Julian
> While I've got the rear half-shaft off (see previous postings !) I
> thought I'd have a look at the rear spring. The car has a bit of a
> lean to the drivers side, like many others. I remembered reading some
> articles about this is the Courier and managed to find some of them
> last night. I seems that at least one common cause of a lean to the
> drivers side is wear in the rubber pad that sits between the spring and
> the box that clamps it on.
Another is that the top leaf (a very short one) sometimes breaks in half
> Any other suggestions I should investigate while I've got the spring
> out ? How do I tell if it's lost it's 'spring' ? I don't want to have
> to replace it unless I have to.
Perhaps excess negative camber even when car unloaded . Also, the spring will
probably be asymmetric. How
about (I've never tried this, it's just an idea) laying the spring on a piece
of paper. Mark round the centre of the
spring as a reference, then mark where the ends are. Turn the spring over,
align the centre with the old marks
then see if the ends still line up. If they are badly out then the spring is
lop-sided. However, if the pads are
unevenly worn then perhaps you should check each leaf individually, especially
the main one.
> The other thing I noticed was a rubber pad, about 1/4" thick between
> the outer and inner leaves of the spring eye (this is not the rubber
> bush that goes through the centre of the inner leaf). This pad was
> present, but half falling out, on the offside, but absent on the
> nearside. I can't see this pad in any of the catalogues, but the
> Haynes manual does say:
>
> "...make sure that the rubber insulating bellows are correctly
> located in the recesses at the ends of the spring leaves."
>
> Again, no pictures. Is this the pad I'm talking about or something
> completely different ?
There should be pads which I think are a square block with a round
protruberance on them (that's a big word for
a little knobby thing). I know Chris Witor sells them in his new yellow wonder
material 'cos he had some at
Stafford.
Phil
From: Phil Willson
Electronic Engineering
Queen Mary and Westfield College
Mile End Road
London E1 4NS
Tel +44 (0)171 975 5338
Fax +44 (0)181 981 0259
email p.j.willson@qmw.ac.uk
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