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skwdenyer

Member Since: 25 Dec 2012
Location: London
Posts: 11

1987 Defender 110 V8 Petrol CSW Alpine White

V8 CSW Rear Spring Recommendations?

Hi there. Long-time lurker, finally got my long-broken 1987 V8 110 CSW back on the road, now need to keep the momentum up with a "rolling restoration." So after a little help.

My rear springs are corroded. They also seem a little "settled" - the stance just doesn't seem quite right.

Looking around, it seems to me that more recent Defenders have a "tail up" stance whereas older ones appear to sit flatter, dipping under load.

What is the current state of the art thought-wise on what replacement springs to use? Should I be looking for the "tail up" stance (which I admit seems to suit the beast) and, if so, am I looking at complete replacement of all 4 springs to achieve that safely?

Thanks!

23rd Jul 2017 2:47pm

Retroanaconda

Member Since: 04 Jan 2012
Location: Scotland
Posts: 2646

Early CSW vehicles such as yours used a soft rear spring and a Boge hydraulic damper thing which 'pumped' the rear end under load. These generally fail after a while and if the rear springs sag with age the vehicle will sit arse-down. It should sit level with everything working okay. This was a good setup but the struts failed in time.

Because of the general rubbish-ness of the self-levelling strut thing on later models Land Rover did away with it and used progressive springs on the rear, these are a compromise between soft springs for a good ride and stiff ones for load carrying. One of the side effects of this is the arse-up attitude that you describe.

Your simplest option is to just fit the later progressive SW springs. However as I prefer the nicer ride I will be refitting the soft early springs and using airbag helpers to replace the function of the levelling strut.

23rd Jul 2017 2:55pm

skwdenyer

Member Since: 25 Dec 2012
Location: London
Posts: 11

Thanks for that. So perhaps I need to run it about a bit and see if the Boge unit is actually screwed? I've only just got it back to MOT standard (a long way to go to where I want to be, but at least can drive).

Are the Boges rebuildable / replaceable? Right now I have an original CSW and, whilst not an "authenticity nut," I quite like the idea of keeping things as standard as possible (not least because, given where I live, insurance is a headache and I only want to go down the modifications route for things that I *really* want).

Thanks again

23rd Jul 2017 2:59pm

Retroanaconda

Member Since: 04 Jan 2012
Location: Scotland
Posts: 2646

I'm not sure they're still available new. I've heard of people trying to rebuild them with no success.

Put some weight in the back - enough to drop the suspension a bit - and measure the height to the rear door threshold (or similar). Then go for a drive and remeasure, the self-levelling strut should pump it back up to standard height. If it doesn't then it's knackered.

23rd Jul 2017 4:08pm

Sadi

Member Since: 23 Jul 2015
Location: Windhoek
Posts: 334

2016 Defender 110 Puma 2.2 Heritage Edition SW Grasmere Green

OME Repacement suspension parts..

Nice summary here of the OME range:

https://www.expeditionexchange.com/ome/indexsprings.php

25th Jul 2017 5:41am

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