[morpheus]

on the weekend i went for a drive through the adelaide hills. just on tarmac. it is quite bumpy but its just normal roads. i found myself down a dead end so had 2 do a U turn.

ended up going up the curb @ the end of the turn and heard a horrible metal stressing noise.

but i just figured it was my suspension creaking.

as i drove off i heard a knocking sound like a loose exhaust.

so i stopped and had a look around cus i hadn't heard it before.

turn out i snapped the left rear spring right in front of the diff, and the diff shifted back about 5 mil..

my mechanic, and the guys @ tuff stuff 4X4 both say its because my 2" longer shackle's dont have the bar between them, and they probably twisted in opposite directions and snapped the spring.

does this sound right??

i'v seen people running shackle extensions without a bar or bolt between them..

maybe im just unlucky.

[steve]

morpheus wrote:

turn out i snapped the left rear spring right in front of the diff, and the diff shifted back about 5 mil..

my mechanic, and the guys @ tuff stuff 4X4 both say its because my 2" longer shackle's dont have the bar between them, and they probably twisted in opposite directions and snapped the spring.
.

you snapped the left rear spring in front of the diff? So that is the opposite side of the diff to where the shackle is at.

I don't think the shackle would have that effect anyway. Even if you have no supporting bar in the shackle, that would just make the shackle twist and not the spring.

I think it's more likely that the bumps cracked the spring. The same happened to me, and i had standard shackles. I was going fast over really rough stuff and the spring cracked through and the tyre wedged up in to the wheel arch.

[morpheus]

well that makes me feel a little better. @ least it didnt break because of something i did..

its actually a dangerous thing to have happen, and if it broke while i was driving @ speed, that woulda been bad.

i'll put it down 2 an old/weak spring, and the rough road just finished it off because theirs no way it should snap on a normal busy sealed road just because its bumpy..

thanks steve

[morpheus]

one other thing is.. the replacement spring i bought was actually slightly shorter than what was on the car. so on the right, the shackle leans out the back of the car a bit. where as the "new" spring, the shackle is straight up and down. im gonna buy the matching spring tomorrow so both sides are the same, but would it make any difference it being maybe 25 - 30 mil shorter and the shackle vertical instead of on a bit of a lean?

the "new" shorter spring was bought from a suzuki wreckers and from a SWB soft top sierra of similar year.

[steve]

well, i don't know coz i wasn't there, just guessing.

but, lots of people have extended shackles, all kinds of bodgyness and there's no big theme of broken springs that is associated with extended shackles.

It's quite common for springs to break in sierras. I have seen it happen a lot. standard springs and lifted springs also.

[morpheus]

yeah i guess it was just a combination of things, i have replaces it with a second hand spring and as soon as i can i'll get a 2" lift kit from ARB or something..

[SuperRoo]

Are you still running everything stock with the extended shackles? Including still running the sway bar and stock shocks?

If yes to all, then it's possible that you have caused axle rap when you hit the curb. Having the extended shackles with stock everything else will cause the shocks to bottom out and/or top out.

The next thing to follow when the shocks hit full compression or extended length is that the front of the diff will twist upwards or downwards depending on which way your suspension is traveling. This will cause a lot of extra stress to the springs on either side of the diff usually near the mount point of the diff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hv6HZVv4 ... re=related

[morpheus]

i took the sway bar off, and havn't changed the shocks, i thought i'd b ok until i needed to go off road, and i dont call doing a u turn in a driveway "offroad" BUT........... it did take the suspension to its maximum as the real left wheel became light enough to spin a little white tryin 2 do whatever it was i was doin..

and yes the spring broke directly in front of the diff right in front of the plate the shocker and U bolts go through..

SO it would seem i broke my car myself.....but i guess u learn these things as you go along.. shame it has to cost money as you do it