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the Rover
Fitting Parabolic
Springs
The Rover was
still on its first set of leaf springs and they were in a sorry state.
Thus, after a bit of consideration and some months of saving a set of
parabolics was purchased. It's quite a bit of money since you have to
get new dampers, too, as the regular ones can heat up and, rumor has
it, even explode due to increased friction. Also, when you get a major
job like this done, you should think of fitting polyurethane bushes
throughout (chassis and springs). They last much longer and give a better
ride than the standard ones. In my case I went for a set of Koni
S 84 dampers, which are re-ajustable and thus, theoretically, should
last a life-time, and the Polybush
orange set. You also have to make sure to get new u-bolts as the standard
ones may not fit the parabolics and new nuts/bolts.
There are three major manufacturers
of parabolic springs. They can easily be identified by their colour.
Rocky Mountain
springs from Canada come in grey. Bearmach
from the UK are green, and TI Console
from the Netherlands sell them in blue. I don't know about Rocky Moutain,
but I can not really recommend Bearmach. The eyes of their springs are
narrower than usual (for whatever stupid reason), making it impossible
to fit regular-sized bushes. So no Polybushes, not even the standard
LR type, only Bearmach's own black rubber things! I must know because
mine are BM's and it took me ages and lots of modifications to fit the
springs. You may even have to get the eyes widened by a specialist company
and there are (unconfirmed) stories about people who fitted the standard
bushes to their Bearmach springs and the eyes burst after a while because
of too much pressure.
Well, in my opinion you should go for TI
Console. They are well produced, are compatible with Polybushes
and regular Rover-type bushes and you can get complete sets including
dampers, Polys, etc. at a very competitive price. Their service is excellent
and very customer friendly. The only drawback are their shipping charges.
But then you have to consider how heavy the whole lot is.
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