The 72 factory tech manual states the the rear spring upper end of coil must face the rear of the chassis with in blah blah limits. The pic shows the end of the spring facing frame side bar. Which is correct????. Why should the springs end face the same direction????
As a suspension specialist, I can tell you that there is a reason for why the spring end is supposed to face a certain direction. Because of the rear geometry of the axle to the frame, where the spring connects to the 2 points of each (upper and lower), the main reason to face the rear, is to insure that the spring doesn't "pop out" of it's connectors, if the "open end of the coil" should go below the upper frame connector, in case the axle might "overtravel" to allow that to happen. A shock absorbers job is to keep the spring from overtravelling, but different manufacturers have different specifications, so it's not necessarily a "rule of thumb", and it is possible that a spring could (not "will") become ejected from it's connectors, as you're driving. It's really more of a "What If..." safety issue, than anything else. Just to answer your question about "Why the Tech Manual says so", but, as George said, it really doesn't matter that much. :Smarty: :TU: I do things the way that I was taught, in Automotive School, as the Manufacturer recommends. I just replaced my rear springs, yesterday, and I DID face both of them towards the rear, just as habit, but without even knowing that it really IS in the manual, until I read this post. That's kind of funny (ironic). o No:
Scott, Interesting to read your statement. I have yet to remove any rear springs w/o removing the shocks. I have lost count of how many rear axles I have removed from my salvage cars and ones in the local yards. I am going to guess it has to be over 50. Never, ever could I remove rear springs w/rear susp fully unloaded in any of the cars. I guess the only way for springs to come out would be a "Dukes of Hazzard" jump and snapping the shocks on landing and on second bounce, springs to pop out! LOL ! :beer
George, As I was taught in Automotive School (and car dealerships, and tire/alignment shops), I am only repeating the reason for "WHY" the Tech Manual actually indicates to position the spring ends. o No: :TU: Another thing, I wish that you were closer to me, so I could share some of my personal experiences with you. As they say, Seeing is Believing, and not always do others take me seriously for what I explain or describe, until I have to SHOW them. An example: My '72 GS (as listed in my sig); WITHOUT Jacking it up off the ground, and WITHOUT loosening or removing the shocks, I can lay down on the ground, underneath the car, grab the top coil of the spring and pull down, and REMOVE the spring, completely with almost no effort! They are also the Original springs, with only 100,000 miles on them! I don't even remember how I found that out, but it was completely by accident! I think I was just laying underneath the car, looking at some repair or something, and I happened to grab the spring, as I was trying to pull myself more underneath the car, and instead, the spring FELL OUT (and just missed me, as it bounced from underneath the car). I just grabbed it, and put it right back where it was. The same spring is in the same car, how soon can you come and visit? I'd like to see the expression on your face, because I've never seen anything like it, either, but in all the years that I've worked on these Buicks (MY Buicks), I have really learned some weird things about cars, that you wouldn't expect! :laugh: uzzled: o No: Now, NOTICE what I said in my Previous post: I replaced my rear springs, YESTERDAY, in my '70 Skylark 4 Door, and in order to remove the rear springs, I HAD to jack it up, and remove the shocks, and Lower the axle, just to take the tension OFF of the springs! Then, I had to jack up One Side of the axle, so it would TWIST, and I had to remove one spring at a time, since there was so much tension on them! (Not really bad springs, for only 60,000 original miles, and still have that much tension, and strength. :Smarty: ). I didn't replace them because I HAD to, I replaced them because I WANTED to, to give the car a fresh personality/profile/stance! :bglasses: Maybe it was just another '72 ONLY "defect" (as everything else seems to be, for the '72 cars, that I've found, anyway!). o No:
