38 replies to this topic

[mika03au]

Was going to start a new thread but will resurrect this one.

I have a UC K frame fitted into my LX.

In the front spring "tower" is there anything that will cause the front spring not to seat correctly? I cant see into there so am not sure what lives in there and how the spring should locate in there.

Right hand side sits nice. Left hand side has about a centimetre extra spring showing. This gives the left hand side of the car near an inch extra height.

The whole K frame is reconditioned and repainted with all new bushings through out, nothing old in there at all. The springs are sitting in the little dimple parts in the LCA as they should.

I have fitted King springs.

Am getting pretty good with pulling the whole deal apart, 4 times so far!

Perhaps there is something wrong with the right hand side "tower"?

Any help, remedies or pictures of what is inside of there would be most helpful.

Edited by mika03au, 17 March 2015 - 04:36 PM.

[S pack]

Perhaps Kings have mixed up their springs again and given you a non matching pair.

[mika03au]

Perhaps Kings have mixed up their springs again and given you a non matching pair.

  
The springs are labelled the same.
Was there a problem with them being marked wrong?

Have I have had the top of the spring catch inside the top tower stopping the spring from seating properly. Not sure if this may be your problem also.

Will be pulling it apart again tomorrow and check the inside of the tower.

[Retyred]

Had the same problem when fitting King Springs to my Hatch a little while back. LHS fitted well but RHS would not fit up into tower properly. (Part Number KHFL 15 ).

I bought the parts from Suspension City so I took the car there and the Mechanic got it to fit in the end. I think he had to grind a little off part of the top loop but I cant remember details as it was a couple of years ago. It was a minor fix. I think the King Springs are just a bit tight, maybe due to wire diam as someone else mentioned.

[mika03au]

Thanks Bill. These are 14s but that is a good point for me to look at when I pull it out again today.
Perhaps King Springs need to be mindful of how tight a fit these springs are and have a better tolerance in manufacture.
Quality control is a great investment for a product manufacturer!

[Bigfella237]

Might be worth a phone call once you sort out the problem Michael, they might not even be aware that there's anything wrong?

[EunUCh]

Looking up the shock tower, is easily seen that they are not exactly symmetric in the spring retainer department where it meets the roof

of the tower,maybe this is because the "round" part of the top coil sits in the area that is flared out towards the roof once the bottom is located?, the other side looks similar but not exactly the same,but the flared area towards roof from retainer was in similar position.

Think the orig. spring was close to 92mm ID.

 

The wire diameter won't be a problem as long as the spring ID is same or tad larger than orig. , the red ones were 93mm spring ID.

The spring retainer was close to 85mm , if they are making the springs on an 85mm ID it could be problem?,as could the relationship

between lower coil end and upper coil ?,but not sure.

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[mika03au]

Thanks guys for the extra input and pictures.

I have ground a little off the inside of the spring where it meets the LCA as it wasnt sitting completely home at that point. (ground off 0.5 - 1.0mm approx)

Sits a little better. Has brought the difference between the left and right down to about 8mm (measured from the top of the LCA to the bottom of the spring tower)

Another point I need to address is chassis twist before I pull the front apart again.

I remember now having it set on 4 chassis stands and getting it set level on three with the forth having a small gap (perhaps 3 - 4 mm movement, need to recheck tomorrow)

Perhaps the best solution is to shim the rear springs to level the front.

Sitting on its four wheels I can notice the rear to have a slight lean to one side. Fixing that should put a little more pressure onto the higher of the front springs perhaps as it is diagonally opposite?

[Bigfella237]

Set the car up on four stands, take some measurements and compare them to this chart:

 

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But before you do anything, make sure the surface you're measuring against is flat and level.

 

If you do have a slight twist, it may be as easy to fix as running one wheel up on a car ramp to counter it and maybe leaving it sit overnight with all the doors ajar, otherwise you may need to see a panel shop who has a car aligner?

 

If you get too much distortion you'll start having problems opening and closing doors, which BTW you may have to re-adjust once you're done anyway.

[mika03au]

Thanks Bigfella. Given the tape measure a good workout.
Here is what I have got with car on chassis stands.
Left and right front are equal.
Left rear is 15mm higher than right.
All the panels and doors have been aligned at the panel shop so I really am not keen on undoing all that work.
I have shimmed the right rear spring with a Pedders spacer to level the back end.
(Pedders actually did the same on my HX Prem to level it)
Dropped back on its tyres it now sitting pretty sweet.