Anything and everything Spitfire.

Suspension and steering.

I decided to replace the rear suspension on my 1500 Spit today, so I jacked the car up (by the chassis - I put a hole in the underside the other day by jacking it up where the Haynes manual suggests

), put it on axle stands, removed the rear wheels, and removed the rear shock absorbers.

It was about this point that I thought to myself "Hey, this is going really well", and thereby jinxed the whole thing.

I got the bolts holding the ends of the rear spring onto the vertical links off without a problem, but ran into a bit of trouble with the clamp thing that holds the spring onto the diff casing.

Now, the bolt that goes horizontally through this clamp looks suspiciously like it goes between 2 leaves of the spring, and since I can't get a spanner to it, I decided I would have to take the clamp out with the spring. To this end I removed the 4 studs that go down into the diff casing. As far as I can see from looking at the car and looking in the Haynes manual, the spring should now pull out from the car with this clamp thing still attached to it, but it doesn't.

I can think of 2 reasons why this might be:

1) There's a bolt at the bottom of the clamp somewhere and so I need to take out this horizontal bolt before the spring will come out, or
2) The clamp has rusted firmly on to the diff casing, and it just needs a bit of brute force to get it off.

If anyone knows which of these it is, or feels like suggesting another possibility, please do, as I was hoping to get this finished today, but my car is now going to have to sit outside on axle stands until Monday.

Cheers,

Chris.

P.S. Wow - I've just seen how much I've written. And to think I could have just said "How do I remove the rear spring?"...

Chris,

The bottom leaf has a dowel which locates in the top of the diff. Just grab one end of the spring and rock it and it will come off and out. Putting the new spring together has been talked about before, look it up, hardest bit is usually getting the studs to go back in. It may help to disconnect the driveshafts to relieve some tension. The car's not yours!

Shame about the V8.

Tim

Willow Triumph

Cheers Tim, I'll give it a go...

The car's not mine? Damn, and here was me thought it was... Who's is it then?

It is a shame about the V8, but with the bodywork being in worse condition than I thought, I figured it would be a good idea to get that sorted first.

I've still got all the bits, so the V8 project will be back on track once I've got some more money...

Cheers,

Chris.

Hmm...

Well I've got the old spring off, but seem to be having one or two problems getting the new one on.

I've had a look through the old posts, and can't find any mentioning the problem I seem to be having, so here we go with another question:

How do you get the spring to line up with the holes in the diff? Mine is sitting too far forwards on the diff to get any of the studs in to hold it in place.

Also, are all shock absorbers bitches to fit? I've got a set of AVO adjustable shocks, but the fit at the top of the shock absorber is so tight that I just can't get it on (I decided to give it a try to see if it would line the spring up better).

And (since I'm asking questions) how do I get the rubber bushes out of the spring? The new spring I got from Canleys has rubber bushes fitted to the end, but I've got a set of polybushes that I'd fit if only I could get the rubber ones out...

And here was me thought replacing the rear suspension would be a nice, simple job...

Cheers,

Chris.

Not sure about your first problem. The bottom leaf of the spring should locate into the top of the diff and line it all up.

shock absorbers are a pain to fit at the top. I spent a good hour each side of my car changing the dampers earlier this year. Scrape off as much muck/paint/underseal as you can and if necessary, lever at the mounting point with a large bit of wood to try and open it up a bit. I found I could push the rubber bushes into the top damper mounting a little further with a vice. Every little bit of extra clearance you can get will help. Then I still ended up levering the damper into place with a length of wood.

Spring eye bushes don't come out, at least not easily, I'd be tempted to leave the rubber ones in there but if you have to remove them. the only way I know is to cut through them with a hacksaw and extract them by force (without damaging the spring!). Then you have to get the new ones to fit back in again! I actually did this job last year on a spring and the polybushes were a worse fit than the original rubber ones. My spring turned out to be rubbish anyway so I bought a new one and left the original rubber bushes in the second time.

Cheers guys, I think I'll leave the rubber bushes in then.

I also got the spring to fit - it was the vertical links in the way. I guess it was the fact that they'd been connected to a seriously sagged spring for so long that meant they were holding the new spring too far forwards. A little brute force (and 2 people - one at each end of the spring) was all it needed.

I think I'll have another go at fitting the shocks today.

Tim - I've just realised what you meant when you said "the car's not yours"...

Right, time to go swear at my car some more...

Cheers,

Chris.

Chris

Iwas referring to tension not the ownership of the car!

The easiest way to get the studs in is if the spring has no obstructions like vertical links in the way etc.

Don't bother with the eye bush polybushes. you'll never notice any improvment over the new rubber ones.

Tim

Section : Suspension

Rear spring removal

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Rear spring removal

Rear spring removal

Rear spring removal

Rear spring removal

Rear spring removal

Rear spring removal