Front Coil Springs

[rb1949]

Holy Cow. Ordered springs yesterday morning. In short order got a notification they had shipped. Arrived here today. That Rock is fast. Thanks. But it didn't include any warm weather to install them.

[Dartgame]

You wont need a spring compressor - just follow the removal and installation as I described or read a service manual-its the same. 

My car is in storage - otherwise i would provide the height measurement. Car wont be out of storage for several months. Sorry about that.

Ride quality is firmer than the 65 yr old springs. So whether that is the same as the original design or otherwise - I cant say. What I can say is these work very well and are not sloppy like the old oems were. I would judge them to be as smooth as I like, but since they are progressive the spring rate changes as the suspension articulates, which is what i believe is desire-able, for safe handling characteristics. 

Will you like them ? I think so. Don't overthink it. The springs are cheap, and if you don't like them, buy a set of oems and sell the aerostars to someone on the site here...good luck with the job. I think you will be pleasantly surprised at the ease of swapping and the improvement.

[rb1949]

Late update on the project. If you are considering a coil spring mod and have a Chrysler, don't buy the Moog CC850. They DO NOT FIT!! I took a chance, although never got a direct answer regarding my Chrysler questions. Different from Dodge/Plymouth who have used them. Will weigh the extra heavy box to estimate shipping. They would be for sale, or ask about a refund. Now we know.

[Alexander]

I echo the message from rb1949.  CC850 also did not work on my 1951 Dodge coronet.  They were WAY too  short.  The car sat on the rubber stops.  

Perhaps these springs work well on pre 1949 Mopars?

 

[rb1949]

True, there is a lot of good talk about this coil spring. But not for all. I didn't have the ability to remove & measure the originals FIRST.

[Andydodge]

Dunno if this helps anyone or not but I looked in the 1950-65 Chrysler Auto Interchange Manual I have.....under front coil spring it doesn't list 1950(?)......only 1951-1954 Chrysler and indicates these are the same for 1951-54 Desoto, Dodge and Plymouth  and all use part # 1618087 ...........this info is probably useless in this discussion unless you can find out whether 1949-51 springs are the same and unfortunately I don't have that info.........anyway, maybe this might help.......or not........regards, andyd  

[moose]

Here's my 54 Belvedere.  25 years or so ago, I cut 1-1/2 coils out of the front springs.  Since then they have sagged more, and I have gotten tired of bottoming out.  I placed an order through Eaton for stock height replacements, thinking I would drive it as a tail dragger for a while, then possibly in the future maybe go with dropped uprights.

Well, Eaton messed up.  I could barely get the springs in there, and now there is no movement of the suspension.  I've already called and talked to them. They said they had the wrong one on file.  Wanted me to measure the bumper height?  I told them the proper measurement is between the inside and outside of the A-arm, and should be 1/2".  Currently the difference is 4-1/2" and the bumper is 17-1/2" from the ground!

I really just wanted to vent about this, and my wife doesn't want to hear anything more about springs

 

Edited October 4, 2017 by moose

[Merle Coggins]

Looks like you went beyond the tail dragger look and went right to the gasser look. 

Hopefully they will get it resolved. 

Edited October 5, 2017 by Merle Coggins

[Dodgeb4ya]

Looks like the engine is out

[Plymouthy Adams]

my 54 looks like that....when launching and lighting up the back tires from a dead stop...I figure about 625 more HP and I could lift the wheels off the ground....

Edited October 5, 2017 by Plymouthy Adams

[JSabah]

On 12/18/2016 at 9:24 AM, 42dodgeguy said:

One more weigh in on the spring deal. The service manual for my Dodge (D-22 and D-24) says check the height from the grease zerk in the outer part of the lower arm to the floor of your garage, and then check the height of the inner grease zerk (where the arm attaches to the frame.) The inner should be 1/2 inch higher than the lower. I believe cutting springs upsets this geometry and affects steering? I'm thinking that this 1/2 inch deal applies to all mopars of this period, and if the number is less than the 1/2 inch you have sag, and should replace the springs, or else use some of those aluminum spacers that the parts houses used to sell? 

 

following up on this older thread.... where do you find that the inner & outers should differ by 1/2".  My manual simply says to measure the difference between inner and outer and compare that number to the other side.  the diff should be no more than 1/4".  I have a '49 Plymouth and the diff between inner an outers are 1 7/8" and 2"  (not 1/2") and within the 1/4" variance.  interesting that there is no accounting for differences in tires while in the back, they take that out of the equation by measuring spring plate to frame (nothing to do with ground levelness or tire inflation) 

 

[falconvan]

Andy Bernbaum still sells the stock ones.

 

https://www.oldmoparts.com/parts-springs.aspx

[Ray K]

Moose,

  Just got a pair of Eaton springs for my 54 Plymouth Belvedere Suburban. On advice of sales rep ordered a set of SCS 1020-1 springs which are supposed to support 14% more weight than stock due to V-8 swap. (BTW had car weighed. 318 with A-518 trans aka RH-46 weighs about 250 lbs more than stock). Unfortunately I had the same problem you did 4 years ago. old springs are 13 1/4" unloaded but new ones are 16 1/2". I couldn't get them in the car even with a spring compressor! Eaton has the wrong specs for these cars and it seems they haven't fixed it in the last 4 years. How did you fix yours?

[moose]

1 hour ago, Ray K said:

Moose,

  Just got a pair of Eaton springs for my 54 Plymouth Belvedere Suburban. On advice of sales rep ordered a set of SCS 1020-1 springs which are supposed to support 14% more weight than stock due to V-8 swap. (BTW had car weighed. 318 with A-518 trans aka RH-46 weighs about 250 lbs more than stock). Unfortunately I had the same problem you did 4 years ago. old springs are 13 1/4" unloaded but new ones are 16 1/2". I couldn't get them in the car even with a spring compressor! Eaton has the wrong specs for these cars and it seems they haven't fixed it in the last 4 years. How did you fix yours?

I used Aerostar springs from AutoZone. 

[James_Douglas]

If one goes an gets a copy of the AMA Specifications for their car...it lists the spring specifics.

 

Like my 1949 Desoto. It shows the front springs as made with "Amola" Steel. The Free Length is right is 15-5/8 inch and and the left is 15-13/16 inch. "Length Under Curb Weight" is 11 inches.

 

For my 1947 Desoto I had Eaton make me a set of new rear springs. They had the blueprints for both the stock and commercial heavy duty. They emailed me both the spring load and the spring rates for both. So far a year later not issues with the rear springs.

 

James.

[Ray K]

Moose/James, Since I couldn't get Eaton to call me back all day yesterday I went ahead and pulled out the grinder with trepidation last night.. Ended up cutting 2-1/4 coils off my supposedly 1 inch lowered springs! this still raised the ride height as measured from the front cross-member to ground by almost 2 inches (1-3/4 to be exact). Height diff inner to outer lower control arm grease fitting is just under 1 inch so i think i'm in the ballpark. I know your going to cringe but I also ended up having to heat the very bottom coil to flatten out the spring bottom a bit. Until I did this the coil bulged to the outside under compression and was hitting the outside upper spring mount. Heated a spot 1/2 coil from end so that entire length is resting on lower spring socket and is supported. Hopefully will be ok. I think I'm going to pay for the cutting with a pretty stiff ride though. Gonna try it today and let you know.

     I'll see if I can dig up a AMA copy but there is no way you can convince me the old springs sagged 3-1/2 inches! Still say Eaton has it wrong. BTW these springs were $250/pair and although they are returnable it costs $100 SH to return for another set. I think I'll stick to the aerostars next time if it comes to it.

 

thanks guys,

Ray

[squirebill]

So I finally got my '49 Suburban off the jack stands and took it for a test drive yesterday.  Now that it's on the ground started thinking about it's stance and spring sag.  What should it be?  Looked in my parts manual and found a good side view picture of a 4 door sedan.  Did a scaling calculation using the wheel rim diameter of 16.5".  So from ground to the bottom of the rocker  moulding where the bottom rear corner of the front fender meets the bottom front corner of the door calculates to 11.0".  From the ground to the bottom of the rocker moulding where the moulding meets the front corner of the rear fender is 11.9".  Measurements on my car are: 10" front and 11" rear or about 1" low.  Wonder if new body mounts would correct the problem. Point being if you can find a good photo of your model car when new you can do the scaling calculation to get "good enough" estimate of ground clearance.  Regards.