Help, Fellow Series Owners!

[dfritter]

This is my predicament (and yes, I know I've posted about it before).

I installed a set of Rocky Mountain parabolics to correct my saggy sided springs. I was tired of the truck always leaning to the passenger side because I'm not fat enough to correct for Land Rover's foresight.

This is what I got after bolting up the parabolics:

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a263/ ... r1/1-1.jpg

Now everyone thinks I'm fat! I thought it would settle out as the springs calmed down, but it's been two weeks, and my truck's still the Leaning Tower of Land Rover. From the ground to the wheel arch, measured across the wheel center, the driver's side sits 34-1/4" high, while the passenger side wheel arch is 36-3/8" above the ground.

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a263/ ... -1-3-1.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a263/ ... /1-1-2.jpg

Underneath, the driver's side leafs are in contact with one another while the other three springs all have retained their original shape. According to Rocky Mountain's website; "In our parabolic springs the leaves are separated along their length to reduce friction."

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a263/ ... -1-4-1.jpg

Anyway, so I took the truck to Ray's today and talked to a fellow (who's name escaped me, but was not Ray... I would've noticed that accent!) who told me that their springs never sit perfectly level. Of course, as luck would have it, their drive was kinda bumpy and leaning, so it compensated for the lean in a big way. But this is kinda frustrating me, if only because it looks like a piece of junk with a busted spring cruising down the road. But what I want to know is if any of you have experienced this? Do your trucks lean?

[ken]

I've got the same thing on my 88. I installed the rocky mountain parabolic springs, and my vehicle leans to the driver side as well. I try to keep the passenger side fuel tank as full as possible to balance driver weight, but it still looks off.

[Dave_F]

Did you replace the shocks at the same time?

I believe Rocky Mountain recommends either the ProComp or Old Man Emu...which they sell as well.

BTW...how is the ride with the new springs...noticeably different?

Cheers,

Dave_F

[dfritter]

Hmmm... too bad to hear yours sits off too. I could forgive a little bit of a lean, I mean these aren't the newest and most precise vehicles on the road, but the way it looks now is liable to get me a VI!

As for the ride... to be honest, I was surprised as how firm they were. I'd heard so much about the dramatically better ride, and how unstable it could potentially be, but perhaps I'd tempered by butt on bagged out 35 year old springs, so the ride kinda felt the same. I mean, it's definitely better, but it wasn't as smooth as I expected... that said, I don't want to blaspheme the product until I get new dampers. But as it rides, I would not hesitate to order a galvanized frame with dropped spring mounts and military shackles; it just doesn't seem that unstable that a few more inches of lift would really affect it that badly. With just the new springs, the lift was already pretty dramatic, but I'd like a little more ground clearance... but that'll come down the road with a new frame and axles (Hello 609s!).

I will say that I am disappointed by this lean it's got though, and I don't like that the spring's curvature is so noticeably different, it has me worried.

[s3landy]

My Series 3 leaned a lot after I put my RM parabolics on too. I tried every conceivable combination of swapping the springs around to no avail. the lean was too much to let go and the only way I could get rid of it was to fit one military shackle and then it sat level.

Mike

[roverdevin]

Dfritter,


When I installed my Rocky 3 leafs on my IIA 88 a few years back I had quite a lean to it. I ended up swapping the springs...still a slight lean. I loosenend and lubed every concievable suspension fitting and joint, jumped on the back of the truck with my brother and wobbled the hell out if it. Tightened everything (double check them all!) and went for a good twisty ride on an old logging road. Came home and repeated above procedure...it sat more or less level after that.

Another possibility is your front springs...are they new Rocky springs as well? It's amazing how much uneveness in the front sprinmgs can lean the car. I could possibly imagine if they are the originals and have slightly different ratings, that could lean the car over with the softer rear springs. I bumped my front springs on a rock and deformed one.. the car must have leaned over a full 2 inches when measuring from the rear.

Best of luck!

Devin

[DaveB]

I like Devin's method. Loosen and lube everything on all shackles and then take it for a good hard drive (Whipsaw this weekend!?!)

Then tighten and see how it sits. The only thing I see that's different from my setup is that you are using only the 2-leaf springs in the rear. This could make a difference. Mine, when sitting on a slightly sloped surface will lean about an inch, but certainly not as much as that.

There is another fairly easy to do option... take the springs from the sagging side to a spring shop and have them arced a little more. I had this done to all 4 springs after about 5 years of use, and it only cost me around $140 for all 4. So doing 2 won't cost very much and will build the needed compensation right into the spring. I used Abbotsford Spring at the time, and they installed teflon cusions between the leaves too to stop them from squeaking.

Dave

[Bill E.]

Devin has given you some good advice, the springs really have to bed in and find equilibrium with all the shackles and bushings before you can assess them. A two inch variation as you have measured is not acceptable however and I wouldn't accept excuses from RM if all else is ruled out. I would say from the photos that your chassis has some issues that could be contributing to the sag :( Check for frame distortion, frozen bolts or damaged frame bushings. Good Luck.

[dfritter]

Hey folks, thanks for the replies! When I pulled the old springs out, they were definitely in pretty rough shape with a lot of tightness in all the frame bushings and shackles, but I sorted that out before I installed the new one via some quality time with ye olde wire wheel.

And I thought about frame problems, but it leaned the other way to a little degree with the old springs, so unless the old springs were compensating for a twisted frame by sitting >3" uneven, new springs shouldn't have accentuated the problem.

I've loosened, tightened, lubed and bounced around as much as I think should be necessary to bed the springs in... thus far, I'll see what RM says, but I'm liking Dave's option. You got a slight lift put into them when you recurved them, too, right?

[harv]

Sorry, I'm getting into this conversation a little late. I've had RM parabolics on my 2A for a few years and really love them (3 leafs on the rear). The ride is better and the articulation is far better than stock. I know that everyone says to tighten up the shackle bolts, but this makes no sense to me, and mine are not tight. They are just snug enough to allow the shackles to rotate, then the nuts (not bolts) are tightened fully. This allows the springs and shackles to do their job. So far I've had no problems with this method. Due to the increased height, I had some vibration from my front driveshaft. I added some spacers to the front drive shaft, about 1" total, which got rid of most of the vibs.. I think that the angle of my front dif is a little out as well, but I've been too lazy to install wedges. Good luck. Harv