Parabolics on a 1980 Series 3 109
- Thread starter weatherm
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greenmeanie
Adventurer
I think in the US you have the option of Rocky Mountain or Roversnorth own brand springs. You can, of course, look at Haystees yourself but they are heavy so I can only imagine shipping will be frightening.
I have had sets of RM parabolics on my 88 and my 109 SW and liked them. For your 109 3 leafs are good for a supple ride on a lightly loaded DD but if you plan on expeditions or regular heavy loads the 4th leaf is the way to go.
I don't know much about RNs parabolics or even who makes them. Whatever you do avoid the Britpart springs as they are shockingly poor quality.
Shocks come down to money and where you live. I've had the procomps on my 88 for 10 years and they've done well but I am in the desert so corosion is really not a factor. The newer ones RM sell now have a steel guard in place of the gaiter on the old ones. I haven't heard anything bad about the OME shocks so if you have the cash its a good option.
On a heavy truck body roll will increase but I have never had a problem on mine. The other option is stock springs with UHMW tape between the springs. It's a DIY and I'm not sure they are any cheaper though. There are others on the board with experience of that route.
Pros are a good supple ride, a slight lift, slightly more articulation due to the lift and inter leaf corrosion is not a problem.
Cons are increased body roll if you run a heavily loaded vehicle.
I have had sets of RM parabolics on my 88 and my 109 SW and liked them. For your 109 3 leafs are good for a supple ride on a lightly loaded DD but if you plan on expeditions or regular heavy loads the 4th leaf is the way to go.
I don't know much about RNs parabolics or even who makes them. Whatever you do avoid the Britpart springs as they are shockingly poor quality.
Shocks come down to money and where you live. I've had the procomps on my 88 for 10 years and they've done well but I am in the desert so corosion is really not a factor. The newer ones RM sell now have a steel guard in place of the gaiter on the old ones. I haven't heard anything bad about the OME shocks so if you have the cash its a good option.
On a heavy truck body roll will increase but I have never had a problem on mine. The other option is stock springs with UHMW tape between the springs. It's a DIY and I'm not sure they are any cheaper though. There are others on the board with experience of that route.
Pros are a good supple ride, a slight lift, slightly more articulation due to the lift and inter leaf corrosion is not a problem.
Cons are increased body roll if you run a heavily loaded vehicle.
M
MuddyOval
Guest
Parabolics are a love it or hate it option. Personally, I'm not a 'love it' kinda guy and my shop has removed many sets and replaced them with regular stock springs. Then again, some people swear by parabolics and wish they did it sooner. Rocky Mountain springs tend to have the happiest owners, FWIW.
When I tried a 109SW fitted with them, the mush springs and heavy gas shocks made for a really horrible bouncy ride and cornering at any speed was scary. My stock 109SW took corners better even with 42 year old springs, but with no additional weight in it, it's not exactly a smooth riding truck. Throw 300lbs in the back and it's really not a bad ride.
When I tried a 109SW fitted with them, the mush springs and heavy gas shocks made for a really horrible bouncy ride and cornering at any speed was scary. My stock 109SW took corners better even with 42 year old springs, but with no additional weight in it, it's not exactly a smooth riding truck. Throw 300lbs in the back and it's really not a bad ride.
I Leak Oil
Expedition Leader
I have RM springs and have had them for many years now. I would NEVER go back to a stock style spring. I don't notice any more body lean than with my old stock springs. The ride is far smoother on road. The ride off-road is far superior. They weigh a lot less than stock springs too so that is always a plus! You can try Wise Owl up in Canada or try contacting Rocky Mountain directly. Ray Wood is sometimes on the Rovers North board and he can give you the skinny on where to get them.
Friend of mine had a good experience with the Haystee's he put on his truck. Haven't heard anything bad about the brand that Rovers North sells.
Shocks...don't use stock with parabolics. You won't see the full benefit of axle travel as the stockers will limit the spring travel.
Find someone that has them on their truck and take it for a spin. Make sure you like them before spending the money.
Friend of mine had a good experience with the Haystee's he put on his truck. Haven't heard anything bad about the brand that Rovers North sells.
Shocks...don't use stock with parabolics. You won't see the full benefit of axle travel as the stockers will limit the spring travel.
Find someone that has them on their truck and take it for a spin. Make sure you like them before spending the money.
TeriAnn
Explorer
If memory serves, Great Basin Rovers sells Heystees parabolics. And British Pacific is a US source for Rocky Mountain Parabolics.
Last year they admitted on their forum that they source their Parabolics from a company in India.
I've had UHMW tape between my leaf springs for 10 or 11 years now. They still work just fine and promise to just keep on going long into the future. Last year a friend and I did a little rough testing since he had a newish set of Parabolics under his Dormobile. Driving over the same course we could not tell any difference in suspension feel between his parabolic sprung Dormobile and my leaf sprung Dormobile except his leaned a little more on highway curves. ride comfort and articulation seemed the same. Mind you it was a very subjective unscientific test.
The key difference between stock leaf spring articulation and parabolics seems to be the leaf to leaf friction on the leaf springs that increases over use. The UHMW plastic just eliminated the leaf to leaf friction.
Love it or hate it is right! After years of research I bit the bullet and bought the Heystee's. Our local LR club up here in Canada has had incredibly mixed reviews with the Rocky Mountain springs which scared me off of them. At the time I could find no one who wasn't happy with their Heystees, and, as they are the same springs as that being fit to the Santana's, I figured they should be well tested and proven. Man was I wrong! They are way more expensive then the RM or RN brands but I was assured that there was good reason for it. Mine lasted for less than 10 000kms, and have sustained one 'bent' spring and major sagging on the fronts. This was after NO serious off road time, but one trip up to Alaska. They are the heavy duty 4-leaf setup with OME shocks, and the truck was not heavily loaded in the least. (SII 109 Carawagon)
After 10 months of dealing with both the supplier and the manufacturer I have now given up. The Manufacturer agrees that there is a manufacturing fault with the bent spring and has agreed to replace both rears with new. The problem is that the supplier in Utah no longer carries the springs and is not willing to deal with the warranty. I am now on the hook to pay for shipping from the Netherlands on a product I bought from Utah!! After already paying out over $2000 for this suspension, I can't justify paying any more to deal with a problem that shouldn't be mine. I have little faith that the warranty rear springs will be any better than these, and that still doesn't address the sagging fronts. For the cost of shipping alone, I could buy an entire set of RM's!
After my experiences, I am now going back to genuine handed LR springs. The ride is stiffer on pavement, but handles the rough corrugated backroads way better. The way I see it, we sacrifice alot of the basic comforts for simple, rugged, reliability in Series Rovers, and it seems ridiculous to now have to worry about the reliability of an aftermarket leaf spring, just for a little on road comfort.
After 10 months of dealing with both the supplier and the manufacturer I have now given up. The Manufacturer agrees that there is a manufacturing fault with the bent spring and has agreed to replace both rears with new. The problem is that the supplier in Utah no longer carries the springs and is not willing to deal with the warranty. I am now on the hook to pay for shipping from the Netherlands on a product I bought from Utah!! After already paying out over $2000 for this suspension, I can't justify paying any more to deal with a problem that shouldn't be mine. I have little faith that the warranty rear springs will be any better than these, and that still doesn't address the sagging fronts. For the cost of shipping alone, I could buy an entire set of RM's!
After my experiences, I am now going back to genuine handed LR springs. The ride is stiffer on pavement, but handles the rough corrugated backroads way better. The way I see it, we sacrifice alot of the basic comforts for simple, rugged, reliability in Series Rovers, and it seems ridiculous to now have to worry about the reliability of an aftermarket leaf spring, just for a little on road comfort.
M
MuddyOval
Guest
I have heard other stories of collapsed or bent parabolics. A friend of mine had to drive from VA to Canada on a collapsed spring- wasn't fun. I don't recall what brand, however.
After a labor intensive and careful installation my UHMW has not held up well in the two months since I've been back on the road. On the shorter leaves that don't see much movement it appears okay but on the longer leaves, especially the mains, I've got scraps of worn and torn UHMW hanging out everywhere.
Oh well, nothing lost except about $60 and HOURS and HOURS of backbreaking work carefully cleaning and preping each leaf to accept the plastic.
Otherwise I'm happy with the no-nonsense appeal of stock springs... success with paras seem to be about a 50/50 crap shoot... especially after hearing horror stories like Lstrvr's with his premium quality (premium priced anyway) para springs.
I intend to keep my stockers slathered in grease and/or oil and drive on.
Kind regards, Josh
Oh well, nothing lost except about $60 and HOURS and HOURS of backbreaking work carefully cleaning and preping each leaf to accept the plastic.
Otherwise I'm happy with the no-nonsense appeal of stock springs... success with paras seem to be about a 50/50 crap shoot... especially after hearing horror stories like Lstrvr's with his premium quality (premium priced anyway) para springs.
I intend to keep my stockers slathered in grease and/or oil and drive on.
Kind regards, Josh
Well crap. Seems like do you want to gamble your money or not. My stock ones are swollen and barely have a arch in them anymore. My truck has a severe ghetto lean to the left and it creaks and pops when its wet outside. I don't mind it... but I just need to replace the suspension and want something "better" sometimes better is always stock!
keep the opinions coming guys!
sorry to be a noob but what does UHMW stand for.
keep the opinions coming guys!
sorry to be a noob but what does UHMW stand for.
TeriAnn
Explorer
Strange we have had such a different experience. I didn't know about the plastic being available with one side sticky so my sheets are just sitting between the leafs. The ends have moved out to the side a little but in 10 years of driving mine have otherwise held up quite nicely. I have no idea why our experiences has been so different.
Who knows. I didn't realize yours did not have an adhesive side. And I imagine it's possible that yours is thicker (this stuff was paper thin).
But I used the McM-C part # off your website in sourcing the stuff.
??
Kind regards, Josh
James86004
Expedition Leader
I have heard rumors that you can no longer buy stock springs that are as good a quality as the originals.
I have some old TI Console (now Heystee) springs under the Dormobile. I paid $400 for all four from a fellow LRO who paid a fortune for them, tried them, hated them, removed them, and put them on the shelf in his garage for 5 years. These are the 3 leaf rears. The only issue with them is they are not handed, so the trucks leans to the left. The left front axle is almost 1 inch closer to the bump stop than the right front. I have confirmed there is significantly more weight on the left than on the right.
The ride is way better. Before, I had stock front springs, and 1 ton rears. I felt every crack in the road, and if I drove over a coin, I could tell if it was heads or tails. Washboard, speedbumps, any bumps were horrible, so I drove real slow.
The parabolics are infinitely better on low frequency stuff like speed bumps. High frequency stuff like cracks and coins is also better but not as much. I blame the load range E tires I have on it for that.
It rolls in corners, but no more than our stock 1989 Range Rover did.
I have some old TI Console (now Heystee) springs under the Dormobile. I paid $400 for all four from a fellow LRO who paid a fortune for them, tried them, hated them, removed them, and put them on the shelf in his garage for 5 years. These are the 3 leaf rears. The only issue with them is they are not handed, so the trucks leans to the left. The left front axle is almost 1 inch closer to the bump stop than the right front. I have confirmed there is significantly more weight on the left than on the right.
The ride is way better. Before, I had stock front springs, and 1 ton rears. I felt every crack in the road, and if I drove over a coin, I could tell if it was heads or tails. Washboard, speedbumps, any bumps were horrible, so I drove real slow.
The parabolics are infinitely better on low frequency stuff like speed bumps. High frequency stuff like cracks and coins is also better but not as much. I blame the load range E tires I have on it for that.
It rolls in corners, but no more than our stock 1989 Range Rover did.
Google custom leaf springs manufacturers. Alcan Springs is one of them. They build them just like they did 40 years ago. With Spring Steel. Most OEM LR springs are tool steel. Big difference in price and performance though. Alcan can apply the antifriction tape during assembly.
I have para's and will be selling them as soon as possible. They are that bad...
EwS
I have para's and will be selling them as soon as possible. They are that bad...
EwS