Rear spring alignment

[David H.]

OK, I give up. I have spent the better part of the past two days trying to get my rear axle back in the frame with no luck.
Here is what I find.
Bolting the rear spring to the bracket in the front of the spring, the rear of the spring hits the top of the cross member in the rear. The shackle is suppose to go from inside to the outside with the nuts on the outside. That cant happen on mine because the shackle hits the frame. It will go in from outside to inside, but again, the bottom of the spring hits the top of the cross member. I've turned this thing every which way but loose and it just doesn't fit. I have checked and read all I can find on the subject, which doesn't seem to be much, and studied all my pictures. I have attached some pictures. I could use some suggestions.
Thanks

[David H.]

Re: Rear spring alignment

The more I look at the illustrations and any pictures I find, mine seem to be bowed more. Are these springs just worn out? Need to be re-arched?
Picture I have of when they came off shows plenty of space between the spring and the rear cross member tho....

[John H.]

Re: Rear spring alignment

David -

In the plant, that rear shackle assembly was done with the frame upside-down and the rear suspension partially compressed, which moved the bushings and shackles rearward slightly. You might try placing a floor jack on top of the shock crossmember and looping a strap or chain around the jack and axle to compress it slightly to get the shackle edge clear of the rear crossmember.

[David H.]

Re: Rear spring alignment

Does anyone have some pictures of a finished unit that I can study? That might help some.
Thanks

[Jerry W.]

Re: Rear spring alignment

Hope this might help

[David H.]

Re: Rear spring alignment

Thanks Jerry, that helps some.
Are your springs replacements or originals?

[John H.]

Re: Rear spring alignment

Here's another one - frame is on jackstands.

[David H.]

Re: Rear spring alignment

Thanks John, that helps too.
This car sat in a trailer for many years. Maybe as many as 15. Would that make the springs sag? They seem to have a lot more bow to them than any I have seen so far.

[Richard M.]

Re: Rear spring alignment

David,

Go to my website for pictures and a description of how I installed the rear springs and axle onto the frame of a 59 I recently built. It's pretty far down in the page.......

http://home.comcast.net/~richmz/site/?/page/1959_Corvette_Restoration_Project/

I do not connect the front brackets to the frame first. I set the springs and connect the rear shackles, then roll the axle on a dolly into the springs from the front. I rest the axle in the area but not bolted in. I then raise the the forward brackets into the frame and bolt them in using the 4 bolts. Then the axle gets attached.

Rich

edit: if the above link does not work, go here and then to the 1959 Restoration page.....
http://home.comcast.net/~richmz

[David H.]

Re: Rear spring alignment

Thank you Richard, that helps!

[David H.]

Re: Rear spring alignment

Well, my dormant brain cells finally came back to life.
After studying the situation once again, it came to me what needed to be done.
I bolted the front mount to the frame, then clamped the rear of the spring to the crossmember with a c clamp. I put the floor jack under the center of the spring assembly and jacked it up until the rear shackle lined up properly with the hole in the spring assembly. By jacking it like this it flattened the spring assembly and drove the shackle bushing back enough to put the shackle in. Dropped the jack and wala, done. It took all of 5 minutes. Sometimes ya just gotta wonder why, dont ya?!
Thanks for all your inputs on this one.