete spring is not located correctly if it a fail.
On many cars losing the "pig tail" off the end of a spring doesn't reduce the ride height by very much at all anyway.
Tony.
That's right. My Toyota RAV4 2006 I purchased from a Japanese trading car platform (https://carfromjapan.com/cheap-used-toyota-rav4-for-sale-year2006) last year also has never met the same issue. Although it's a used car, everything seems great.
But nice and easy to replace,just bit of brute force to line up the stud in the bottom into the axle.
If I remember correctly there was a thread about springs breaking several months ago and the cause was due to the manufacturers no longer stress relieving the springs after bending. This results in a spring being more brittle and thus prone to snap when shock loaded (e.g. potholes). Anybody else remember?
To reduce manufacturing costs the car manufacturers could always return to the transverse leaf spring arrangement. A single leaf spring across the rear axle with a wheel on each end. The TrIumph Herald/Spitfire had this arrangement and the rear camber angles got "very interesting" at times. You quickly learnt not to push it too hard into a corner.
To reduce manufacturing costs the car manufacturers could always return to the transverse leaf spring arrangement. A single leaf spring across the rear axle with a wheel on each end. The TrIumph Herald/Spitfire had this arrangement and the rear camber angles got "very interesting" at times. You quickly learnt not to push it too hard into a corner.
My first car was a triumph herald convertible (passed driving test in it), second a Spitfire 4 (MK 1). Bends were always entertaining but you learnt much about car control. "Hot Car" magazine always had driving tips in it (how to position for a corner etc). And James Hunt was my hero, for a number of reasons!!
I've looked at this website you keep pasting on the forum.
Why are auction gradings not mentioned on all the descriptions?
Or is your company acting as a broker, offering cars for sale by dealers and auction houses?
How do we know we wouldn't be buying a grade zero?
Last edited:
- Joined
- Apr 1, 2016
- Points
- 208
- Location
- Maybole , South Ayrshire
- Model of Z
- Z3 Individual Dakar / Orinoco Individual
I had to replace the offside rear spring on my skoda on sat morning as it broke last week ( probably wouldn't have known for weeks if i hadn't luckily found the broken end bit under the car ) but I'm not going to complain car registered jan 2003 now covered 276853 miles so a good innings i think .