Sagging leaf and rotating axle

[Larry]

Hi all,

My OS leaf spring has been sagging for a while now. Today I decided to jack her up and figure out what the problem was.

When I jacked up the chassis with the axle hanging free I noticed the following (see video link below). this was when I tried to rotate wheel back and forth with handbrake on. This seemed like a lot of play to me. I could feel this when taking up drive between 1st and reverse etc..


Click Here for Youtube Video



Having now removed both rear leafs I think the axle rotation was mostly down to a loose u bolt on the near side.
The lower leaf on the OS was a little crooked so I'm not sure if this was the cause of the sagging as now that everything is removed left and right leaves look identical.

Can anyone point out any obvious errors or problems here??

Otherwise my next move is to grease and reassemble everything correctly and see how she sits then.

Thanks

[Larry]

FYI,

For anyone wondering what the over the top drive shaft gaiter is for... I've just installed 2x new UJs and found that the original gaiter was ruined. all I had spare was a gaiter that was supplied with the steering damper, a little excessive but does the job until I find the proper part the next time I order some bits!

[timwilks13]

OS as in the drivers side? Its usual for the drivers side to sag because thats where you sit. Are all the U bolts tightened up, and what do the spring bushes look like?

(p.s. you can use the youtube button for adding videos )

[Larry]

Hi,

Yes driver's side. This was a very noticeable amount of sag. The leafs looked almost flat. I should measured the difference before disassembly!

Thanks for the tip re: YouTube!

[ScottieJ]

That's known as 'axle wrap' it's normal with leaf springs.

As long as it doesn't wrap loads or cause any binding issues with the UJs etc while driving then a little bit doesn't really hurt. If you get someone to watch the diff nose as you pull away and brake how much does it move? if it's as much as it does like that in the video it might be worth fitting some new springs......Don't get the 'LESJOFORS' springs off ebay, They are terrible quality.

Tight U-bolts will help though

[Larry]

Thanks for the info. I hadn't come across axle wrap before. There is a fairly noticeable clunk when taking up drive which I was blaming on the ujs until I fitted new ones yesterday and found the axle wrap issue. Gonna rebuild tonight and see how she sits then. Will keep you posted.

Thanks,
Larry

[Larry]

Swapped over the leaf springs to opposite sides and greased them up. Sag is better but still slightly to driver's side. I can live with that for now. Seems as though its not all in the leaves?

Also wrap is much improved so looks like the U bolts just needed a tighten up! Now on to the next issues to get her MOT ready!
Cheers for the help.