OME trail repair and Kudos to Lowenbrau and ARB!! (1 Viewer)

[RockDoc]

I wanted to wait till things were sorted with ARB before I posted... Now that seems to be done.

Out at River Shiver this past weekend, the 10 month old Dakar spring on my rear driverside failed at the shackle end. It was the first run of the weekend, and the failure had absolutely no coolness factor. No catching air, no drop off a rock ledge, no nothing, just riding a light trail. Didn't even realize that anything was wrong till I got out to see what was making a metallic clunk at the back of the rig (kind of like the OME pop on steroids).

So, I limped the truck back to camp, and left it to deal with in the daylight. Fortunately Lowenbrau was there, and just happened to have a pair of main and secondary leaves from a stock 60 springpack in his trailer (even though he was driving a 74 ). I am happy to say that they work into the OME springpack reasonably well, and I was able to get back out on the trail with a bastardized suspension! For those of you replacing your springs, this might be a good reason to hang on to your old springs if they are in good shape, and you have the space.

Anyway, I sent an e-mail off to ARB USA on Tuesday night, and it looks like they will be sending out a replacement leaf tomorrow (thanks Marc) They've been great and getting this worked out was no hassle at all.

Looking forward to getting the proper leaf back in, as my truck leans into right turns a bit soft right now (although it does sit pretty close to level).

So all in all, three cheers are in order for Lowenbrau for saving my weekend by having some random (but perfect) scrap in his M101, and lending me some of the tools I didn't have with me , and three cheers are in order for ARB for standing by their product and replacing something defective quickly and with no hassle

 

[RockDoc]

One more pic, back out after the fix.

 

[CruisinFJ60]

maybe a good idea to throw a weld or 2 on that hanger as well it looks a little torn up.

 

[RockDoc]

maybe a good idea to throw a weld or 2 on that hanger as well it looks a little torn up.

Yup, the springs are definitely harder than the steel of the hanger. The hanger got chewed up good, and the broken end of the spring hardly even smoothed over.

 

[Sixty's Guy]

Strewth!

 

[beaufort-fj60]

hmm... you're lucky that did not snap at 60MPH..

now I'm happy I got the terrain tamers..

 

[roscoFJ73]

. Fortunately Lowenbrau was there, and just happened to have a pair of main and secondary leaves from a stock 60 springpack in his trailer (even though he was driving a 74 ).

74s and 60s share the same rear spring

 

[RockDoc]

74s and 60s share the same rear spring

That I didn't know, I wonder if he did? We were all joking about him having parts that weren't even for his cruiser. Now I get the feeling he was the one laughing.

 

[cruiser88]

Ha doc how cold was it that day?

 

[RockDoc]

Ha doc how cold was it that day?

Maybe -8C. It was actually a beautiful weekend, highs were about freezing. I can't imagine fixing that at -30C, I probably would have just committed it to flame to keep warm

 

[cruiser88]

Maybe -8C. It was actually a beautiful weekend, highs were about freezing. I can't imagine fixing that at -30C, I probably would have just committed it to flame to keep warm

So not cold enough for "cold" to be a factor....just a freak thing.

 

[RockDoc]

So not cold enough for "cold" to be a factor....just a freak thing.

Exactly. You ever see a break at the eye? I don't have the experience of others, but everyone there was commenting on having never seen one break there.

 

[Cruiserdrew]

That shackle looks too short. I can see how that would/could break the eye of the spring. Go for a shackle at least one inch longer than stock and it should be OK. If too short, the spring will try to lengthen as it flattens and bind up.

 

[RockDoc]

Hmmm, I always thought that a too long of a shackle was a problem, rather than too short, as it would limit the articulation to what the spring can accommodate via stretch, without adding much the arc of the shackle bolt to the equation.

Is what you are saying that the shorter shackle will tend to pull on the spring more as it transfers upwards pressure into lateral stretch? I have a pair of longer shackles I can put on if this is the common wisdom, but I thought that the closer to vertical angle of a longer shackle was something to avoid.

I would appreciate several opinions on this (no offense Drew, it just takes more than one person's opinion to make me seriously rethink my own)
What is the length on the OME rear shackles?

 

[Cruiserdrew]

Hmmm, I always thought that a too long of a shackle was a problem, rather than too short, as it would limit the articulation to what the spring can accommodate via stretch, without adding much the arc of the shackle bolt to the equation.

Is what you are saying that the shorter shackle will tend to pull on the spring more as it transfers upwards pressure into lateral stretch? I have a pair of longer shackles I can put on if this is the common wisdom, but I thought that the closer to vertical angle of a longer shackle was something to avoid.

I would appreciate several opinions on this (no offense Drew, it just takes more than one person's opinion to make me seriously rethink my own)

No offense taken.

The whole reason for a shackle is that a spring gets longer as it flattens out, so a longer more arched spring needs a coresponding longer shackle so it has a bit more room to lengthen. I'm not suggesting those huge long shackles that some run. Instead, I'd just run the same length that OME provides with the kit. Then the proper length is engineered in from the factory. If you like, I can measure the OME shackles on my 60 to give you an idea of the working length. I won't be home until late tonight so it may take awhile!

 

[RockDoc]

No offense taken.

The whole reason for a shackle is that a spring gets longer as it flattens out, so a longer more arched spring needs a coresponding longer shackle so it has a bit more room to lengthen. I'm not suggesting those huge long shackles that some run. Instead, I'd just run the same length that OME provides with the kit. Then the proper length is engineered in from the factory. If you like, I can measure the OME shackles on my 60 to give you an idea of the working length. I won't be home until late tonight so it may take awhile!

I would appreciate that, no rush, they aren't going anywhere till the new leaf shows up.

I have stock length (3 1/2") on there now, and a pair of 4 15/16" sitting around that could go on.....

 

[Cruiserdrew]

The OME shackles are not much longer than what you have--3 3/4 inches center to center. If you have some 4 inchers, I would install those with your new springs.

I'm running FJ62 springs on my FJ40 and have a 4 inch shackle out back and no problems.

 

[RockDoc]

Thanks for checking, sounds like the stock length isn't far off, and I think I'll stick with them. I still think it was just a defect in that leaf, they really haven't been flogged, and certainly not on the day of the failure.

The photo below was taken the morning after the break, after I got the leaf out. I'm no metallurgist, but it doesn't look like a very fresh surface to me, I suspect it was brewing for a while. Most of the shined up stuff is where the break was riding against the shackle mount.