Rear springs (RM violet)

[goltho]

Originally Posted by macafee2

I take it you scrolled down the page to item 4? It is not at the top of the page

macafee2

I had, thanks. That's the RKB101221SLP which superseded RKB101431 and which is also itself NLA. I checked with Rimmers on Friday with that.

Dougie.

[macafee2]

Originally Posted by goltho

I had, thanks. That's the RKB101221SLP which superseded RKB101431 and which is also itself NLA. I checked with Rimmers on Friday with that.

Dougie.

Then I am a little lost as to your reply in post 6.

macafee2

[goltho]

Originally Posted by macafee2

Then I am a little lost as to your reply in post 6.
macafee2

Well it's probably understandable. I had only looked at the top image of your link (the White spring) and answered accordingly. You then rightly pointed out that the Violet-replacement version was further down on the link which I hadn't noticed. However I had already discovered from Rimmers that the Violet-replacement version is now not available. Go have a - I'm on my second Talisker.

Dougie.

[goltho]

The job is jobbed. Collected the springs from Rimmers this morning, got started at 2:00pm, got finished at just before 5:00pm. Probably 30 minutes of that was faffing about with the jack and axle stands etc.

Nice easy job, happily. Loosened the top arm (18mm), supported the bottom arm with a jack, removed the bottom arm bolt (18mm), removed the damper bolt (18mm), unclipped the brake hose from the lower arm (to avoid it being stretched), and removed the jack from under the arm which allowed it to drop. The old springs were both broken on the bottom coil so came out easily. The old bottom rubber mounts with one bust coil attached, responded to some light hammer work to move them round 90º and then lift out. Cleaned the metal base, unclogged one drain hole(!), greased the rubber bayonets on the bottoms of each new spring mount, used a lever to pull the lower arm down as far as it would go to give as big a gap as possible for fitting the new springs (no compressing required, it's easy with a 1-metre half-decent lever or length of wood if you don't have one), reassemble by reversing the dismantling procedure, and Bob is once again your father's brother.

Just the rear disks & pads to change tomorrow (MOT advisory-only but the car's on the stands already with the wheels off) and also the front lower arm ball joint covers which were a fail, and I'm done. I'll be changing the lower arms, inner steering tie rods and ARB bushes as and when I have the inclination as they were also advisories and I'm a bit irritated by the rattles.

Cheers again for the help.

Dougie.

[macafee2]

while you are under the car take a look at the large "washers" that contain the rear sub frame bolts. These can rust badly and are apparently NLA. If yours show signs of rust may be worth removing one or two at a time and painting them with a rust preventative paint.

macafee2

[goltho]

Originally Posted by macafee2

while you are under the car take a look at the large "washers" that contain the rear sub frame bolts. These can rust badly and are apparently NLA. If yours show signs of rust may be worth removing one or two at a time and painting them with a rust preventative paint.

macafee2

Cheers for that. I have the perfect opportunity to check them today seeing as DHL decided I "wasn't in" at 9:15am and left a card telling me my discs and pads which I was anticipating will be delivered tomorrow instead.

[The Rovering Member]

Using this older thread as an enquiry springboard, l'm replacing the springs & shock absorbers on my car. The ride seems ok but l've noticed that a rear passenger increases occurences of underside contact on rougher roads & speed bumps, so at nearly 190,000 miles anyway I've decided to take the plunge. I've procured a full set of Monroe shocks & a pair of NOS front springs marked in the factory colours of green & yellow (from Best of British, specified 1.8). My current rear springs are marked in red/white & my underseat suspension code label is rubbed blank. Rimmers said without this information they can't advise me on what colours would have been fitted by the factory as there are 12 original options listed for the 1.8 & they only seem to have a limited supply of colour-coded items left anyway:

https://rimmerbros.com/Item--i-GRID001551

Regarding springs DMGRS simply specify between 75 & ZT which l'm sure is fine but l'm just enquiring after factory options before l buy. I'll check with Best of British to see if they have rear springs in stock (l bought the fronts via their ebay shop) but it certainly is a quagmire when you start looking into the factory system of suspension codes.
I'm also surmising that the spring isolator pads are unobtainable too unless anyone can tell me differently.

Cheers all.

[goltho]

Originally Posted by The Rovering Member

I've procured a full set of Monroe shocks & a pair of NOS front springs marked in the factory colours of green & yellow (from Best of British, specified 1.8)

That doesn't mean they're the same as the springs you're taking off. See above.

Originally Posted by The Rovering Member

Regarding springs DMGRS simply specify between 75 & ZT which l'm sure is fine

Well that's definitely not my experience as you'll have read above. The various suppliers I checked with all just had "Rover 75" as the specified model but it was after fitting a pair that I found they were way too weak for my car, and I had to replace them (ultimately with the correct specs after a great deal of hassle).

It would probably go a long way if you're able to measure the coil wire diameter and the free length. Then at least you've got your benchmark to hunt for.

Incidentally, although I rarely have used them due to delivery delays from Germany, autodoc.co.uk have a very good part numbers cross-referencing system including OEM, plus they publish tech specs very well. For me, this was the final piece of jigsaw which confirmed I'd found the correct springs.

[The Rovering Member]

Originally Posted by goltho

That doesn't mean they're the same as the springs you're taking off. See above.

l guess not with twelve options & a blank label under the rear seat. I'll check for markings on the 'originals' though l'll definitely be fitting the new ones. There is another post on here saying that any green marked front springs are suitable for the 1.8's.

Originally Posted by goltho

Well that's definitely not my experience as you'll have read above. The various suppliers I checked with all just had "Rover 75" as the specified model but it was after fitting a pair that I found they were way too weak for my car, and I had to replace them (ultimately with the correct specs after a great deal of hassle).

It would probably go a long way if you're able to measure the coil wire diameter and the free length. Then at least you've got your benchmark to hunt for.

Incidentally, although I rarely have used them due to delivery delays from Germany, autodoc.co.uk have a very good part numbers cross-referencing system including OEM, plus they publish tech specs very well. For me, this was the final piece of jigsaw which confirmed I'd found the correct springs.

I can measure diameter ok but free length necessitates removal & by that stage l think replacement although the rears seem easier to remove than the fronts especially with MarinaBrian's method. Actually l'm not sure that the rears, or at least one, still have their bottom coils anyway.
There are a fair few fat rust flakes in the rear arms too so they'll need evaluating.

[goltho]

Originally Posted by The Rovering Member

I can measure diameter ok ...

That would probably be a step in right direction if you carry out a comparison exercise as far are you're able.