So I finally got new wheels that will fit under my car and a set of Moog 5385 heavy duty rear springs for a 1970 Buick A body with big block. Took out my old springs which were huge (roughly 5 inches taller than these), installed the new ones, and reinstalled my shocks. When I lower the rear end down with the car on jack stands, the springs become loose and come off the perches on top. What gives? Will a shorter bodied shock solve this? Please help!! I really wanted to get this done today :blast:
I haven't set it down completely yet because its up on the jackstands, but I put a wheel back on and jacked the rear up until it just came off the jackstands and the spacing seems much better. I think the springs are what I would like too use, I just dont want them to fall out everytime the suspension is unloaded. I found some other people here who had similar problems, but most of them ended up going with different springs. I'd really like to use these, though. What can I do?
they were way too big. Someone put them in there before I got the car and the bottom of the fender lip sat approx 2.5-3 inches above the top of my 28" tires. The ride was also terribly stiff, as you can imagine.
Here's a pic of the car this morning before I removed the old springs, and a pic of the old vs the new
Mine are the same way. shorter than stock, but the car sits nice when on the ground and handles great. Of course each year after inspection I have to crawl under and make sure they are fully seated after having the car on the lift and rear suspension unloaded.
Randy- Thanks for the reply. Your opinion makes three people who have told me not to worry about it, that as long as I don't get the car air born I'll be fine. So that's what I'm gonna do, and I really hope my car ends up looking like yours because it looks great !:TU:
Can you get the part number off the rear shocks? If so look them up and see if they are intended for a 68-72 A-Body. Those original springs are so tall the previous owner may have had to get longer shocks. Personally, I'd like to be able to suspend the car by the frame without having to worry about springs becoming unseated.
In looking at the old pictures there was a reason those springs were installed. Looks like the tires are tall and wide which is the reason for the red neck rake:laugh: The springs you bought are the right ones and will greatly help with the suspension. Just be careful with the tires on the rear and you'll be fine, and the car will instantly look better. my .02 cents. Scott
I had Moog 5385 cargo springs (12.6" free height) on my car for 10 years with no problem. I now have 5379 springs (14.75"free height) and the softer spring helped traction noticably. I will soon install rear Moog 5401 (13.15"free height) lower and softer springs for droping the rear lower control arms more level with the frame to improve the Instant Center for even more traction. Then 5230's will go on front. Many guys run your 5385 cargo spring and like the ride and stance. You may find that certain brands of shocks have a little extra length to make one size fit more models but allow the springs to loosen a bit. Just don't want them to fall out while driving.
Well, I went ahead and installed the springs as they were. I knew the shocks were right (Monroe Sensatrack 5802's ) because I just put them in a few months ago. The stance and for that matter the whole attitude of the car changed immediately. This was also due in part to the new wheels that I had my old tires put on. The wheels in the first picture were 15x8's all around with 3" of backspacing. They looked nice in the front and filled out the wheel wells nicely, but lowering the back would have caused the body to hit them immediately. I went with Cragar Soft 8's (for now, 15x8's 4"bs rear, 15x7 4"bs front) mostly due to price, but I think they work well with my color scheme, and in my opinion, the car looks much meaner. Decide for yourself....
Mucho better looking Has a badass stance now...Paint those rims body color,and it will look even better!! Hated the look of before ....
I'm really happy with the change too. I don't know who put those springs in there before, or why, but the car rides and handles COMPLETELY different now. The only thing I had to do was trim my passenger side fender lip a little where the inner fender overlaps the fender, and I rolled it a bit by hand because over a severe bump it would just graze the sidewall of the tire. Really happy that going with less backspacing payed off ok for me though. I love the way the tires fill up the wheel wells now and aren't too tucked in. Thanks everyone for the kind remarks. Since this change I seem to be getting more thumbs up on the road too. Apparently I wasn't the only one who hated that ridiculous stance that it had before...
