T4 : Battle Across Time (2010 to present)

[Activ8]

While I could get under the van on the drive I just nipped out and measured the compressed spring length using those heavy duty bad boys mainly to gauge an approximate weight with little to no load in the rear. I'm parked on a slight incline but figured if I know roughly the loading of the empty van I can may be match up a set of springs from Faulkners specific to my setup and avoid the guess work.

I've been using https://www.acxesspring.com/spring-calculator.html to give me some idea of these OEM springs that I temporarily fitted.
The site allows you to test working loads and play around with designing a spring or as in my case aid you in finding the right one for the job on the van from another supplier!

I stuck in the Heavy Duty LWB springs I'd found measuring 230mm / 155mm / 17mm / 4 active coils and from the vans load (albeit at an angle) spring height of 185mm, a compression of 45mm (230 - 185) the site tells me the rear near empty loading is about 3541N or 361.1KG.

Applying the calculated load to the second spring set (255mm / 145mm / 15mm / 3 active coils) tells me the compressed spring length would be 208.5mm and sit slightly higher than the heavier duty set with the current loading.

Next stop the Faulkners website!

[Fruitbat]

Rob sent me his rear spring adjusters, one thread was seized along with 3 grub screws .

I managed to free of the spring adjuster, but the thread was damaged to both parts .

Not a problem , I made a mandrel to hold the threaded part.



And then a bung for the tailstock end , this allowed me to tidy the damaged thread .




Also the collar had damage to the internal thread .





Next on to drilling out the 3 seized grub screws .



They were 12.9’s or 14.9’s as they were hard little buggers .




New grub screws fitted .





Job done .




Thanks Rob for the work .




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[fife t4 new]

Cracking job. Looks like new!

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[Activ8]

Rob sent me his rear spring adjusters, one thread was seized along with 3 grub screws .

I managed to free of the spring adjuster, but the thread was damaged to both parts .

Not a problem , I made a mandrel to hold the threaded part.

And then a bung for the tailstock end , this allowed me to tidy the damaged thread .

Thanks Rob for the work .

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Forum gold Kev, forum gold - cheers buddy, money well spent.

[Skiddy]

Very satisfying, lovely job

[S49]

I have a set of those with some springs from Hans. I'll check whats what and if needed there could be some more work for you Kev.

[Fruitbat]

I have a set of those with some springs from Hans. I'll check whats what and if needed there could be some more work for you Kev.

Thanks Si ,I’m going to be making a few sets , but with a longer threaded Tube for more adjustment , not only that they will be made from aircraft spec aluminium, not the horrible cheapo cast aluminium that you can buy .

[Activ8]

Forgot about the lowered springs I'd left in the van.

160mm / 130mm / 15mm / 2 Active Coils

164.9N/mm or 16.8Kg/mm
with max loading of 7139N / 728KG

So with my empty van loading of 350Kg the spring length compresses to 139mm

Will drop the springs into a cytric acid bath tonight and then give them a coating of something tomorrow.

Whilst looking for enough wheel bolts for Andy I found a couple of rubber spring pads too and some other stuff I've been.looking for! Result.


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[S49]

I still think your garage is a portal to another dimension

[Activ8]

Thought I'd have a Spring Clean ;-)
With 100g of citric acid crystals overnight.


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[Jumbungla]

Interested to see how they are tomorrow evening. I've been loving the citric acid, but finding I need to leave things in for 3 or 4 days to get a decent removal.

And that is with about 10% acid to water, with a bit of salt added, and left indoors next to the radiator.

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[Activ8]

Why the salt?
I've doubled up the acid to 200g added boiling water and just watching the fizz. Awesome.

Although I'm sure Reg mentioned some metals desolve in the stuff.... ah well it's entertaining if nothing else!

I'll reuse the solution.

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[regcheeseman]

Interested to see how they are tomorrow evening. I've been loving the citric acid, but finding I need to leave things in for 3 or 4 days to get a decent removal.

And that is with about 10% acid to water, with a bit of salt added, and left indoors next to the radiator.

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Why do you add salt - I've not heard of that trick

I dumped my stuff in a bin full of citric, left outside sub 10 degrees, took about a week, just pull the bits out every day or so, scrub off any loose rust and drop them back in again

[Jumbungla]

This guy seems a decent source - considering he said he was employed to study the effects of acid on rust. He mentions adding salt to the acid to increase its aggressiveness.

https://chemistry.stackexchange.com/...e-rust-remover

Yeah I think I have just been too lazy and haven't taken the parts out regularly to scrub off the excess rust. Saying that, I've still got good results in the end, just had to wait longer.

Also, great idea with the boiling water - haven't tried that.

Also, I've got a 5 gallon brewing bin with a kettle element in the bottom. Have been toying with the idea of putting stuff in that with the acid and keeping it at a high temp. Just worried about the effect on the kettle element over time.

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[Activ8]

Just pulled the springs out of the solution and they're pretty much done, the solution is still fizzing away - at least the exposed metal elements are. Thats 10 hours. Interestingly the rust must be under the paint coating as it's peeled & lifted most of the paint off, not all, so I've just tooth brushed the spring removing the loose and scraped more off. Topped the bucket up with boiling water.

Extract from stacker exchange link.
"There are alternatives. One trick is to get the chloride, sulfate, or nitrate into solution by using a compound other than the acid. For instance, adding sodium chloride to a solution of citric acid should make the citric acid more aggressive, and yet, won't change the pH. (One reason for this is that FeCl3 is more soluble than the iron citrate.)"

I've found the water temp the greatest factor in terms of speed, agitation and visual interest. It really fizzes away with boiling water. Thats enough for a 12 hours deep, effective and timely clean.

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