Sports Bras on the CSR

Ah Mick. Long story but if you have a grappling hook handy send it to the bottom of Well 6 and fish out the bucket!!! Cable snapped didn't it!! And see below re corros at 33 vs 22................ W

Oh did I mention the scratchy branches. There was a Mitsubishi Canter with wheel marks as wide as the track who must have copped a hammering from the zillion and one dead trees. Also the corrugations from well 21 to 22 were awful. Flat and straight section of track and bra friendly but what a hammering. But as bad as near well 33?? Over to Mick for a comparison.......W

Mud, dust, dirt, sand, over grown trees and some water plus a few corrugations, Add a few busted bits and it sounds like situation normal all round :)

Phil,
You are right there mate... spot on.

John

Methinks the learning curve is still a straight line. Bugger when the only way you can get experience is by making the mistakes first. Keep smiling coz pessimists founder.

Can I ask what the problem with leaf springs on trailers is? All utes and 70 series Landcruisers have leaf springs on the rear. I would suspect that overloading and perhaps speed/tyre pressures etc would all have some bearing on any spring/suspension failure including coils. I am interested because I am taking my leaf sprung off road camper on the Canning next month.

Neil

I was led to believe years ago that they can break on badly corrugated roads. We broke ours on our old wind up Chesney and I never questioned it. If I am wrong so be it.

Phil

I agree with Phil - they are more likely to break on corrugated roads - did that a few times myself in years gone by. I used to carry a spare main leaf. Best way I found to prevent it is to keep the tyre pressures as low as possible on the trailer so the tyres absorb the shock from the corrugations - puts less stress on the suspension.

Some quality offroad campers (eg Adventure, Trakshak) still use leaf springs but they also have a strong axle and bearings.

There will always be the weakest link - I've seen people fit heavier leaf springs only to discover the axle is now the weakest link and break that instead.

Ain't that the truth. Worked over the motor in the Kingswood. Broke a few uni joints. Then told that the tailshaft should be upgraded to the 68 350 Monaro shaft. Did that and broke the old Kingswood gearbox. Put the M34 box in and all was fine after we got a bigger clutch.

We are looking at bigger exhaust for the 100 series and may a chip. But have been warned that this may lead to transmission issues. So we are still thinking off it and leaving well enough alone. Still thinking!!!

Phil

So is it generally the main leaf that goes? I just need to know which spares to take with me. I have got spare bearings and U bolts.

Thanks

Neil

Gday Neil,

Might be any of the upper leafs that break. But the main leaf locates the axle so is the most important, and a main leaf will get you out of trouble. Leaf springs can be very heavy, which is why I just carried a main leaf - from memory it might cost about $50 for a spare main leaf.

But there are other ways of fixing broken leaf springs. Some people just carry a "spring clamp" which is two pieces of leaf spring and a clamp that goes around them. Some people can weld and reinforce the break - takes a lot of patience and skill and special welding rods. Also if the centre pin is centrally located in a leaf, you can reverse the broken main leaf so at least the axle is correctly aligned. But most vehicles have the centre pin offset (usually towards the shackle from memory). My recollection is that most trailer springs have the pin central, but you'd have to check.

The other breakage I've had was the front pin on a greasable shackle on a Landcruiser. Fortunately I carried a spare, but I could have substituted another bolt or welded up the broken pin. I've also seen the spring hangers rip from the chassis. So bush welding skills can come in handy.

There are other points to leaf springs - check the U-Bolts for tightness before you leave home and check occasionally while you're away. The centre pins can break as well - causes the trailer or vehicle to "crab", so I carried them spare as well.

But coil springs can break too. I can think of 3 instances I personally know of in the past 10 years - one guy had to wait for a new 105series spring to be flown to Andado Station before attempting the Madigan Line. Another was stuck at Oodnadatta after simply breaking an 80series rear spring on the Oodnadatta track. And the third was a mate's 79series which broke the lower part of the front coil - picked up by a mechanic when the vehicle was serviced - the break had happened sometime earlier.

As far as trailers and the Canning....in my opinion it isn't worth the stress on the trailer or the vehicle. I'll leave the Tvan at home when we go again in August.

Thanks heaps Phil, that's really helpful information.
regards

Neil