The day has finally arrived that I moved from tear-down to rebuilding - I am going to love this part. But it is slow progress. Last weekend I rebuilt all the springs which were original Old Man Emu springs that I had grinded down and repainted. I highly recommended anyone doing this take lots and lots of photos during the dis-assembly part - it makes the assembly part so much easier. They are now ready to be installed.
I had to buy new shackles and shackle bushes. I spoke with
ARB for guidance and eventually landed up buying all the replacement parts from
Man-A-Fre. One of the complexities was the frame - my Land cruiser is a 1981 but I bought a 1979 frame - and per my earlier blog there are some differences. The shackle bushes on the frame side are are smaller - I think 20mm whereas the ones on the spring side are larger - around 30mm.
After painting the each leaf I installed the appropriate yellow synthetic parts, cleaned out any rust in the eye of the main leaf. Inserted the bushes after applying some synthetic grease and I was done. One unforeseen challenge was the center bolt that holds the spring together. It was larger in diameter than the ones I removed. I therefore had to drill out the holes to fit the new bolt - got it done but destroyed a number of drill bits in the process. Man this is tough steel. Between running to the store and assembly it was an all day project. Here they are:
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| Using the photos made the assembly a cinch! |
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| Ready to be installed! |
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| Stripped all the oils of the "U Bolts" using brake cleaner and painted them with Rustoleum satin black paint. |
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| Grinded the spring hanger plates, sprayed them with rust protector and they are now ready for painting. |
