Spring check & clean

With 't Kreng still in use as my daily transport, and a pretty hot weather forecast for last Saturday, I decided to hide from the direct sun underneath the carport, and give the car some well deserved TLC! Over the past few weeks the engine bay did have regular checks, so I switched my attention to the suspension and transmission. For no obvious reason I decided to start at the back of the car. But while positioning the axle stands underneath the ... euhh ... axle, I noticed this rather sorry looking exhaust clamp:

Clearly in need of a replacement! And a fine example of what can happen with galvanic corrosion between two different metals. Luckily I always carry a spare in the boot, so that was quickly sorted. After which I started at the back of the car, with an inspection of the half shaft bearings and the brakes. And as you can see in the picture below it was all rather dirty with road grim and mud to start with:

Luckily all vital parts underneath the dirt were in good condition. And the oil level in the differential casing was also spot on. So the back end only needed a good clean and bit of lubrication on some strategic places. But I also used the opportunity to check all the suspension bolts for tightness. In particular I looked for signs of galvanic corrosion between the high tensile bolts and the stainless steel inserts from the poly bushes. But it looks like the non conductive anti seize compound I applied a few years ago had done its job in that all bolts moved freely after the nuts had been undone a few turns. And all bolts proved still to be pretty tight! For good measure all bolt heads and nuts were covered with a liberal amount of clear wax-oil for protection. As did some seams in the area, that showed signs of cracked paint. Should have used a specific seam sealant when preparing the shell 25 years ago, and not just under body protection 😜

Time to switch to the front of the car. Again a fair amount of dirt in the wheel arches. But underneath again nothing wrong; wheel bearings, brake pads and various dust covers were all in good condition.

And last job for the day was a thorough clean of the wheels. Especially the inside of the front wheels had accumulated a lot of dirt and dust. But nothing an hour's worth of washing and polishing could wipe of. All in all it was a very satisfying day!