Broken OME ARB rear coil spring on a 105

[Peru Darrell]

I broke ( into 2 parts ) one of the rear OME 2863 med load springs while driving on a rocky, rutted road a few days ago. Broke 2 coils up from the bottom.

I have looked for an underlying reason why this may have broken, but it just seems to be a victim of our terrible South America roads.

Anybody have any experience with broken OME coil springs or any insight if something else may have caused it to break. Had to limp home clunking and banging over every bump for 50 miles. Looking for maintenance items I may be overlooking. Want to avoid being stranded the next time.

The springs are on a FZJ105, more like an 80 chassis, but the rear of the 100/105 appears to be similar.
Thanks for the advice.

 

[Peru Darrell]

Here is a pic. Left side rear spring. Axle is almost sitting on the bump stop.

from the front

• Peru Darrell
• Jan 24, 2015

Sitting back at stock height now.

from the rear

• Peru Darrell
• Jan 24, 2015

Looks like a fatigue failure

The spring clunked around while I limped home.

Any thoughts as to why it broke, or just fatigue?

Now I wait for new springs to ship from the USA to Peru. OME 2863

 

[stonepa]

Broke one OME coil and many OME shocks on my built Discovery II. Used to be a fan of OME but these things shouldn't break. I ran Toyota parts on the 100 and never had any issues.

 

[Peru Darrell]

these things shouldn't break

I agree, they shouldn't break. Never heard of a coil spring failure before. Seen leaf springs break though. stonepa, sorry to hear you had the same issue too.

Curious if there is any kind of trail fix to make limping home easier?

 

[stonepa]

I drove home (carefully) and ordered a new spring. There is no trail fix I can think of other than replacement, which would not be easy.

 

[Peru Darrell]

While spraying WD-40 to loosen the bolts on the shocks, I noticed that I had broken Both rear springs. Once I saw the first broken spring, I never bothered to check the other one, just ordered a new pair of 2863's. Still waiting for them to clear customs, stuck in the city. Found an OME tag with the running bird on the other spring, but it is not legible to see which model OME spring it was that broke.