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Both coils and leaf springs in the rear?


Mortimer452

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My car P15 rides like a haywagon, mostly the rear end is just REALLY bouncy.  Lifted it up today to take a look and see if maybe the shocks are stiff/frozen and found this.  Rear end has the factory leaf springs, and it looks like some add-on coils on top of the axle?  Couldn't find any reference to this on the forums or elsewhere.

The coils are definitely stiff.  With this 200lb gorilla swinging on the rear bumper, I can't even compress them an inch.  There is what looks like a piece of garden hose slipped over the top coil as cushion against the frame so it doesn't rattle.  I thought maybe it's some dealer add-on for towing, but the car doesn't have a trailer hitch.

Maybe it was a mob car and the boss had these added to support the extra weight of a couple bodies in the trunk.  I may just pull these off and see how it rides.

DSC_0529.jpg.eb7f3b1ee2bec606e979b00151ea171f.jpg

DSC_0530.jpg

Edited by Mortimer452
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Could be a old whiskey hauler.

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I bought a set of those coil "helper" springs back in 1968 for my then new 340 Dart GTS  from a store that Manny, Moe and Jack owned. They came with a bracket that fit on top of the axle tube and with a piece of "garden hose" also. They were to fit between the axle and the frame rails just as in your picture. I guess I thought I needed them for traction control, but they wouldn't stay in place after a couple of dump the clutch and squeal the tire sessions. So I shortened one of the coils a bit, and modified the factory pinion snubber so that the coil spring fit snuggly between the pinion snubber and floor board, thus preloading the rear a bit and helping to maintain traction. We were not allowed traction bars in factory stock drag racing.......but nothing was said about coil spring pinion snubbers.

Opps, a little off topic, but that's how I used one of those coil helper springs.

Mortimer452, by chance does your 71 dart have a 452 stroker motor in it?

 

 

Edited by BobK
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38 minutes ago, BobK said:

I bought a set of those coil "helper" springs back in 1968 for my then new 340 Dart GTS  from a store that Manny, Moe and Jack owned. They came with a bracket that fit on top of the axle tube and with a piece of "garden hose" also. They were to fit between the axle and the frame rails just as in your picture. I guess I thought I needed them for traction control, but they wouldn't stay in place after a couple of dump the clutch and squeal the tire sessions. So I shortened one of the coils a bit, and modified the factory pinion snubber so that the coil spring fit snuggly between the pinion snubber and floor board, thus preloading the rear a bit and helping to maintain traction. We were not allowed traction bars in factory stock drag racing.......but nothing was said about coil spring pinion snubbers.

Opps, a little off topic, but that's how I used one of those coil helper springs.

Mortimer452, by chance does your 71 dart have a 452 stroker motor in it?

 

 

Heh I wish, the Dart is a 318 car, originally a 2bbl, I rebuilt it back in high school, bored and built it to 340-4bbl specs.

 

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Pulled the coil helper springs off, definitely a noticeable improvement in ride quality.   Sorry no signs of bootleg whiskey being carried in the trunk, but I agree that's a definite possibility!

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Does you car have a rear seat? Maybe Bertha Butt ( distant cousins of the Kardashians) and her sister regularly rode in it??

:o

DJ

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My 1938 Plymouth Truck has those on the front!  Ahhh...  At least I am not the only one.  

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