Rear quarter elliptical suspension changing

[Rakos]

Hi, I started to do this. First attempting to remove nut on bolt in bushing at rear of elliptical. Got nut off but can not get bolt out. It has a round head and a tab - could this be welded on??? Also was only able to get 10 leaf springs, looks like too much curve and people on line seem to complain about rear sitting too high with some springs. Vendor (Chris Hollum, Montreal) reassured me it will settle down. Hmmm

 

[Jim_Gruber]

Bolt is rusted to the metal sleeve inside of he bushing, do you have the Spring out at this point.

 

[Rakos]

Hi Jim, no I can't take spring out without removing that bolt, can I?

 

[Jim_Gruber]

Can always cut the bolt to free up the radius arm. Start applying liberal doses of PB Blaster to the Spring Bolts to Chassis. I ended up drilling out the bolts to get one of the springs out. You don't need to drill all of the way out, just enough so heads can slip free. The Spring Mounting Plate BTW is welded in place. unless you have rear bulkhead issues leave it alone. Be very, very careful and use lots and lots of PB Blaster on the mini U Bolt at the rear of the springs. That is an Unobtanium Part. Same for the clamps that hold the spring leaves together. It will come completely apart once you get it out of the Spring Pocket. Again don't be afraid to cut the head of the mounting bolts off if they are frozen in place. They will all come apart and are replaceable. Spring Clamps and U bolts are not replaceable. View attachment 44745View attachment 44746View attachment 44747 And if you have issues getting out of Spring Pocket, the springs will rotate 90 degrees and pop out.

 

[gfholl]

I replaced my springs last month. Fortunately I was able get the springs removed with lots of PT Blaster and a long breaker bar.
I also had to use the replacement 10 leaf springs and was disappointed with the ride height. As others had suggested I had tried putting in a shim (2 degree) but the ride height was still way too high. See first picture. I ended up putting a second 2 degree shim and moving the top three leafs to the bottom. See second picture. I like the ride height now, but it may settle down to much in the future? So maybe only moving only two of the top leafs would be better?

 

[Rakos]

Hi Jim, just a few questions: We have removed bolts, broke the front small ones but I think the ones on the u-bolt will come off. Trying to get the springs out of the pocket. You say the whole spring assembly will rotate 90 degrees, or take it apart and try to rotate each leaf? Seems to have only quarter inch room on top. Need advice on getting it out of pocket. Tx,
JR

 

[Rakos]

we got one out ok. The other seems to have the front of the pocket repaired and someone welded a plate too close to the front of the spring. The spring has to be moved forward before it can be tilted 90 degrees and out. So we have to remove that plate.

 

[Jim_Gruber]

Can you remove the top of the spring clamp to gain some more room to rotate the spring.

 

[The_architect]

I also had this problem on one of my sets Rakos. From under the car I drilled and ground the front bolts out until I could pull the leaves out one by one. It was the only way. I had to reassemble them the same way, a leaf at a time. Keeping the bolt holes lined up in each of the 15 leaves and the spring plate on top of that was a royal PITA, but I finally got it.

By the way I would replace the small u-bolts at the opposite end--This part will have experienced a lot of fatigue over its life, and I found one of mine was broken! You can buy something similar to the original from Amazon, for about $3 each but you will have to cut some more threads on them, cut them shorter and make your own strap from some 1" x 1/8" steel bar. Put this in Amazon's search box: NEW SEACHOICE SQ U-BOLT-2 1/16X3 3/8-(BULK) SCP 57330. It is heavier 3/8" dia. and heavily galvanized steel.


When you have the leaves out, I highly recommend you grind all the rust off and paint them with a graphite paint similar to EZ Slide from Tractor Supply. They will never squeak again. Don't use grease--it will not last and only attracts grit.

 

[Jim_Gruber]

And the EZ Slide is not Dark Black more of a Dark Grey if you are looking to go Chassis Black with rest of the undercarriage. I ended up spraying with Graphite Paint and then going back and spraying Sprigs Gloss Black. Not confident that the Gloos Black will stick.

 

[The_architect]

Good call, Jim. I did the same thing. We will see how well the black paint sticks, but so far so good.

 

[Rakos]

I could not budge anything so gave up and took it to my neighbourhood Speedy Muffler. The one on Merivale Road near Meadowlands (Ottawa, Canada). Dan the chief mechanic is excellent. Good decision albeit expensive (they charged me 7 hours, $795, but spent many more hours on it.). Took major oxy-acetyline cutting, beating, prying. The through-the-spring bolts were rusted on, so head broke off of course when torqued. With that top plate rusted in place the only way to get the spring out is to move it forward (into the pocket) an inch, then it can be turned 90 deg and slipped out. However, one of the pockets on a previous repair was welded too close to the spring, not allowing it to move forward. So they had to cut off the pocket end (can be done from inside the car), remove spring, weld it back! I could never have done this. Ride height is high but they say it may settle. Someone suggested placing something very heavy (bag of cement?) on rear over the winter. Any thoughts? John

 

[Rakos]

Could not remove anything so took it to neighbourhood Speedy Muffler (corner Merivale and Meadowlands, Ottawa, canada). Chief mechanic Dan is excellent. Got one spring out pretty quick but issue on second one: spring has to be moved forward (back into pocket) about 1 in and turned 90 deg to get it out. Someone welded back of pocket too close to spring to move it. Had to cut it out, then reweld. Charge was 7 hours, $795 incl tax, but they spent much more on it. New springs are high but supposed to settle down eventually. Someone suggested to put a heavy weight on back of car when stored in winter. Any thoughts? Thanks, John