I dropped off the air spring I've settled on along with two sections of my original 127 frame at the machine shop today. To aid in the construction mock-up of the adapter plates, I took the front upper coil perch and the rear upper coil perch that were cut out of the frame and sandblasted.

I have sent several on the list some .jpgs of the air springs kind of dummy-mounted in the spring perches. Looks like they will work great. I even put one into the 145 in the shop and inflated it just to see how it would work. I am pretty excited about getting this going soon, and with the addition of a CNC machine at the machinist I go to, the adapter plates should be done pretty quick.

if anyone wants to post those pics that'd be great.

Later,

Michael

PS I'll keep youguys updated.

Michael,

could you not just have used the plates that the range rover LSE with air suspension used?

or is this for the rear axle with the bigger diameter 110 springs?

you could use the assistor spring inserts that some 110/130's use to fit the twin rear springs (smaller one inside the main one) as they use a cap that fits the top spring perch.

too late now though! :(

Jamie

Thanks for the thought, but nope.

These springs are a complete replacement and are not similiar to the Dunlop springs used by LR on the Classics, nor the Firestone springs used on the RRII. I am curioius what the RRIII uses however, and on my test drive of it the other day I was definitely impressed.

Additionally, yes, the first truck these will go on is the 145 in the rear, and then the LWB RR on both front and rear.

Later,

Michael

Here you go

pic two

one for fun from the serious one

rear pics

I like the depth of field on this one :)

You selling these? If not whats with the blurry tag on them?

Your not going commerical on us are you Michael.

Ron

Going commercial????

Baby, I've been commercial since day one! Remember, I use the 'job description' of commercial photographer! ;)

Honesly, no, I don't plan to sell any 'product' that relates to rovers anytime in the near future. I just added the blurry tag to add in providing an air of mystery and suspense.

Trust me, if you guys really wanted to find out which springs I'm using you wouldn't have to look in the Firestone book that long.

The adapter rings and plates will probably be proprietary since I honestly have spent a lot of time figuring this whole thing out.

Again, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out how to make the bags work within the factory perches. If you gave it 10 minutes of thought you'd probably figure out the same thing I did.

Kind of like how everyone's rock sliders are just variations on a theme....

Later,

Michael

LOL

Inspire confusion when people look at my rovers!

Ron

are you confident the bag will not be abraided by contact with the upper bucket?
look too close for comfort to me, and new bags aint cheap

thanks for your concern. It is one of the things that has me thinking the most actually.

On the rear there is no question that it will not rub the bracket at all. the adapter plate will be at least 3/4" thick, perhaps a full inch, so that would put the bag even further down into the wider section of the bracket.

On the front, it is a tighter fit, but I am confident enough that I can solve the problems to proceed with the fabrication of the adapter plates.

Later,

Michael

PS The whole damn truck ain't cheap. The airsprings are just a small fraction of what the whole project is costing. If I learn a lesson, good or bad, I can feel good about it. Besides, didn't the Wright brothers crash a few airplanes????

"The whole damn truck ain't cheap"

Really? It looks cheap. (HUGE SARCASTIC TONE)

:D

I think Orville actually killed someone. :eek:

You going to set up an emergency inflation kit? Be interesting to see your version as the kits on the market are sooooooo overpriced. Maybe carry some fix a flat too :)

Ron

Emergency inflation kit???? Isn't that what I got married for??? (Oh wait, that's another thread....)

Acutally I have 2 emergency inflation kits. They're shaped just like big ol f-in OME coil springs and will sit neatly in the rear box for probably most of the break-in period!

I was thinking about the rubbing on the frame scenario, and was thinking I could get some teflon or some similar slippery strong malleable sheet material and make like a skirt to surround the upper part of the air spring.

If there was contact, the rubber bladder would just be pressing against the 'skirt'. Even without the skirt, the bladder never really slides against anything, it would just expand until it pressed against the spring perch, then the pressure would be forced downwards.

If my ride-rite airbags that are currently in my rear coil springs on my '90 RR are any indication of how well airbags wear, then I'll be just fine. Those little bladders have taken a serious beating and show no signs of fatigue. Yeah, there are rub marks and such, but nothing bad has happened and they get more side to side rubbing than the air springs in the 145 would ever see.

Oh, and I think the person Orville killed was his wife.

Anything else I might be missing???

Michael