Thanks for the responses to my front shock woes. It's pretty clear that
considering air adjustable shocks is NOT the way to go. Now for the good
news: several responses indicated that it was strange that the shock and coil
spring would compress under load and not return. It made me remember that
several weeks ago I discovered that one of the bolts through the bushing at
the top of the A arm was very loose. I tightened it securely and apparently
cranked it one turn too many. The bushing was binding just enough to keep the
spring from pushing it back up. Backed off the nut and things are back to
normal. (I didn't earn the title of novice for nothing) Could be that the
spring is a little "tired" at age 28 as several listers suggested. Also, the
compressed length of the spring is speced at 7.5 inches and it measures
closer to eight as now installed. Perhaps I'll pull one off and see what the
uncompressed length is. Anyone know what a spring compresser tool will cost
me? Anyway, I can now drive to VTR 2000 this weekend without thinking I have
a bad shock to worry about.
I'm still thinking about the left rear 3/4" sag and how to deal with it. Yes,
replace the spring if that is really the problem, and no adjustable shocks
are not really intended to carry load or solve this problem. However, I am
intriqued with the article on the VTR web page written by a guy who has owned
8 spitfires and maintains that each had a sag problem of less than 1 inch
that was not due to the spring at all, and was instead due to the adjustment
of the radius arm which controls the tracking and toe of the rear wheel.
Anyone had experience with fixing the rear sag problem with this type of
adjustment? ( As one person told me recently: "If that is so, how come it
always sags on just the left side?") Your thoughts gratefully appreciated.
Jeff
Portland, OR.
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