I recently bought a 31 coupe. It has a superbell solid front axle. The front end rides very harsh. (I'm not expecting a Cadillac ride from a solid axle but this is kidney jolting stiff). It has gas charged shocks...which I sure added to the harsh ride which I will replace with non gas charged. I stepped up on the frame rails and rocked the front end up and down. It barely had 1/4 inch travel...that's with my 230# body weight. I removed the front shocks and used the 230# suspension checker again. Much softer with more travel, but the right side frame rail contacts the spring. I took a look and found that on the right side (passenger) there is approximately 1/4" clearance from the frame rail to the spring. On the left side there is approximately 5/8" clearance from the frame rail to the spring. During the 230# test there was no contact on the left side. The best I can tell, the front spring has 4 leafs. The front end sits pretty low, maybe the previous owner took a leaf or two out to get it a bit lower. I see there are several company's that makes aftermarket springs... Buy POSIES Super Slide Springs at RJay's Speed Shop! I would eventually like to replace the current front spring with a chrome one...but they're pricey. So I have two questions. The spring I have now measures 30" eye to eye as it sits on the ground with the weight of the engine (it has the reverse eye set up). When I get around to ordering a spring, is what I have a 30" eye to eye, or a 29" eye to eye and it flattens out to 30" with the weight of the engine. My second question, can I put a spacer (approx. 1/2-5/8") on the top of the spring to increase the distance between the spring and the frame rails for a temporary fix so the frame does not bottom out on the spring until I figure out and can afford the chrome one...thanks for any help and input.
What is happening is the spring is bottoming out.
C-notch the frame above the spring 1" and your travel of the spring will have some where to move.
Easy fix !
The front and rear spring U bolts shold be tightened down evenly, don't put the impact gun and run one side down tight then try the other ,slowly keep all 4 nuts the same.
measuring the spring on the ground no wt on it eye to eye. u can put a spacer between the frame pad and spring making sure the U bolts are long enough. u may need to re-adj the steering arm too... i used a superbell on the T bucket and loved it.. i'm thinking it has 3 leafs with non pressure shocks
Thanks for the replies everyone. I'll put in a few spacers, reassess and go from there. I did some more web surfing on the mono leaf. Didn't care for what I read, so I'll leave that one alone. Thanks all once again.
A picture of the front of the car and showing the suspension would help a lot getting info. It's all pretty basic and we have seen it a million times but there COULD be something odd with yours, post photos.
Okay, here are some pics after I put a few spacers in. By the looks of things the previous owner took two leafs to drop the front a bit. The two spacers made the spring pack bolt the length of the spring pack. The clearance from the frame rails and the spring is now about 1-1 1/4". The 230# test completed and no contact with the frame rails, so I think that fixed that problem. New shocks on the way. Here are the pics Brian. If anyone sees any problems, besides the quality of the pics...lol...point it/them out.
Here is the update to my post. After adding the spacers and getting the spring where I believe it is correct, I ordered new non-gas shocks from Summit. The ride is now a lot smoother and rides the way a straight axle should. Thanks again to all that responded to this. I'm a happy cruiser now.
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