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No Cut Rear Spring Option


why3zx
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went to the junkyard this morning, was looking for a set of f100 springs or JGC springs to level out the back of my pathy, well i cam across a set from the front of a 79 El Camino, very similar to the F100 springs with the exception that there is no Pigtail to cut off of the springs, i came back and installed them this afternoon, worked perfect, easy to install as they are about 2 inches shorter than the stock springs.

 

Got about 2.5 inches of lift out of them, they are a little stiffer than the stockers, but not really noticeable in the ride quality. was able to flex it out to the point of pulling a rear tire, and the spring was still firm in the pocket, dont think there will be any worrys about spitting a spring on the trail. I took some pics of everything, but looks like on this board you must host them on photobucket or whatever, dont have any accounts so if someone wants to post the pics let me know and i will send them to you

 

so if you are looking for some plug and play springs on the cheap for some good lift, check these out, i would imagine they would be the same on any 78-87 G-body car, and probably all the full size chevy cars from the same time period but i could be wrong.

 

cheers!

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Go ahead and email me the photos, I'll make sure they are hosted...

 

Thanks, BTW. If they are shorter and you got lift out of them, they must be quite a bit stiffer??

 

B

 

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Edited by Precise1
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yeah, they are stiffer, but not as much as you would think looking at them, the F100 springs that some people have used are even shorter than these when you get done trimming off the pigtail. for being of such a higher spring rate, they really dont ride that stiff, i drove through a bumpy dirt lot to check them out and the ride was fine, and the added stiffness helps in the corners quite a bit.

 

Oh and I e-mailed the pics to precise1

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After reading the above I went poking around the web looking for G-Body springs and found this chart of springs that fit them: Moog G-Body Springs (There's some goofy load/height info in the chart that obviously doesn't apply to us.) Next I did a web search for the Moog #5604, the tallest of the .672 wire springs at 16.076 free length. Their rate is 346 pounds per inch and these are the softest listed for G-bodies. Rock Auto has them here Moog 5604 for $65.79 per pair. I didn't find a rate anywhere for the ever-popular JGC springs or the F100 ones for comparison but the Rancho springs that a lot of people seem to think are way too soft are 220 pounds per inch. 220 to 346 is a HUGE difference. That said, I've got a 33" tire & 5' Hi Lift on my tire carrier and rarely have less than 100 pounds of 'stuff' in the back of my Pathy so maybe they aren't off-the-chart stiff?

 

why3zx: When you fully flex your truck will the compressed side hit the bump stop before the other tire comes off the ground?

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Just went and checked, the rear end does come in contact with the bump stop, but it doesnt compress it much, i think it is spring tension that is pulling the tire, not a pivot on the bumpstop. that said, I am using stock length shocks so im sure that if i had a longer shock i could drop the rear tire further, as it is hanging on the shock when it pulls. to test i went and found some speed bumps to drive over and these springs really don't feel all that stiff, not even close to as stiff as the 919 OME springs that i have used on a couple of troopers in the past. one very positive thing about them, yesterday when i did the first test drive i had the rear sway bar disco'd and it cornered like a dream, no noticeable body roll at all, today with it connected it was a little firm around the corners, i think im just gonna get rid of the sway bar all together. one thing that does need to be tested will be with longer shocks if the spring will continue to stay put in the buckets at full flex, but i don't really foresee a problem as they really arnt that much shorter than the stock springs, and quite a bit longer than the f100 springs. I took side by side pics of the pathy/g-body springs if Precise1 would be so kind as to post them.

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check out this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GM_G_platform_(RWD) also check out the link that Mister510 put up to the moog cross referance chart, i really should have taken some measurements prior to installing them, wish i would have been able to see what options the doner car had, but i just found them sitting in a pile of springs and they were marked 79 El Camino. It also looks from the chart like the springs are the same in the F-Body cars (firebird/camaro) from the same time frame, I hope some of you guys hit the j/y s and do some better research than i did so we can get a little more info. all in all these springs are just better than cutting a pigtail off of another spring, they have a flat bottom and top which you will never really get cutting tails off, this allows them to seat fully on both the top and bottom of the spring bucket.

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just my 2 cents... i got 2 sets of jgc springs and didnt lift much... i decided to put spring spacers in and cut the bump stops down that way it will tuck more and keep the center of gravity down and best of all keeping factory parts!

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any pics yet? cant find a 79 el camino at my local jy

 

how difficult is it to take out the front springs on the said donor car?

 

ill send you the pics if you wanna host them and post them....

 

as far as pulling from the donor, they are front springs and if i am not mistaken they are in a double A-arm style front end, so probably will need a jack, and be able to take the top spindle nut off and knock if free from the spindle. then they should just be out. I got lucky and just found them in a pile. if i were you i would look for any 78-87 el camino or Monte Carlo. or even a buick gran national should be the same. any G-body really, and probably one with a V8. Im pretty sure that the springs are the same in the F-body cars as well.

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ill send you the pics if you wanna host them and post them....

 

as far as pulling from the donor, they are front springs and if i am not mistaken they are in a double A-arm style front end, so probably will need a jack, and be able to take the top spindle nut off and knock if free from the spindle. then they should just be out. I got lucky and just found them in a pile. if i were you i would look for any 78-87 el camino or Monte Carlo. or even a buick gran national should be the same. any G-body really, and probably one with a V8. Im pretty sure that the springs are the same in the F-body cars as well.

send a pic to me bud and ill post em here..Im just going to buy moog if need to :beer:

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Ok, sorry, it took me a while to set up the pictures... The system is now in place so these threads will be self hosted so information is not lost. Thanks for playing and your efforts to record How To's is greatly appreciated.

 

B

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Thank you precise for posting up the pics! now for some commentary, the first pic is pathy pre G-body springs, it has trooper springs on it in this pic, they were about 1" lift from stock. second is a stock pathfinder spring off of my SE on the left, G-body spring on the right, you can see that it is a thicker spring that is more tightly wound than the pathy one. the second is pathy post springs... i really should have taken some measurements so i could have documented exactly how much lift, but as you can tell its quite a bit, back end sits just higher than the front with the t-bars cranked to the nuts.

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