After all the years I have done it
Our last trip to the centre was buggered because of a bent chassis, we had air bags fitted to help the leaf springs out the back.
Fitting these bloody things is a huge mistake mainly because when they compress to their maximum there is no cushioning, its metal to metal and rock solid.
The OEM bump stop compresses and takes some of the impact also they are 80mm higher before the diff touches them, that 80mm plus is what the spring is supposed to use to do its job and with air bags can never do that job.
Met a mechanic who explained it all to me in logical language, man it would have been good to meet him ages ago.
Since we got back home last year I have been searching for a better way to support the load, resetting springs, various spring arrangements or assists, adding coils the list goes on with a fair bit of wind blown up my freckle I can tell you. Some of these people only care about a sale.
It all came down to a heavier spring pack, and as I'm no fan of a few brands Lovell's seemed to keep popping up. The research led me to a "local" shop about 65klm away.
My confidence was not high so before anything happened a trip to their place of business was required just to get the detailitus right.
I have new Tough Dog shocks on the ute, big bore and big shaft jobbies. The owner of the business sold them too and said we don't need to swap them out if I wanted a GVM upgrade... never thought of that!
So he sourced Lovell's Mil-Spec leaf packs and "matching" coils for the pointy end. It all cost a bloody arm and a leg plus a couple of dancing girls. I'm getting about OK now but don't know what happened to the girls.
All the new fruit was installed which took all day, man those 4x4 retail shops waiting areas get boring real fast. And 10 days later was engineered to 3900Kg.
Went to Tuff Trucks last weekend loaded to GVM and it was really nice to drive and IT SAT LEVEL!!!
Along this journey was a problem, there was a clunk added while it was on the hoist. It took 5 & 1/2 weeks to find, replacing gear box mounts, checking for hit marks - anything. About 18 items were replaced or repaired or diss-guarded with no success until it clunked at 5klm on a flat road - diff rotation!
It turned out to be a brace vertically above the front pin in the spring hanger, the new spring has an extra "military" wrap which filled the space required by the OEM leaf pack.
Lovell's suggested cutting the offending wrap off! Pay a small fortune for a spec spring only to remove it... no bloody way.
It was agreed the installer grind away some of the brace and now it is silent, the sound was dreadful and off-road was driving me insane.
A pair of Superior radius arms were also fitted to correct caster which has stopped the steering wandering.
So now it sits and drives so much better it is hard to believe the difference, cost was ridiculous, stress due to the clunking was frustrating but we are there now.
It was not planned to go to this level but it seems to be worth it, time will tell.
