In your original question you claim to have a sagging drivers side rear.
Don't mix that by now saying you've simply got a sagging rear. Those are
two very different problems, frequently caused by two different things.
An overall sagging rear is caused by the rear spring in almost all cases.
And it's almost invariably caused by fatigue. Either the metal relaxing or
leaves breaking. Generically, oem spring leaves don't lose arch, but they
certainly do break. Finding a broken leaf or two is not at all uncommon.
A sagging corner is caused by an imbalance in the wheel sets. That can come
from a whole host of things. Incorrect rear toe setting, incorrect use of
front spring spacers, a heavy toolbox in the trunk, etc. And a specific
type of break in a swing spring.
Something that hasn't been mentioned so far in this thread is that the swing
spring does in fact have a fixed leaf. Just one. It's the only thing
giving roll resistance in the rear. In fact, it's acting as a separate
spring from the swing portion of the spring pack. Break that one leaf and
you have a tremendous impact on the way the rear of the car sits.
Air shocks can fix/mask/band-aid both problems. If you run them ganged to a
single fill valve the pressure is the same in both the entire rear end goes
up uniformly. If you plumb them individually, you can raise one corner more
than the other. From your original post where you said you have drivers
side rear sag, I'd say plumb them individually, and adjust to your
satisfaction. It will work, permanently, and isn't particularly expensive
or difficult to do.
non-air shocks will not fix the problem. Gas shocks can raise the rear
depending on how much pressure they have, but they will not raise one corner
more than the other. They are matched in pressure. Non-gas shocks will not
produce any rear lifting at all. Trying to mix and match shocks to get ride
height adjustments is not wise and is expensive. Don't try to match one KYB
gas-a-just to one Monroe-matic.
Be very careful with the idea of using a different spring like a GT6 spring
or such. There's a great deal of bad information out there on the subject,
and quite a number of poorly made replacement pieces. Without very thorough
research and consideration you will likely find yourself in a worse position
than you are now.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dennis Reese" <dennis_reese@verizon.net>
Subject: RE: early/late rear springs, was sagging rear/advice
> Interesting discussion to say the least! In case you guys have lost track
> of where this started, I posed the original query re what to do about my
> sagging rear end (the spit!). I am continually impressed by the depth of
> knowledge about these cars by the members of this list and whenever I've
> sought advice I seem to always pick up something new. Thanks for that.
> However, I'm still not sure about how to fix the problem - do I go with a
> GT6 spring, Corvette gas shocks, a replacement spring for this model from
> say "SpitBits", new front springs and anti-roll bar? Is there any
> consensus?
>
> Dennis Reese
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