Splayed rear leaf springs HJ47. Rivets missing?

[HJ47sa]

Hi guys, hope this isn't a silly thread. My HJ47 has just failed its MOT; one of the reasons being splayed rear leaf springs.

The shocks are mounted to a mount welded to the base of the U-bolt clamp base (assuming not the standard position), so don't know if this is contributing to it (should be able to see the shock in the picture).

The clamps further up in the springs are still in place, so the top (longer) leaf's are ok. It's just the two lower (shorter) ones that are splayed.

I'm assuming the rivet is missing (can actually see it's popped out on one side), so what can I do about this? What rivets are they? Are they replaceable whilst on the vehicle? What equipment will I need?

Any help or advice would be hugely appreciated!

 

[HJ47sa]

 

[3_puppies]

take a hammer and put them back into place.
no rivets that I know of.
U bolts tight?
they will only move so far as the U bolts won't let them move more.
from the wear on the edges of the springs where they ride against the leaf above them, they are worn and may need replacing.

 

[bikersmurf]

There's a good chance the centre bolt has broken... just a hunch.

Stock plates look something like these I stole off the web.

 

[Downey]

You are probably not looking for a major job/upgrade, but I'd remove the springs, disassemble them, re-paint all leafs (so they don't keep rusting between the leafs), reassemble, re-install, then tighten u-bolts tighter than factory spec.

 

[HJ47sa]

Thanks guys. I will strip them and refurbish soon, but I just need to get it through the MOT quickly so I can register it over here. I will try to loosen the U-bolts and whack them back into place. Only issue is one of the U-bolts is bent (this may have been the impact that made them splay. Here you can see my shock mount:

You can see the rivet I was talking about, and the bent U-bolt here:

While I have some guru's here.. It also failed on on the rear brake flexi. They said "brake hose has insufficient room to move, resulting in fouling on any part Offside rear". I'm guessing they are talking about the one pictured in red below. It runs into a T-piece (blue), then to the rear solid lines (green). It is currently cable tied up to that bump stop, so I can understand the failure. Does anybody know where it is supposed to be secured? Or how long it is supposed to be?! (Just so I can check if it is OEM). I think I will go and ask the tester what he wants me to do about this.

 

[3_puppies]

no need to loosen the u bolt, try whacking it first.
the rivet might have had a poly disc mounted to it. it helps the leaves slide against each other. the rivet did not go thru to the leaf above. the spring pack would not flex if it did.
in the middle pic above, you can see the wear between the leaves, where the lower leaf ends against the leaf above it.

I would just re-route the line out of the bump stop mount. bleed the brakes.