I’ve had enough of both of them when cornering, so have made a small investment in an anti-roll. or anti-sway bar. This should allow plenty of articluation for the use that the 109 gets put to, mainly on road but also including future trips similar to the Alps. Since the vehicle was not built for pay and play sites, RTV trials or rock crawling, the resriction in the articulation should not be a significant compromise.
As far as I know, the only Series Land Rovers that had these were the military ambulances. They had two bars, one at the rear and another for the front axle (mounted over the chassis dumbirons and connected to axle brackets which bolted to the swivel housing flanges of the main casing). The rear bar is clamped to the underside of the rear chassis (ambulances have no rear fuel tank in the way) and uses special spring plates under the leaf springs that have rods for the vertical links to engage on, almost identical to the front spring plates’ rods for the dampers. In fact, the links use steering track rod ends at the top and standard damper bushes at the bottom, so the wearing parts are very easy to source.
I got this second hand unit from Dunsfold Land Rover, who I was in the process of ordering some minor spares from. I was just enquiring about the availablity of these relatively rare ambulance parts to get a rough idea of how much the future mod might cost, and they informed me that they had just stripped a rotten ambulance and had a complete rear anti roll bar available. Unfortunately, all they had of the front was the front was the bar itself – the links and axle brackets had been sold with the front axle itself. However, they reckon the front bar does relatively little, and made comparisons to the 110 Station Wagons which only have rear anti-roll bars. The whole assembly set me back a mere £50, and all it needs is a clean up and repaint and a pair of brackets fabricated to mount the bar to the chassis clear of the fuel tank and exhaust.
Spanish Santanas from the mid eighties on did have anti roll bars (as well a power steering, disk brakes, parabolic springs, one piece wind up front doors…..)
Sadly, the only source for this parts are scrapyards.
Maybe the Santana PS-10 (now Iveco Masiff) has anti roll bars. Being a 109 they will probably fit your vehicle.
Thanks, Feder.
Well, the beauty of this bar assembly is that it will fit with no modification, being designed for the 109, and will still fit once I have fit the Defender axles I plan, because I will be retaining the existing suspension.
The front end is a little different. I can’t currently fit a 109 ambulance system there because my Tdi radiator and intercooler are in the way. However, once the front axle is swapped for the Defender/Discovery unit, the ambulance anti-roll bar would no longer fit because of the increased length between the swivel flanges. Buying the ambulance front system would have been a waste. I’ll be looking at whether the axle front donor’s anti-roll bar can be fitted, and will also be looking closely at the front anti-roll bars of the PS10 – I can foresee problems with a Discovery front bar fouling the leaf springs or shackles.
Iam happy for your article. Iam from Indonesia, West Java, I have Land Rover Series 3 SWB but the engine was convert to diesel, may be the weight engine is too heavy so if turning in on road, the vehicle always body rool, me i look your picture rear Anti Rool Bar from your vehicle…? please my problem body rool is not comfort… send me a picture to my email thank you…
Hi Nick
Gteetings from Africa, I did write to you yesterday but not sure if I posted it.Thank you for the info received so far , it is great to talk to other landie fundies.I am in the process of building a s111 short base and the chassis is ready to go for galvanising.I am sripping a s111 long base and is using the firewall, gearbox and the two diffs for my new s111 short base.I have now discovered that the rear leavesprings is mounted on the chassis of the short wheel and next to the chassis on the long wheel base.I will have to make some modification to the new short wheel base to fit the springs, have you any comment on this,and what other suprises is waiting for me with my new project using s111 long base spares to build s111 short wheel base?
Your site is realy a great site for landie people like myself, still dont know why we do it, very much like my wife, gives me a hard time but loves her never the less.
Regards
Lukas
Hi Lukas,
Yes, you did post the question before on this page: http://www.nickslandrover.co.uk/wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post=86
I forgot to mention in that reply that fitting a Salisbury rear axle to an 88″ will need a custom short prop, and that prop has quite sharp UJ angles. You wouldn’t want to combine it with a suspension lift of any kind, including the fitting of parabolic springs.
Nick.
Hi Nick
I am missing something here, I cant find your previous reply.Is this prop going to be shorter than the nomal s111 prop?
Many thanks
Lukas