Rear suspension restored, now have knocking.

cdnp6

Member
My mechanic called to let me know the suspension rebuild on my 2000 TC is completed.
He then mentioned there are knocking noises coming from the NOS woodhead shocks I obtained, as well as a knock that seems to be coming from the dedion. I recently renewed the dedion seals and gaiter. There was some pitting on the part of the tube covered by the gaiter, otherwise it looked good.
I had heavy duty 3500 rear springs installed.
Any ideas what might be causing the knocking?
 
OK, so picked up my car today...
The rear box is not the problem.
My series 1 1970 TC was originally fitted with green stripe springs. I ordered the heavy duty red stripe springs as was told they would improve the ride, and were interchangeable.
The rear end of the car is visibly higher than before, the back end feels a bit wobbly going over small humps in the road, and does make a good bang when going over bumps or potholes. There is also a bit of wheel hop when going swiftly around corners.
Looking at the WM, there are ways to rectify ride height if spring too short, but what does one do if the spring is too long?
I'm assuming my issues are related to the changes in camber, suspension geometry due to change in spring length.
Apart from reinstalling the old springs, what do I need to do?
 
Hi, Just a thought if the rear end is too high could it be the dampers knocking because they on
full extension? Another thing to check is that the damper top bushes are compressed and aren't
loose on their mounting, remove the back seat and squab and bounce the car and see if there is
any movement.

Colin
 
I had this problem with some NOS Spax coil over adjustables bottoming out, I had Police spec rear springs fitted at the same time, it was only noisy on the off side. It knocked out the shock absorber bushes on the off side in no time so I went back to standard shock absorbers. The noise stopped.
 
I replaced original Woodhead dampers with NOS Woodhead dampers.
Looking under the car today, dampers are at full extension. Shock mounts inside car look proper.
The springs I replaced are marked with red stripe, The new ones have red and white stripes.
Looking through some forum posts, it is mentioned the uprated springs should be the same length as originals. My mechanic mentioned the new springs were longer...
"Googling" police spec Rover springs I came up with a page where it was mentioned the LAND ROVER police springs are 2 inches longer than the usual springs and have red/white stripes.
I'm not sure if my parts vendor sent the wrong springs.
I seem to be resigned to removing new springs and replacing the old ones.
Disappointed because I was lead to believe this would be a straight forward swap without problems and improved handling.
 

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I had the same problem when I replaced the rear springs with King Heavy Duty ones.
Ride height went way up...shock length was compromised to the point that they would max out on rebound..."bang"...and ride was floaty and all over the shop...and understeer was a big problem.
A return to stock springs sorted the issue.
And regards your advice...a common them on this forum is instances where members have received outside advice that generally holds true for other cars, but is not so for the Rover.
The suspension is particularly so...it has been my experience to proceed very prudently when making ANY changes outside of what the factory had come up with...apple carts can be upset very easily.
 
Hi, if they are Land Rover red and white springs they are 170 lb/in (the heaviest they do)
they will be 16.95" free length and 7 coils. hope this helps!

Colin
 
The standard factory 3500 rear springs were all rated at 260 lb/in. I have not details on the heavy duty rear springs, but logically they would have a higher rating.

If the original springs had sagged, then the car will sit higher at the rear. If the car is sitting too high and as a consequence the shock absorbers are fully extended, then the springs would seem not to be fit for purpose.

Ron.
 
If you have fitted uprated springs, standard shocks will have inadequate damping. The hopping and bouncing you refer to is the spring overcoming the rebound damping of the standard shocks. You need to fit adjustable shocks and dial the damping in to suit the new springs or as you say fit standard springs.
 
Original springs back in. All good for now. New suspension feels tighter. Now i still need to get proper heavy duty springs. Obviously not an easy task in Canada
 
get the spec and take it to a local spring winder... Usually doesnt cost more anyway, and certainly going to be cheaper than importing them....
 
My spring saga continues to haunt me...
After finding an ebay ad from Wins, it appears as the springs my mechanic installed in the front of my P6 are 9 loop rear springs.
Looking at this article about "improving the P6" - http://www.bondhouse.co.uk/p6improve.pdf, it states to fit V8 rear springs at front and back on 4 cyl cars to improve body roll...
Can, or should, I leave the rear springs in the front or should I replace them with proper front springs?
 
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