Suspension snapped

[Part Timer]

The outside is tarmac and my drive is flat with lean shingle think the pothole and badly maintained rural roads that heavy farm machinery use is more of the culprit ?

Flat? It's on a 1 in 10 incline

 

[Den]

Flat? It's on a 1 in 10 incline

Yeah my actual ramp from road to drive  is quite steep lol

 

[Tango]

I don't think it had much to do with the manufacturers either. I believe its because the quality of engine oil has improved so much.

I know someone who used to work at Ford Dagenham decades ago. He said when they designed and tested engines there they'd literally leave them running on max rpm for months at a time. If it lasted 6 months like this it was satisfactory, 8 months and it was solid. He said you could see the exhaust pipe being white hot - and it would be like that every day for months.

He said one day one of the engines they'd been running for 3 months decided it'd had enough and there was an almighty bang with bits flying off all over the place. Engineers went in, worked out what failed, redesigned and rebuilt it, 6 months later that design got a pass.

So i'll have to stick to my original point that there has been a lot of work go into engine reliability and as long as they keep running, people keep buying parts. Volvo are the same, they've put in a lot of work to make their engines reliable.

Are you guys overloading your vans?I've never heard of anyone snapping a coil spring....

It does happen. On older vehicles its obviously age / corrosion etc. Newer motors will suffer just because the springs are badly made. But yes, i've known people with broken springs. The ex had two that i can remember,

 

[Iron Giant]

Are you guys overloading your vans?I've never heard of anyone snapping a coil spring....

Nope, my van has a 750kg payload and with my 350ltr PF system plus electric reel and all the other bits I would guess fully loaded I would be around 550-600kg so quite a bit under,

Snapped coil springs is more of a common issue these days the lads at my local garage tell me, the worrying thing is how many weeks or months is someone driving around with a cracked or broken spring, the mechanic said they usually discover issues when a motor comes in for a service. 

In the past few weeks I have filled my tank the night before so the van could have dropped at any time, also I have being on the motorway and done some decent speeds if the spring went completely and I lost control at 60mph it could have been game over for me.

 

[Tango]

There's all sorts of things that can happen to cause you trouble at speed - not just springs breaking! I heard of a guy years ago who's gearbox decided it was going to lock up while he was doing 80 on the inner lane. Can't remember the outcome but he survived it. We don't tend to think of problems like that though - or engines randomly seizing. Pistons aren't very tall either, they could at any moment twist over sideways and jam inside the cylinder yet tons of nutters out there will thrash their engines to within an inch of their lives doing 90 on the motorways.

How many times have you heard squeeling fan belts? - which oddly stop squeeling the moment the blocked oil filter is replaced..

 

[Robt100]

@Den since you posted about this I have been a bit spooked and loan behold I heard a bit of noise from the front drivers side so went to my local garage they put it on the ramp and the spring is snapped he said it looks like it's been like that for a while,

Strange you say that I said as about 5 weeks ago I did a turn in the road then parked up and looked down the road and there was a piece of coil spring in the road,

dread to think what would have happened if it went whilst driving at speed fully loaded, soonest I can have it done is Wednesday. 

Seems to be the season for it. Had my front spring go this week, exiting a bend on a country lane, there was an almighty ping, then a full, single coil flew out of the wheel arch and into the hedges! At least it made the Van not look so heavily loaded when looking from that side?
Now I just need to get the money to fix it?

 

[ched999uk]

There's all sorts of things that can happen to cause you trouble at speed - not just springs breaking! I heard of a guy years ago who's gearbox decided it was going to lock up while he was doing 80 on the inner lane.

I had a car that had a gearbox locked up at 70 on inside lane, was a bit scary but managed to slide onto hard shoulder. Garage 'fixed' the gearbox and it happened again on a country lane at about 60!!!! Talk about black lines and brown ones. Needless to say the car went back to the garage and was exchanged for a nice Volvo 850 T5 estate ?

 

[Iron Giant]

Seems to be the season for it. Had my front spring go this week, exiting a bend on a country lane, there was an almighty ping, then a full, single coil flew out of the wheel arch and into the hedges! At least it made the Van not look so heavily loaded when looking from that side?
Now I just need to get the money to fix it?

Had mine done today £140 lighter, very pleased I don't have the worry of an accident, I'll have to crack on like anything this week as lost 2 days now. 

 

[Part Timer]

Had mine done today £140 lighter, very pleased I don't have the worry of an accident, I'll have to crack on like anything this week as lost 2 days now. 

Have you seen the weather forecast for tomorrow ?

 

[Iron Giant]

Have you seen the weather forecast for tomorrow ?

Looks alright going off my apps, bit of sleet and 20mph winds, should be fun doing veluxs on townhouses 

 

[Part Timer]

Looks alright going off my apps, bit of sleet and 20mph winds, should be fun doing veluxs on townhouses 

Mine's saying sleet, snow and gusts up to 45mph.

 

[Iron Giant]

Mine's saying sleet, snow and gusts up to 45mph.

Forgot the check the wind gusts, I'll miss the veluxs but I will be cracking on after losing almost 5 days since the start of jan

 

[Part Timer]

Forgot the check the wind gusts, I'll miss the veluxs but I will be cracking on after losing almost 5 days since the start of jan

You'll be doing your Mary Poppins impersonations again if you're not careful ?

 

[dazmond]

Mine's saying sleet, snow and gusts up to 45mph.

Sounds perfectly workable to me.....???

 

[dazmond]

I see it as a challenge.....how bad can it get before I call it a day?....

The only thing that could stop me would be a nuclear winter!??

 

[Part Timer]

I see it as a challenge.....how bad can it get before I call it a day?....

The only thing that could stop me would be a nuclear winter!??

If I was working local on first floor buildings I'd be going out, my job for tomorrow is 150 miles away and 6 floors high. Had 2 days away gutter vaccing at the start of the week so made enough this week anyway.

 

[Iron Giant]

You'll be doing your Mary Poppins impersonations again if you're not careful ?

In the most delightful way ?