Installing Parabolics: A few questions for the veterans.

[Myron]

Hi Guys,

I bought the parabolic spring and ProComp shock kit from our hosts and waded into the project today. I got one corner done with the help of my teenage kiddo, and I have a few questions for the experts. Since I want to continue the project tomorrow, I'm really hoping that there is someone checking the boards on a Saturday night who might know some of these answers and be willing to share their expertise. I've spent a fair amount of time searching and googling, but just want to be sure.

The springs I got are the Rovers North 3-leaf rear, 2-leaf front. The shocks are the ProComp ES9000's that come with the kit. My Land Rover is a 64 SIIA 88, but it's a true Bitsa Rover having been restored using an early S3 donor vehicle. So, for example, I know for sure the axles are from the S3.

Here we go:

1. First, the springs don't look L/R handed to me, and the respective front and rear pairs have the same part no's on them (ie, front pair of springs both have the same part no and the rear pair both have the same part no. that is different from the fronts). Can someone please confirm that these springs are not L/R handed?

2. Same question for forwards/backwards. I couldn't really tell a difference end-to-end, so I'm assuming there is not a forwards/backwards direction. Can someone please confirm?

3. Spring eye bushes: My old standard springs had poly bushes in the eyes, but the Rovers North springs appeared to be pre-bushed. Can someone confirm that this is the case? So I don't need to do anything to the spring eyes at all, right? Just bolt them to the car?

4. The U-bolts: There are two sets of U-bolts that come with the kit; one is heavier/thicker than the other. I used the heavier/thicker set on the rear. Please tell me this is correct because I don't believe I could take it if they in fact belong on the front. (This seems like it would be a handy thing for Rovers North to include as a separate instruction sheet with the springs.)

5. Strange parts that came with the shocks: The shock absorbers came with a kit of parts that includes little rubber bushes (not the big rubber bushes that are identical to the ones that were on my car already), two dish-shaped washers, one nut, and two steel sleeves. I had nothing like this on my Land Rover as it was built (by me, 14 years ago). Do I need to do anything with these parts, or are they just for making the shocks fit some other application? The box that Rovers North shipped them in had a cautionary instruction sheet taped to the outside showing the correct way to install the dish-shaped washers.

I would be very grateful for your guidance and thoughts. Thanks very much in advance!

Kind regards,

Myron

[Myron]

Well, my project is done and it turned out fine. I figured everything out except for the purpose of some of the miscellaneous parts.

Myron

[maddo55]

How does your rover ride with the new springs?

[cedryck]

Hi Guys,

I bought the parabolic spring and ProComp shock kit from our hosts and waded into the project today. I got one corner done with the help of my teenage kiddo, and I have a few questions for the experts. Since I want to continue the project tomorrow, I'm really hoping that there is someone checking the boards on a Saturday night who might know some of these answers and be willing to share their expertise. I've spent a fair amount of time searching and googling, but just want to be sure.

The springs I got are the Rovers North 3-leaf rear, 2-leaf front. The shocks are the ProComp ES9000's that come with the kit. My Land Rover is a 64 SIIA 88, but it's a true Bitsa Rover having been restored using an early S3 donor vehicle. So, for example, I know for sure the axles are from the S3.

Here we go:

1. First, the springs don't look L/R handed to me, and the respective front and rear pairs have the same part no's on them (ie, front pair of springs both have the same part no and the rear pair both have the same part no. that is different from the fronts). Can someone please confirm that these springs are not L/R handed?

2. Same question for forwards/backwards. I couldn't really tell a difference end-to-end, so I'm assuming there is not a forwards/backwards direction. Can someone please confirm?

3. Spring eye bushes: My old standard springs had poly bushes in the eyes, but the Rovers North springs appeared to be pre-bushed. Can someone confirm that this is the case? So I don't need to do anything to the spring eyes at all, right? Just bolt them to the car?

4. The U-bolts: There are two sets of U-bolts that come with the kit; one is heavier/thicker than the other. I used the heavier/thicker set on the rear. Please tell me this is correct because I don't believe I could take it if they in fact belong on the front. (This seems like it would be a handy thing for Rovers North to include as a separate instruction sheet with the springs.)

5. Strange parts that came with the shocks: The shock absorbers came with a kit of parts that includes little rubber bushes (not the big rubber bushes that are identical to the ones that were on my car already), two dish-shaped washers, one nut, and two steel sleeves. I had nothing like this on my Land Rover as it was built (by me, 14 years ago). Do I need to do anything with these parts, or are they just for making the shocks fit some other application? The box that Rovers North shipped them in had a cautionary instruction sheet taped to the outside showing the correct way to install the dish-shaped washers.

I would be very grateful for your guidance and thoughts. Thanks very much in advance!

Kind regards,

Myron

Seems like some products purchased for these trucks need someone dedicated to write some instructions, or post some quality observations somewhere. Sadly the product maker seems disinterested in creating literature. Just my two cents. But my Rocky mountain parabolics offer a great ride, and awesome articulation.

[Myron]

How does your rover ride with the new springs?

It rides great, and overall I'm very happy with the product. Like Cedryk says in the post above this one, however, more installation details would have been very helpful. If you were more of a mechanic or did springs and shocks for a living or something, it would've been no problem installing the Rovers North kit blindfolded. But my Land Rover is really the only thing I wrench on these days and I'll go a couple years between projects. I'd never done springs before so it just took some figuring out.

Very happy with them on the vehicle, now. Sorry it took me a few weeks to see these followups. When I needed the help, the forum was dead silent...

[SafeAirOne]

I'm preparing to do a similar job in the near future...What did you do regarding preloading the bushes, being that you installed parabolic springs? Did you use the same dimension as found in the Workshop Manual for the stock springs?

[Myron]

I confess I did nothing. I literally just bolted the new springs on, reassembled everything, and took it for a test-spin. About a month or so later I drove it to my local shop that I sometimes use for stuff I don't feel like doing anymore (e.g., hub oil seals -- no thanks) and had them take a look at everything I did, check all my bolt torques, etc., and test drive the car. They reported no problems, so I guess I just got lucky.