Tedium
Forum Member
My 2001 Forester had been running standard suspension. I purchased 4 raised Dobinson Springs (approx 25 mm lift compared with original height) and new KYB struts. Cost was $1250 fitted. I could certainly pick the difference and these seemed a worthwhile investment.
Twenty five months and 31,000 km later I was on a club trip through sand dune country. My Subi had been parked for about 10 minutes on almost level ground. On moving off, at about 2km/h my left front coil spring broke. The sharp point of the broken spring took out the inside wall of the tyre.
I’d be interested in any comments as to how a spring can possibly break in what seemed to be a very low stress situation.
The guys wound off the smaller section of broken spring-see photo.
Next step was to lever the bottom end of the larger, remaining, spring section into the seat on the strut. The issue was then keeping the remaining spring section and the strut in something like a workable relationship. One of the group knew of multiple tennis balls being squeezed between the spring and the strut for this purpose. None of us had any tennis balls but this sounds an intriguing option. Has anyone else seen this done? The “Bush Mechanics Team” instead used multiple loops of a luggage strap to retain the bottom of the spring-see picture.
The 70km drive back to our camp on a rural station property included steep dunes. I thought I was unlikely to make more than a few hundred metres. Incredibly, the whole thing held. The top of the remaining section of spring was at an angle to the top seat so was only being located by weight on limited points of contact. Definitely not the most relaxing drive I have ever had nor the fastest but we made it back to camp.
It is worth comparing my photo’s to those of Taza (mentioned below)-they seem incredibly similar breaks to me. We used a luggage strap for makeshift repairs, they used cable ties.
The next stage involved a lift to the nearest town (120km from camp), plus a standard coil and strut assembly freighted 900 km from a Perth wrecker. We fitted this at camp. I was able to drive back to Perth, even if one corner of the car was a bit lower and more softly sprung than the other 3.
I checked out the “Taza’s now snapping springs” posts on this site before approaching the local dealer. After discussion, I said I no longer trusted the product so was changing over to King Springs. I understood he was sending the broken section to Dobinsons for analysis. I wrote to Dobinsons and made a number of phone calls, including speaking with one of the Dobinson family. They kept saying they didn’t have the spring. Eventually, I found the local guy had not sent it back for analysis because I said I was changing to King Springs. I thought they would have appreciated the opportunity to establish what the fault was.
I changed to 30 mm raised King Springs (from a different company). I was able to reuse my front KYB struts. The rear KYB’s could not be used with King Springs (spring pressure is apparently too high) so bought a pair of new Sachs struts for the rear.
The ride of the Dobinsons did feel a bit more supple than the Kings. However, the firmness of the latter is quite acceptable. I wish I had chosen them in the first instance.
Total related costs by this stage were almost $3000 (initial purchase, purchase from wrecker, freight, new tyre, King Springs, Sachs struts etc).
However, the primary issue for me is safety. If a spring can snap under these circumstances, then I hate to think what could have happened at 110km/h. I made this point both by letter and phone.
I make no inferences about other Dobinson products or springs with other vehicles.
Dobinson’s position (as represented by the local agent) was that they would only replace the front springs with Dobinson springs. This rather misses the point. I subsequently found Taza has had a 2nd spring break.
Dobinson’s catalogue still states “Hardening and tempering is completed by a very accurate electronically controlled furnace to eliminate breakage”.
There are some good perspectives out of this:
I now have King Springs
Nobody was injured or killed
I’ve learnt more about suspension than before
I appreciate even more than before how good it is to have other people to help when you’re in a fix, (particularly if they know more than you).
Twenty five months and 31,000 km later I was on a club trip through sand dune country. My Subi had been parked for about 10 minutes on almost level ground. On moving off, at about 2km/h my left front coil spring broke. The sharp point of the broken spring took out the inside wall of the tyre.
I’d be interested in any comments as to how a spring can possibly break in what seemed to be a very low stress situation.
The guys wound off the smaller section of broken spring-see photo.
Next step was to lever the bottom end of the larger, remaining, spring section into the seat on the strut. The issue was then keeping the remaining spring section and the strut in something like a workable relationship. One of the group knew of multiple tennis balls being squeezed between the spring and the strut for this purpose. None of us had any tennis balls but this sounds an intriguing option. Has anyone else seen this done? The “Bush Mechanics Team” instead used multiple loops of a luggage strap to retain the bottom of the spring-see picture.
The 70km drive back to our camp on a rural station property included steep dunes. I thought I was unlikely to make more than a few hundred metres. Incredibly, the whole thing held. The top of the remaining section of spring was at an angle to the top seat so was only being located by weight on limited points of contact. Definitely not the most relaxing drive I have ever had nor the fastest but we made it back to camp.
It is worth comparing my photo’s to those of Taza (mentioned below)-they seem incredibly similar breaks to me. We used a luggage strap for makeshift repairs, they used cable ties.
The next stage involved a lift to the nearest town (120km from camp), plus a standard coil and strut assembly freighted 900 km from a Perth wrecker. We fitted this at camp. I was able to drive back to Perth, even if one corner of the car was a bit lower and more softly sprung than the other 3.
I checked out the “Taza’s now snapping springs” posts on this site before approaching the local dealer. After discussion, I said I no longer trusted the product so was changing over to King Springs. I understood he was sending the broken section to Dobinsons for analysis. I wrote to Dobinsons and made a number of phone calls, including speaking with one of the Dobinson family. They kept saying they didn’t have the spring. Eventually, I found the local guy had not sent it back for analysis because I said I was changing to King Springs. I thought they would have appreciated the opportunity to establish what the fault was.
I changed to 30 mm raised King Springs (from a different company). I was able to reuse my front KYB struts. The rear KYB’s could not be used with King Springs (spring pressure is apparently too high) so bought a pair of new Sachs struts for the rear.
The ride of the Dobinsons did feel a bit more supple than the Kings. However, the firmness of the latter is quite acceptable. I wish I had chosen them in the first instance.
Total related costs by this stage were almost $3000 (initial purchase, purchase from wrecker, freight, new tyre, King Springs, Sachs struts etc).
However, the primary issue for me is safety. If a spring can snap under these circumstances, then I hate to think what could have happened at 110km/h. I made this point both by letter and phone.
I make no inferences about other Dobinson products or springs with other vehicles.
Dobinson’s position (as represented by the local agent) was that they would only replace the front springs with Dobinson springs. This rather misses the point. I subsequently found Taza has had a 2nd spring break.
Dobinson’s catalogue still states “Hardening and tempering is completed by a very accurate electronically controlled furnace to eliminate breakage”.
There are some good perspectives out of this:
I now have King SpringsNobody was injured or killedI’ve learnt more about suspension than beforeI appreciate even more than before how good it is to have other people to help when you’re in a fix, (particularly if they know more than you).
TD.
