[1937Mark]

Quick background - 65 Galaxie that I bought 6 yrs ago. No motor/trans and off the road for decades. There was evidence that someone ran over something. The drivers side front lower A-arm & strut(?) rod were bent. Replaced them. I have driven the car maybe 100 miles. I did have it put on a frame machine right after I bought it. The tech said that everything was ok.

Problem - I replaced the rear springs with another set(stock) and replaced all the bushing. When I went to reinstall the panhard bar, the only way to get it on was to jack the right side of the rear way up and let the left hang loose. It seemed a little odd but it was the 1st one that I have done. Now the rear end is offset about 1" + to the left side. My right side tire is jambed against the frame.

Possible cause? - Has to be accident?
Solution - Back to frame machine? or adjustable panhard?

Thanks
Mark

 

[puttster]

On a 65 there isn't much clearance between the rubber and the fender so it does not take much to get contact. Did you tighten the bushings after the wheels were on the ground? Seems like that would be the way to do it. Also, are you raising or lowering the height of the car? That will pull or push in the axle where the bar attaches - and push out the other side. I'm just guessing though!

My bar is 31 7/8" bolt to bolt.

 

[fordman289]

Mounting point on the frame or axle could be bent, rod could be incorrect or modified as well.

I did the suspension on my '67 last year and found that my rear panhard bard was bent slightly and at some point someone had removed the end at the frame mounting point and welded a larger ring on there for the bushing. Went to the junkyard and pulled a bar off another '67 that hadn't been messed with. Think mine was modded/bent because the car had dropped springs on it when I got it. I put everything back to stock, I did have to remove the lower bolt on the shocks, drop one side of the axle and raise the other to get the bar to bolt up. I didn't however have any issues with the axle centering problem that you are having.

 

[Ggrahn]

What's the ride height before and after?

 

[1937Mark]

I measured the installed height at 14+" today. What I have read says that it should be 10". The uninstalled height was correct at 16.73" & the coil diameter was correct also at .59". So I am pretty sure that I have the correct springs. I'm not sure why the installed height is so far out. I have ordered an adustable panhard bar and hope that this will correct my problem.

 

[puttster]

Installed height of what? Seems like the critical measurement is the difference in height between the bolts. Then you can figure the proper panhard bar length. You know, like Pythagoras always talked about

 

[1937Mark]

I was refering to the installed height of the coil springs. Since they have not compressed enough(4" too tall), the panhard bar is pulling the rearend to the left. They may settle some? I am hoping that an adjustble panhard will give me options for centering the rear. Does anyone know enough geometry to figure out how far the rearend would be pulled over a 4" difference in spring height? How much does a full tank of gas and 2 adults in the back seat effect?

 

[fordman289]

4" over stock (or where you were) seems way too high, I also remember my rear springs being much shorter then the front springs. 16" uncompressed seems more like the height of the front springs before installing, but my memory could be off. Do have the part # for the rear springs you installed? Are you sure they are sitting in the axle and frame correctly? I used Moog 8307's on the rear of my LTD and if I recall correctly they were directional (one end was supposed to go at the top), but that wouldn't cause the car to sit 4" too high..

The 8307's are HD springs and even with the load adjusting shocks (the one's with the springs) I don't think I gained 4" in the rear. I can measure the panhard bar in mine Monday when I get back to CO if you want to give you an idea if yours is stock. I would think '65 would be the same length.

As Puttster mentioned did you wait to torque down all the bolts for the rear control arms once you got weight on the car?? They need to be just snug and allow the bushings to not bind. If you torque them with the springs in and the axle unloaded it can cause everything to bind when you lower the car.

A few pictures of the car sitting on the springs and under might help.

 

[puttster]

I was refering to the installed height of the coil springs. Since they have not compressed enough(4" too tall), the panhard bar is pulling the rearend to the left. They may settle some? I am hoping that an adjustble panhard will give me options for centering the rear. Does anyone know enough geometry to figure out how far the rearend would be pulled over a 4" difference in spring height? How much does a full tank of gas and 2 adults in the back seat effect?

This link knows the geometry, Right Triangle Angle And Side Calculator
On my car side a is 1", on yours 5"
side c = 32 inches
angle c = 90 degrees
hit calculate to solve for side b

I get a pull to the driver's side of less than an inch.

Some people say the springs will settle after a few weeks but I don't believe it.

 

[zombiekiller]

I'll say this:

I've been through no less than 4 sets of rear springs on my 66.

Not a one: moog, Eaton detroit, CSS, etc has been correct.

Almost all of them have left the car at monster truck heights.

i too, find it far fetched that these coil springs will settle after time.

To put my theory to a test, I worked with a local spring house that has a machine that compresses the springs thousands of times to test fatigue, rebound, etc.

The results? in all cases, the MAXIMUM that any of the tested springs settled was 1/2" in static height with the wieght of a vehicle pressing down on them.

My solution was to run circle track spring height adjusters on the rear of my car. I cut out the upper spring seat with a 4" hole saw and welded them in. I ended up picking up nascar spec eibach 250 lbs/in springs that are 11" free height.

Now I have over 3 inches of ride height adjust-ability! I also now have the option of running a 13" spring, swapping out spring rates easily and modifying rake/ride height depending on any future tire size changes.

The adjustable buckets were 25 bucks per and the coils were 54 a pop.

My static coil height is 6.5. The block height is 2.66" . I have progressive rate poly bump stops like they use in dakar style offroad racing. The upper bucket first contacts the bump at 3.85" and gets progressively stiffer until the block height. This prevents an extreme stop if the suspension gets compressed quickly.

I'll be able to post some pics in a couple weeks as I start wrapping up my fab and reassembling the car.

While my solution isn't for everyone, it works for me. I got sick and tired of "testing" springs for all of these companies on my dime to the tune of 200 + per set with nothing but frustrating results. If anyone needs them, I have a pile of less than used rear coil springs sitting in the corner of my garage. I'll never use them.

My only other option was air bags, and while I considered it, i opted against it for a number of reasons.

 

[LARSOFVT]

I look forward to the pics and info on the adjusters. I have heard many with problems buying replacement springs. Doesn't seem to be an easy way to get it right. Aren't the spring manufactureres interested in happy customers? Seems like Eaton Detroit makes a big pitch about having the original factory drawings. Why wouldn't these 'experts' be able to exactly duplicate the factory springs?

 

[65er]

I had station wagon springs on mine for a while because that's what Autozone had in stock when I wanted springs, but they were a bit tall and the ride was pretty stiff. I waited probably a year for them to settle which of course they never did. I ended up ordering these springs from Rock Auto ---> RAYBESTOS 5891089
With the 255/16-15 tires they came in just a touch low for my liking so I put in a set of Hi-jacker shocks and pumped it up about an inch.

Also my rear end is close to the driver side of the car too but sounds like not as bad. I probably need to move mine over by a half inch or so.

 

[zombiekiller]

I look forward to the pics and info on the adjusters. I have heard many with problems buying replacement springs. Doesn't seem to be an easy way to get it right. Aren't the spring manufactureres interested in happy customers? Seems like Eaton Detroit makes a big pitch about having the original factory drawings. Why wouldn't these 'experts' be able to exactly duplicate the factory springs?

i had ordered springs from eaton detroit that were supposedly 2 inch drop.

They had the car sitting 1" higher than factory spec. never settled. Called to find out what they had to say. sale chick said that she may have had some bad info and she'd verify then call me back.


That was 3 months ago. CSS was the same way, except i waited 4 months for those to get to me.

If i had it to do over again, i'd have gone coilovers and been done with it.

 

[ford4v429]

Springs are weird...I converted my old mark vii air suspension to coils with Arnotts kit, the poor car sat the last 5 yrs, found a clean body, my son bought it and I gave him mine as a donor... The arnott springs apparently sagged near 2" from just sitting?

We put a $25 set of pull-a-part 87 v8 third springs in it, hoping for 1-1.5 inches, got 2"... Still got to replace the fronts too, bottoming way easy. Apparently springs don't like not being flexed after 10 yrs of use...car was fine when parked due to rust, but the springs were way soft when put back on the other car. Thinking about putting the tbird lower front arms and springs from same car under his mark-if they'll bolt up... Mark lower arm is flat for bags, Arnott springs are flat bottom wound- so in use they sit like a bananna at ride height...the tbird arms have the spiral pocket for the coil to sit in, should be about the right rate/height, and it's hard to beat pull-a-parts prices... with tbird or mustang arms under it, lots more spring choices can be had... Arnotts only front spring was ok, but a tad softer than what I'd prefer, even when new.

For gal springs, might try a pull apart yard set for cheap, out of a 80-90s crown Vic or marquis... The suspension on these cars was very similar. Also, our 2000 marquis has a stock watts link rear axle...bet there's a lot of those 'handling package' cars in the boneyard, disk brakes, posi, watts link, springs... Think it's a 8.8 instead of a 9", but if not racing it, might be a cheep source of update parts...

 

[70XL]

My car has similar "rear end to the left" syndrome after installing new rear springs. I put in Moog cargo coils when I first got my car because the springs were sacked out. The cargo coils are definitely taller than stock, which is easily seen by the angle of the panhard bar. My understanding is that the panhard bar is intended to be parallel to the ground at ride height, so if the springs raise the ride height, the frame connection is higher than the rear axle connection and the rear gets pulled to the left. I've had the cargo coils in my car since 1985 and I like the rear ride height, so one of these days I'll either fab a new frame mounting bracket to lower that end of the panhard bar, or lengthen the bar to centre the rear better.

 

[donwhis]

Do a search against my username, I have posted the spring specs for 65, 66, and 67 in the past.

I replaced my front and rear springs using Autozone MOOG springs and no issues other than taking out the driver side sag many cars get over time.

 

[dewsummer]

When you replaced your springs did you replace the coil spring insulators? I have been trying to locate some but have had no luck. Would a set of coil springs from a 66 work? Seems easier to find the insulators for later years.

 

[ford4v429]

Our 65 was sittin a little low(probably from the heavy gage new frame) so i put air shocks on it- used two line kits so it could be leveled, put the valves in the unused upper license plate holes...