Rear Spring Out of Position

[whitenviro]

Climbing under the car today I found that the bottom of one of the rear springs has jumped off the bump on the trailing arm. It sits about 3-4 inches forward of where it should. All the rubber isolators are crumbled apart on both sides of the car, so I'll have to change them all. But I don't think I want to upgrade the springs or do the bushings right now.

I think I could jack up the car from under the differential, then put another jack under the back end of the trailing arm. I could undo the rear bolt on the trailing arm, lower it slowly to drop the spring out, replace the rubbers and get the spring back on its seat. But will I need a spring compressor to get the trailing arm back up, or would I be able to press it back into position with the floor jack? I'd hate to tear it down without knowing I can get it back together with the tools I have.


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1980 Pageant Blue DHC with removable hardtop.

[Hasbeen]

No problem getting the spring out.

You may have to undo the rear brake hose, depending what length hose you have, but apart from that all you have to do is support the car on the chassis, & the axle under the diff. Remove the lower mounting bolts of the shock absorbers, & lower the diff a little. The spring will fall out. They are only held in by the shock.

Your springs could have lost some set, & are now too short, your shocks may be the wrong ones, & extend too far, or the shock mounts may have deteriorated, allowing too much total extension.

The spring should not be able to move out of the mounting, if everything is in good order.

Hasbeen

PS. It will go back together just as easily. The springs are barely compressed, by raising the diff, when you can get the shocks back on, & do them up. Just a couple of ring spanners required.

H.

[Spectatohead]

I was having trouble with my rear tires rubbing over bumps. When I had the rear axle out to do the gas tank, I replaced all of the bushings and the spring pads with poly. The old bushings were fine, but the old rubber spring pads were mostly gone. Anyway, no more tire rubbing. That being said, what Hasbeen said about the shocks being wrong is probably right too. There is no way the spring should come out, unless it is too short or the shock is too long.

Jim Clark
'80 TR8
'97 Maxima 5spd

[Workshop Help]

In between the Seattle showers, please go forth the the nearest Home Depot or Lowes and wander into the plumbing repair aisles. Look and find the large flat toilet neoprene flange pads. They are about 1/8" thick and can be trimmed to fit.

Mildred Hargis

[FI Spyder]

Mildred has a plethora of low cost solutions. Either the shocks are too long as suggested (wrong ones put in) or the springs might be too short (either compression set as suggested) or they might be the shortened stiffer type. Seems there are a number of solutions (do a search for pictures) to secure the bottom of shocks to lower arm for shortened stiff springs. If the springs have a compression set (like mine were) you may find that going over speed bumps (sleeping policemen) the car may drag on them, especially if you have the cat cage from a California car which hangs down lower than the frame rails.



- - - - TR7 Spider - - - - - - - - 1978 Spitfire - - - - - - 1976 Spitfire - - 1988 Tercel 4X4 - Kali on Integra - 1991 Integra - - Yellow TCT

[DNK]

We have showers in Seattle?

Don
"No More Cars For You"
71 TR6- Perpetual remodel
80 TR7 V8 Kick in the pants

[Spectatohead]

Okay, I would have never thought of a toilet flange pad. The poly ones I got from Rimmer Bros are slightly more expensive.
http://www.rimmerbros.co.uk/Item--i-UKC1108POLY
http://www.rimmerbros.co.uk/Item--i-UKC82POLY

I imagine that they will last forever though.

The sun is peeking through the clouds here in Vancouver. It must be spring!

Jim Clark
'80 TR8
'97 Maxima 5spd

[Beans]

Or use a (split) rubber hose with the correct diameter as the lower spring insulator.
Should have been a temporary measure but it outlasted the springs [:D]



I split the hose so it would slip onto the spring easier.

<center>
<font color="blue"><i>1980 TR7 DHC (my first car, now restored and back on the road)
1981 TR7 FHC Sprint (better known as 't Kreng)</font id="blue">
<b>[url="http://www.tr7beans.blogspot.com/"]<u><b><font size="2"><font color="red">My Weblog</font id="red"></font id="size2"></b></u>[/url]</b></i></center>

[FI Spyder]

I had split rubber on the upper part of my coil over rear shocks as part of it's standard equipment on my Acura. I assume it was to keep them quiet at full compression. It was the only part on the spring that was rusted as they trapped water. I took them off, sandblasted the spring and painted them with POR-15. Don't want no stinkin' rust on my cars.[}:)]



- - - - TR7 Spider - - - - - - - - 1978 Spitfire - - - - - - 1976 Spitfire - - 1988 Tercel 4X4 - Kali on Integra - 1991 Integra - - Yellow TCT

[nick]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Century Gothic, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by DNK</i>

We have showers in Seattle?



Don
"No More Cars For You"
71 TR6- Perpetual remodel
80 TR7 V8 Kick in the pants

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Once in a while between the steady rain.


nick
'79 TR7

[whitenviro]

I try to shower regularly. At least once every two weeks whether I need it or not.

Mildred, I'm very familiar with the plumbing department of Home Depot, but I think I'll use the real thing. The Roadster Factory has upper and lowers for $11 per side; barely worth a trip to the big orange box to save money on that.

Like Hasbeen & Jim, I find it hard to believe the spring could ever move off the mount all by itself. The P.O. replaced shocks over 10 years ago, but the car sat most of the time and had only been driven 1,200 miles after that when I got it. The spring might have moved while doing the shocks and they didn't notice. There is a lot of rubbing on the top of the trailing arm. I've heard several "clunks" behind me in the last couple years and wondered what was rolling around in the boot, so it may have been this way the whole time I've owned it.



[/img]
1980 Pageant Blue DHC with removable hardtop.

[whitenviro]

This was a fast fix; about 15 minutes per side. Thanks Hasbeen, I would have taken a more complicated approach.



[/img]
1980 Pageant Blue DHC with removable hardtop.