Front Coil Springs and Dampers - Type advice needed
 

Front coil spring broke.

I checked the codes under the rear seat and they are as follows:

PB JB

This equate to Green/Brown, Spring REB101390, Dampers RND105321/331

I am considering doing a complete job.

Rimmers have complete strut assemblies here at what seems a fair price for genuine parts (I'd get the tyre protectors as well)
https://rimmerbros.com/Item--i-GRID001542

On the page the attributes letter column include PB and JB but when you drill down to the description it says:

"Damper coded PA
Springs are colour coded Yellow/Green

Can be fitted to 1.8l Rover 75 as a standard replacement or to 1.8 MG ZT as a soft ride option."

Can anyone confirm whether these will be OK for my car?

Thanks in advance.

Doing a front spring on my "donor" 04 ZT which I am having to use as a daily drive after a local garage destroyed the front suspension on my 56 ZT!

So far I have found that it comes out pretty much OK, watch out for the brake pipe connection, mine came apart/broke so another little job to fix.

The springs! COMPLETE AND UTTER %^$£"!& f(^%$*g things.

I currently have one with around 20 ty raps around it and 2 spring compressors from screwfix and it still will not compress enough to get the strut through onto the top bearing. ratchet straps and a couple more spring compressors waiting in the wings to finish compressing it and it might just be enough!

Notice NO-ONE has posted pictures of a front spring removal and REPLACEMENT! Not that I can find anyway! if I am wrong please put the link up. we will be most gratefull.

While you have the spring out put as many new parts on it as humanly and budget restraints allow! Top bearings, shocks, ball joints drop links everything, do it once and do it right.

My spring is in my mates unit so will post a picture of it tomorrow if he sends me it through.

Thanks for your input Trick but sadly your reply doesn't have any bearing on my original question.

just read your post and have a question, have you left the top bearing attached to the wing, if so the easy way is to undo the three nuts and fit it to the strut off the car

Front springs are easier to change on a 75 than a ZT, as the damper has more free travel so you don't need to compress the spring as much to get the top bearing back on the end of the damper.

I purchased a floor-standing hydraulic spring compressor in the end for doing the job on my ZT, not that much money, all made in China but it has done the job on a couple of cars now!

I gave up with the conventional spring compressors, didn't fancy putting myself in to orbit.

Getting back to the OP; I'm assuming your car is the auto in your bio. The green/yellow are what are fitted to my manual. I imagine the standard auto springs are longer to give the same ride height as the gearbox is very heavy compared to the manual. If this is the case then the car will sit a bit low with green/yellow. There is another spring colour Green/purple for the 1.8. This may be for a fully loaded auto (connie SE?).

EDIT: I've just found some more info on my PC (probably from this site). The length of the Green/Brown is longer, by 8mm, than green/yellow. The wire diameter and stiffness is the same on all saloon 75 springs. The green/purple are another 8mm longer than green/brown. Additionally all 1.8 75 saloon spring types use the same dampers.

Steve.

So we've established that the dampers are the same on all 1800s and that Green/Brown springs are 8mm longer than yellow/green, possibly because of the extra weight of the autobox.

That length difference doesn't sound critical and I would be surprised if it were even noticeable on the car. (At the same time I do realise there must be a good reason why Rover built them this way.)

I am thinking of buying the full strut assemblies incorporating the yellow/green springs while at the same time buying a pair of Rover original green/brown springs separately, swapping them over on the struts, and selling the yellow/green springs to recoup some money.

For safety, I'll probably pay a local garage with the right equipment to do the spring swap.

Are there any experts on the site that can advise if this actually necessary. In other words, are Green/Brown springs truly essential or merely advisable?

And please, only people that really KNOW their stuff should reply, don't try and provide a helpful guess if you don't have the necessary experience.

As always, thanks in advance guys.