Occasionally (50% of the time maybe?) when I jack the front end of the car, my springs don't want to realign over the bump stop correctly (they lean and catch where the cone shape goes vertical). When I put the car back down (assuming it is only one of them) the car will have a slight pull to one side - pretty frustrating. If they both misalign, I can hear some groans coming from the struts. In either case, it isn't very difficult to realize after the fact but it is indeed a major PITA. The problem is that I can't hold it in alignment (as it wants to lean toward the center so I lean it outward and hope it stays as I lower it real slow-like) as I lower the car. Anyone have any tips or tricks on creating some alignment device that can remain (or easily be pulled after the car is down)? Actually any ideas are welcome. Are there helper springs that are strong enough to uphold a 3" diameter spring (so it remains aligned while unloaded) and not get mashed to smithereens (so it continues to uncoil in the future) when loaded? I am guessing a no on that one.

I would just jack it up on the suspension if I thought that was a wise idea (but I am not sure that is a wise idea). Frustrated!!!

 

One thing to try is to jack your car up from one side at a time and avoid doing the front, then the rear.. The stress of the swaybars will keep the suspension tight when you do one side at a time, thus keeping the springs tight against the perches.. Well, at least I know this works on the prelude..

If it doesn't work, I don't know, how about putting some kind of soft/sticky material on the bottom of the spring keep it from moving? Like some kind of tar substance???

Trying to help

 

Unfortunately, the same thing occurs when jacking one side then the other as well. Even if I jack it up on the side, the suspension still unloads so the problem still remains.

The sticky material idea (if I knew what to use) would have to sit at the top not the bottom so I am still at a loss.

Thanks however.

 

Can't you just zip tie the springs in place? Put a bunch of them on there and it could hold it in place while the car is jacked up.

 

The rear of the 242 has the same problem when jacking. The bottom of the spring has a "pigtail" that is bolted to the suspension arm. The top un-seats every time the rear is jacked separate from the axle.
Does the top of the spring have a rubber cushion of sorts to help cut down on squeaking and road noise? The rear spring top on the 242 has a 1/2" thick hard (soft now 22 years old) spacer to help line the spring back up.

I saw a Defender 90 with tall rear shocks and aftermarket spring that had welded a 10" long metal place inside of the spring perch to catch the spring when the axle was a full tilt (~30-35 deg.). Not sure if that would help for you... but looked bad *** when he was crawling down the trails. Made quite a bit of noise when unloading and loading the spring.

Maybe a spacer ring that is fabricated to help align the top of the spring back with the perch needs to be developed... maybe a sellable item?


William

 

That is exactly what I was envisioning (inner sleve). My main concern isn't the frustration as much as the small incremental damages I may be causing to the bump stops. Maybe I could get a slinky up in there Right now the front end if off the ground (heat cycled some tires last night) so I was hoping to come up with something before this evening before dropping it back down. I had this whacked idea of putting in some strong plastic tabs that when the suspension reloaded would pop out - problem there is that a.) would have no clue where they shot and b.) what if they popped inside?