Replacing rear springs

1320stang · Jun 20, 2006

I think if you had a full size floor jack, you'd have been okay.

Keep on keeping on....

SoCalCruising · Jun 20, 2006

Thanks for the update. I always like to hear how things go after a thread like this. Keep at it and let us know how the first driving experience goes.

Cupid · Jun 20, 2006

Keep it up!

Yeah, I just did mine yesterday. Took me about 6 hours of work with the same set-up that you had. I placed a similar jack under the pumpkin as well. I think I didn't get the "lopsided" effect because I let the axle down all the way until springs held the weight of the axle. Then I jacked the floor jack up just enough to take a little pressure off the springs. Worked like a charm! Good luck!

I'm about to put up some pics for you to check out.

mudbilly · Jun 25, 2006

the glass is half full

one down, one to go........got the drivers side installed in less than an hour..........:SNSign:

but how tight to i tighten everything????????????????

here is a pic with the new spring overlayed on top of the old..

View attachment 460298

and installed

View attachment 460300

zookeeper · Jun 25, 2006

Wanna hear something scary? A guy I work with was going to take the lowering blocks out of his '67 coupe and to be safe he put the car on jackstands. The only problem is that he put the jackstands under the rear axle, not the subframe. Guess what happened when he got the last nut off the u-bolts? This is the same guy who put a new battery in the same car, but it wouldn't start, so he called a buddy over to assess the problem. The buddy told him to turn the key whilke he listened to hear if the starter was engaging. As soon as the owner (a self professed car expert) hit the key, the buddy noticed the battery cables actually moving! Upon closer inspection, he saw that the owner had installed the new battery and new cables with the positve cable going to one side of the solenoid and the ground cable going to the other side of the solenoid. As soon as he turned the key, he created a dead short across the battery! It ought to be against the law for some people to own tools...

xoxbxfx · Jun 25, 2006

dear god..I just finished up my install of leafs tonight. Took me about 4 hours to get the god forsaken rusted bolts out. I have a plasma cutter, sawzall, radiac, and a grinder with cutoff blades. It still sucked. The sawsall just ate through the blades on the hardened metal spacers. The radiac couldnt cut through the whole bolt, even when I rotated the bolt. The plasma only could cut the bolt with the leaf cut off, the outer metal spacer gone, the rubber grommet pushed out of the way and FINALLY those things came out. But the plasma melted the edges on the outer side of the bolt, inside the bracket, so it wouldnt come out. Had to sorta melt it some more to get the stub out.

what a PITA. One more set on a 68 with origional leafs...

67topless · Jun 26, 2006

mudbilly said:
one down, one to go........got the drivers side installed in less than an hour..........:SNSign:

but how tight to i tighten everything????????????????

here is a pic with the new spring overlayed on top of the old..

Don't remember the specifics on the torque... but it wasn't much (may 25 ft lbs for the shackles). One thing I learned the hard way... tighten things down loosely and take the car for a leisurely stroll around the block. Then once you got her back in the garage, torque everything down to spec while the car is resting on it's suspension (i.e. tires on the ground). It is a pain, but well worth it. ( I just went through this earlier in the spring and my rear was un-even because I torqued it down with the suspension off the ground.

HTH's

Scott

Cupid · Jun 26, 2006

67topless said:
... tighten things down loosely and take the car for a leisurely stroll around the block. Then once you got her back in the garage, torque everything down to spec while the car is resting on it's suspension (i.e. tires on the ground). It is a pain, but well worth it. ( I just went through this earlier in the spring and my rear was un-even because I torqued it down with the suspension off the ground.

HTH's

Scott

Wow! I needed this tip last week... This is exaclty what I didn't do! I've only driven mine once and I need to torque it to specs anyway so i'll try this. Thanks for the tip.

Nice avatar!

mudbilly · Jul 3, 2006

i'm depressed................

it only took a 2 hours to do the other side and have the car sitting back on the ground..........and the reverse eyes put her right where i wanted the stance............on the DRIVERS side only

...the car STILL sits 1-1/2 inches higher on the passangers side rear..... ......i have new springs all around.............i took her for a little spin, hoping that she would settle in.............nope

.........where do i go from here?????? i don't even know who to talk to about this, a frame man or a body guy

it seems that this is commen enough from the comments i've read on :SNSign: ............someone here has got to have figgered this out

xoxbxfx · Jul 3, 2006

mudbilly said:
it only took a 2 hours to do the other side and have the car sitting back on the ground..........and the reverse eyes put her right where i wanted the stance............on the DRIVERS side only

...the car STILL sits 1-1/2 inches higher on the passangers side rear..... ......i have new springs all around.............i took her for a little spin, hoping that she would settle in.............nope

.........where do i go from here?????? i don't even know who to talk to about this, a frame man or a body guy

it seems that this is commen enough from the comments i've read on :SNSign: ............someone here has got to have figgered this out

Might sound crazy but Id check tire size, pressure..that can make up for some of it. Check your rear shackles..are they the same? If it isnt any of those, its the frame. Just put a level on the rear frame and see how it looks.

mudbilly · Jul 3, 2006

tires are fine, and the shackles are new...............i measured from the floor to the top and bottom bolt of the rear shackles and it is at least an inch lower on the drivers side.......it is 1-1/2 lower at the wheel wells

does that mean that the frame is twisted????

i wanted to put in sub frame connectors but could't find any for 73 vert.........

what kinda shop do i talk to??

dennis112 · Jul 4, 2006

How are the front springs? They definitely have an effect on how the rear sits.

Now that you have been out for a drive, have you loosened the front spring attaching bolt and the rear shackle nuts a few turns and then retightened them? The bushings could be binding if you only tightend them while the axle was hanging.

mudbilly · Jul 6, 2006

dennis112 said:
How are the front springs? They definitely have an effect on how the rear sits..

they are brand new with a 1" drop

dennis112 said:
Now that you have been out for a drive, have you loosened the front spring attaching bolt and the rear shackle nuts a few turns and then retightened them? The bushings could be binding if you only tightend them while the axle was hanging.

i'll try that, since it will only take a minute..........

180 Out · Jul 6, 2006

mudbilly said:
they are brand new with a 1" drop
i'll try that, since it will only take a minute..........

At the front end, the lower control arm bushing is also subject to binding. Mark your eccentrics, so you don't lose your camber setting, loosen the pivot bolt, and go for a spin around the block. Having said that, I would be surprised if the front end would have that much effect on the ride height in the rear on a '73 vert, since their "frame" is so flexible.

Were your new leaf springs a good match when they went in? Are the U-bolts square to the axle tubes? Are the through-bolts on the spring packs registered in the holes on the axle tube brackets? If you're sure that every dimension of the installation and the parts are symmetrical, then I would get busy with a tape measure and some jack stands, two sets, one to support the chassis and one to support the axle with the vehicle weight on it, and measure everything from side to side. If I came up with nothing, I would swap the springs from side to side. I would remove the shocks to see if that eliminated the asymmetry.

mudbilly · Jul 6, 2006

180 Out said:
At the front end, the lower control arm bushing is also subject to binding. Mark your eccentrics, so you don't lose your camber setting, loosen the pivot bolt, and go for a spin around the block. Having said that, I would be surprised if the front end would have that much effect on the ride height in the rear on a '73 vert, since their "frame" is so flexible..

yea, I don't think it is in the front either..........although the passenger front is about 1/2 inch higher than the drivers side, but I am thinking that the problem in the rear is causing that..

180 Out said:
Were your new leaf springs a good match when they went in? If you're sure that every dimension of the installation and the parts are symmetrical, then I would get busy with a tape measure and some jack stands, two sets, one to support the chassis and one to support the axle with the vehicle weight on it, and measure everything from side to side. If I came up with nothing, I would swap the springs from side to side.

Heck, I never even thought to check these, since everything was new from the same source. After learning my lessons with NAPA and the like over the yeas, I never thought to question the Mustang source. But, I guess that at this point it would only take a couple hours start to finish to swap everything around.........

180 Out said:
Are the U-bolts square to the axle tubes?

Yea, I even went back to make sure, also made sure that the bottom plate was located correctly and square.

180 Out said:
Are the through-bolts on the spring packs registered in the holes on the axle tube brackets?

Yep, double checked that.....

180 Out said:
I would remove the shocks to see if that eliminated the asymmetry.

Dude, as much as I want this fixed, it better not be THAT

I won't be able to live it down...........my wife has been saying to check the shocks from the beginning.........I'll be big time..........and there is NO WAY that I can let her know that it was your suggestion if it works. She already says that I NEVER listen to her

67topless · Jul 6, 2006

mudbilly said:
it only took a 2 hours to do the other side and have the car sitting back on the ground..........and the reverse eyes put her right where i wanted the stance............on the DRIVERS side only

...the car STILL sits 1-1/2 inches higher on the passangers side rear..... ......i have new springs all around.............i took her for a little spin, hoping that she would settle in.............nope

.........where do i go from here?????? i don't even know who to talk to about this, a frame man or a body guy

it seems that this is commen enough from the comments i've read on :SNSign: ............someone here has got to have figgered this out

This is exactly the same issue I had when I swapped my rear springs out (passenger rear side was over an inch higher). Did you torque down everything with the suspension in the air? That is what I did and what caused my 2 1/2 weeks of agony. Once I loosened up all the bolts and took the car for a spin (gingerly); I came back and all was level. I then torqued it all down to specs with the suspension on the ground (i.e. tires carying the weight).

Scott

mudbilly · Jul 6, 2006

67topless said:
This is exactly the same issue I had when I swapped my rear springs out (passenger rear side was over an inch higher). Did you torque down everything with the suspension in the air?

yep

67topless said:
That is what I did and what caused my 2 1/2 weeks of agony. Once I loosened up all the bolts and took the car for a spin (gingerly); I came back and all was level. I then torqued it all down to specs with the suspension on the ground (i.e. tires carying the weight).

Scott

did you loosen ALL the bolts, front eye, rear shackles top and bottom, and all 8 u-bolts ??

67topless · Jul 6, 2006

mudbilly said:
yep

did you loosen ALL the bolts, front eye, rear shackles top and bottom, and all 8 u-bolts ??

Yeah, everything... but keeping an eye on safety (i.e. didn't loosen the u-bolts too much as to where the nipple would slip out of the leaf spring plate). I think the critical bolts to have some initial play before being torqued are the shackles (all four) as this is the area with the most play.

Best of luck! Hope it helps because like you, I was about to pull my hair out (thought my frame was warped).

Scott

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