RIDE HEIGHT DIFFERENCE

TOM DUFFY

New Member
My 1971 2000TC had been parked in a garage for around 30 years and I purchased it from the person who found it and got it running. The car was fitted with a towbar and from documents with the car it was used for pulling a caravan. The ride height at the rear was low but I think fairly even which I wasn't too concerned about as I was going to renew the springs etc anyway. Having removed the towbar, replaced the springs, shock absorbers and lower arm bushes I find that the car is approx 1 inch higher on the n/s than the o/s. I have driven the car around 50 miles to see if things settle down but to no avail. I torqued the bushes with the car on stands under the wheel hubs to simulate the car being on its wheels. Any help, advice, info etc will be most welcome.
 
The only things that can affect the ride height are the springs and the shims that are under them. You could try removing the springs and measuring them, and then swapping the springs over and see if it's 1" higher on the O/S when you've done that, and if so move any shims around to level it out as best you can.
Think yourself lucky it's not the front.....
 
The only things that can affect the ride height are the springs and the shims that are under them. You could try removing the springs and measuring them, and then swapping the springs over and see if it's 1" higher on the O/S when you've done that, and if so move any shims around to level it out as best you can.
Think yourself lucky it's not the front.....

Hadnt thought about swapping the coils over from one side to the other.
Question though !!
If one side is 1" lower -doesnt that suggest the springs are past their use by date?
Just saying coz ,as to go to all that trouble to remove the springs ,why just swap?
Springs are quite cheap considering.
gerald
 
Thanks for the replies, the springs were bought new from J.R.Wadhams so I would hope that they were both equal, as far as I could see there were no shims unless they stayed in position when I removed the old springs. I may have to try swapping them, bit of a pain but as was stated they are not the front springs!!
 
Thanks for the replies, the springs were bought new from J.R.Wadhams so I would hope that they were both equal, as far as I could see there were no shims unless they stayed in position when I removed the old springs. I may have to try swapping them, bit of a pain but as was stated they are not the front springs!!
What shape and thickness are the shims?
circular to suit the spring shape with a hole in the center perhaps?
If present, how many should be expected to find?
would a small horse shoe suffice if caught in the bush?o_O
 
Well, having removed the new springs I find that 1 is 10mm shorter than the other, didn't notice when they arrived, assumed they would be a matching pair with them being new,DSCF3079.JPG am still waiting for a reply from J.R.Wadhams!!
 
While doing all this chit chat over rear springs - the ones I want have jumped up in price due to our $ dropping.
 
The chap at Wadhams will sort that for you, he's a very helpf..... Nope can't do it :oops::rolleyes::p
 
The taller spring goes on the drivers side to compensate for the weight of the driver as most journeys are made without passengers.
 
The taller spring goes on the drivers side to compensate for the weight of the driver as most journeys are made without passengers.

You can do that, but if the springs are new, they should be the same length. Springs were never different part numbers side to side.
 
The taller spring goes on the drivers side to compensate for the weight of the driver as most journeys are made without passengers.

if you were to corner weight a P6 you would find the average drivers weight would make little difference to loading on the rear springs, certainly nothing like would require a 10mm difference in spring length, especially when you bare in mind spring shims are only about 1mm thick
 
One side done - move a few things around and do the other side.
Only mistake so far was not having a new set of shock absorber bushes on hand.
The original 47yo ones are looking very unhelpful. Ive ordered some SuperPro bushes and will replace when they arrive.
 

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