ouch.
so....rear suspensions are pretty fuckin' sturdy....holy shit. i suspect that my wheels are scraping the wheel well when i go over bumps and such...so i tried to raise the rear end. there's a third set of holes in the rear shackle (it was currently in the middle of the three) so i thought i'd just jack the car by the frame, pop the bolts, lower the axel to the lowest set of holes, and bolt 'em back in....
nope.
turns out rear leaf springs are under pressure even under no weight (three mounting points on the leaf spring...the rear of the three moves (shackle), the front is fixed, and the middle is bolted to the wheel/axel). so what that means is...when i popped the bolt from the rear shackle (which was NOT easy...and here's why), the damn thing popped up and went past even the highest hole. i'd read the directions for REMOVING and replacing the things and thought i could skip some steps...nope. so what i thought would be a half hour job turned into a four hour gruelling fight against gravity and a 3400 pound beast with nothing to rest on....*whew*. i finally gave in to the directions and took EVERYTHING off (except the front fixed eye), lowered the leaf spring the the last set of holes in the shackle, bolted everything back on (got a few blisters doin' it), almost broke my stabilizer bar, and finally got it back together only to find out that 1) it's the same height as far as i can tell, and 2) now my shocks are too short and they're hyperextending...which thinking about it i think was my frist problem from the fuckin' beginning. they are, however, adjustable....and i learned how to adjust them after i'd put everything back on...so it'll have to wait for another day.
'till then i have to drive REAL slow over bumps (even on the road) and be careful 'cause the tail feels like it wants to slide out from under me ;) basically if the shocks extend to their full length...instead of bouncing with the tire and forcing the tire to the ground, it'll end up lifting the tire....makin' a disgusting sound...and probably destroy my shocks...unless they need replacing anyway? shit i dunno. i'm realizing the trials of working on an 'already modified' car. the shocks aren't stock. they're koni shocks. koni shocks are expensive.
for a while there i thought my car was dead....that would've been embarrassing..especially with one wheel off and one side of my axle on the ground with the leaf spring floating in the air...that thing is far too strong to be moved by hand. i had to figure out how to manipulate it using the weight of the car....but i think i got it now. at least now i'll know what to do when i decide to replace bushings!
mmm....class dismissed.
sleep.
nope.
turns out rear leaf springs are under pressure even under no weight (three mounting points on the leaf spring...the rear of the three moves (shackle), the front is fixed, and the middle is bolted to the wheel/axel). so what that means is...when i popped the bolt from the rear shackle (which was NOT easy...and here's why), the damn thing popped up and went past even the highest hole. i'd read the directions for REMOVING and replacing the things and thought i could skip some steps...nope. so what i thought would be a half hour job turned into a four hour gruelling fight against gravity and a 3400 pound beast with nothing to rest on....*whew*. i finally gave in to the directions and took EVERYTHING off (except the front fixed eye), lowered the leaf spring the the last set of holes in the shackle, bolted everything back on (got a few blisters doin' it), almost broke my stabilizer bar, and finally got it back together only to find out that 1) it's the same height as far as i can tell, and 2) now my shocks are too short and they're hyperextending...which thinking about it i think was my frist problem from the fuckin' beginning. they are, however, adjustable....and i learned how to adjust them after i'd put everything back on...so it'll have to wait for another day.
'till then i have to drive REAL slow over bumps (even on the road) and be careful 'cause the tail feels like it wants to slide out from under me ;) basically if the shocks extend to their full length...instead of bouncing with the tire and forcing the tire to the ground, it'll end up lifting the tire....makin' a disgusting sound...and probably destroy my shocks...unless they need replacing anyway? shit i dunno. i'm realizing the trials of working on an 'already modified' car. the shocks aren't stock. they're koni shocks. koni shocks are expensive.
for a while there i thought my car was dead....that would've been embarrassing..especially with one wheel off and one side of my axle on the ground with the leaf spring floating in the air...that thing is far too strong to be moved by hand. i had to figure out how to manipulate it using the weight of the car....but i think i got it now. at least now i'll know what to do when i decide to replace bushings!
mmm....class dismissed.
sleep.
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