2b Rear Axle Springs

[Guest Steve]

Hi,

 

I have a 2B with the standard upside down Sierra suspension & spring set up which looks like it will work very well. However, every time I jack the back of the car up the springs fall to one side and when I lower it again they need to be re-positioned. This has never bothered me but, having finished everything else at the back end I am about to cover the lot in ally sheet to make a boot and it has occurred to me that I can't then re-position the springs. What's the usual route forward for this challenge?

 

Cheers

Steve

[Guest Fred2b]

You must fix that problem to pass SVA. If the springs fall out when they jack it up they will not only fail it but look very closely for other things.

You should have at least 6" or more spare tubing on the end that goes into the roll over bar. Jack up the car so that the suspension drops, pull the spring seat tube out of the roll over bar as far as possible against the spring pressure and drill a hole through to bolt it all up. When you lower the car it will all compress on the spring. It is a characteristic feature of the RH2B to have a large gap between the top of the rear tyres and the mudguard.

Fred

[Guest SteveL]

How about making some small slots in the spring seat, and using a couple of jubilee clips to hold the spring on the spring seat? As long as the spring isn't then lifted clean out of the cup it sits in when you jack the car up, you're sorted!

 

Steve

[Guest lopsylu]

Steve,

 

The first time I did this I followed the instructions on the build video and ended up with the same situation as you - disconcertingly wobbly springs. So I picked up a couple more struts and cut them longer than before, then with the back of my car jacked up I compressed the springs very slightly, pulled the spring cover down as far as it would go, drilled and bolted it into the roll over bar and then let the compression off the spring. With the back of the car jacked up the springs now stay in place nicely.

 

Graeme.

[Guest Ant]

It's not just when jacking the car up that this is a problem. If you get over excited over a humped back bridge or railway crossing you may find your rear end on the ground when you land!

 

Ant

[Guest Steve]

Well, I should be able to lower the struts that I have as there is plenty of metal in the roll bar tube but, it does seem a shame to raise the back so high. I know it's a 'feature' of the 2B but it looks daft having such a great gap between the wheel and the arch.

 

Is there no other way?

 

Steve

[Guest bryan_andrews]

What about converting it to the Coil over jobbies, I saw a 2B with these fitted and it did look quite good and had a normal gap between tyre and wheel arch insted of the grand canyon you can end up with using the upside down struts . I think i'm gonna convert mine to these when i've got it all stripped out and i start to rebuild

[Guest mkeats02]

Steve

 

I had this problem I my Sub-K, when I tried to raise the ride using the spring seats I ran out of tubing and my springs were still falling out. I got some springs made up, they are taller then the original springs, so ride height was increased, they work well.

 

Alternatively, the more expensive option is to buy the zeemeride coil over units from RH, I have spoke to a couple of 2B owners, and they say they work really well. They bolt through the suspension trailing arm, and directly into the chassis tube where the modified units fit, so will never fall out.

 

Mike

[Guest SteveL]

Well, I'm using the RHE approach to the rear suspension, and I don't have the Grand Canyon anywhere in sight. I didn't use the upside down struts, instead I made up my own adjustable spring seats from a build tip from the 2B Google group, using the top spring seat from the strut, the little bit which was cut off the strut once everything had been removed from it (which the chrome shaft used to go through), some M20 studding, and M20 nuts and washers. This means that alll I need to do to adjust the ride height is to take the pressure off by jacking the back up a bit, and then moving the nuts up or down the threaded rod. Let me know if you need more info, and I'll see if I can find it.

 

I'm not sure what I've done differently to other people, but I don't thnk there's a huge gap between the arch and the wheel. The only decentish piccie I can find is this one:

 

 

Doesn't look like a canyon to me!

 

Steve