a fairground life(spring replacement)

At 6:30pm we started to pull down. It was an easy night as only half the kit was up. We did the miami first and then onto the DZ. The rain started to fall as it got dark, I didn't feel it coming down, but against the glare of the spot lights the rain drops were clearly visible. Just prior to 9pm we left with the miami. I was taking it back to the yard to fix the spring. I had sourced a replacement from a scrapyard on Friday. I carefully drove off, very conscious that only one leaf was holding the middle trailer axle weight. On 10pm we were in the yard and set. The next morning we moved the DZ and on return to Glasgow "r" and I started on the spring replacement.

When I got under I could see that the other leaf had broken too during the journey. Luckily the broken ends had stayed put and jammed against the chassis to take the weight. Using the 3/4" socket set with extension bar we removed all the nuts from the U bolts, rebound bolts and torsion bar. Then using the rides hydraulics we lifted the ride up and away from the axle. It was still a tight squeeze under there but we jiggled the old spring out. The replacement was a good 8" longer so we trimmed it with the 9" grinder. It took about 20 mins to get it back into position. During the re build I noticed the torsion bar bush was kapute, so while "r" was tightening up the U bolts I nipped off to get another. That was easier said than done, a day later we got the replacement but to get the torsion bar to line up I had to drop the axle again!!! Any way it's all back together now.

As for the show, its 99% done. All I need is a dry day to varnish the paybox. It will take a day just to pick up all the rubbish laying about. Its funny how much debris is created when you start working.