Unlevel Patrol

[Shaun 4x4]

But I can't take out all four springs.

[Parksy]

Don't need to take all springs out. Just do the rear as a starting point. I only had a axle jack and hydraulic jack and lots of timber and was able to fit a 2" lift to the patrol.

[june]

after fitting new tough dogs the drivers side sat 5 mm lower than passenger side. rear was equal measurement. must be a patrol thing !

[taslucas]

after fitting new tough dogs the drivers side sat 5 mm lower than passenger side. rear was equal measurement. must be a patrol thing !

5mm isn't much and may be contributed to the ground level, the wheels being slightly turned or the lift affecting the panhard position?

FanTapstic!

[patrolmq]

my parts MQ had a bad lean to the drivers side too. When I took the leaf springs off to transfer to my other MQ, I found the previous owner (a 'mechanic') had put the ones labelled PS on the drivers side and DS on the passenger side, DOH! Fitted them correctly to my other MQ and now it's nice and level. Another reason not to let mechanics touch my cars!

[june]

it was sitting on dead level ground, tyres inflated the same and measured the same way. [bottom of wheel rim to under side of wheel arch] new springs out of troll was front passenger 405mm driver front 420mm. and the rear was rear passenger 480mm rear driver 490mm. note these springs are the heaviest you can purchase in this brand of coil. that is troll is set up for full time touring maxed out at it gvm.

[june]

and westy's is right, both drivers side coils are taller than passenger side. hope this helps.

[taslucas]

it was sitting on dead level ground, tyres inflated the same and measured the same way. [bottom of wheel rim to under side of wheel arch] new springs out of troll was front passenger 405mm driver front 420mm. and the rear was rear passenger 480mm rear driver 490mm. note these springs are the heaviest you can purchase in this brand of coil. that is troll is set up for full time touring maxed out at it gvm.

Yeah that's what I'm getting at, there's lots of factors.. 5mm is bugger all to be concerned with considering you have new springs (which may not have settled yet and are also setup to take the weight of the driver, which wasn't there ), and you have a heavily loaded wagon which may not be packed evenly.

FanTapstic!

[Shaun 4x4]

Well I will give it a crack this weekend and swap the rear spings over.

Is this hard to do?
All I own lifting wise is a trolly jack and I have two car stands.
Got all the tools.

[happygu]

Well I will give it a crack this weekend and swap the rear spings over.

Is this hard to do?
All I own lifting wise is a trolly jack and I have two car stands.
Got all the tools.

Shaun,

It isn't that hard, but it is harder to make sure that everything is completely safe.

You need jack it up a little to undo your shocks at the bottom ( at a minimum as you may find them annoying dangling in the way ), undo your SwayBar links, make sure the diff breather is disconnected off the diff, and I undid the brake line bolt holding the tee block to the diff, so it floats a little ( pull it back and lift over the tab.

You can then jack the car up high enough to release the pressure off the springs, whilst making sure your safety stands are in place.

The rear springs are taller, but they also pop out a little easier than the fronts as you can release the total spring pressure on the shorter length springs so they are just sitting on the diff. This just means that you have to lift the back higher than your bottle jack will go in one hit. I used my Hi-Lift Jack inserted in the square towbar receiver to lift the back.

I managed to replace springs, shocks, swaybar links, panhard bar, all in just over 1 hour, but if you haven't done it before, allow three.

Mic