Dual mount spring or coil over ....

I noticed my rear wheels are leaning inward at the top - at this point I am not sure yet what the problem is... either a sagging leaf spring (replaced it three years ago with a 7-leaf) or worn strut rod bushings (these are 5 yrs old, maybe 3000 miles) ...

Either way, I'm going to tear the rear suspension apart, I'm going to install my rebuilt trailing arms with JohnnyJoints and I also have to re-do the rear brakes....

Now, does anybody have first hand experience with the dual mount spring ?? While I am working on the rear suspension I might as well upgrade to either the dual mount spring or coilovers....

ideas/comments ???

I had to replace the diffy output yokes for that, they were worn to the point of no metal holding the clip....I used a couple of the then cool, Yogi Beahr units, been fine....

I know nothing of the dual mount or coil overs, but am very happy with my 16 y/o VBP 360 plastic spring and Bilsteins....single/stock mount....

:drink:

Leaning the same on both sides?

SmokinBBC said:

Leaning the same on both sides?

Click to expand...

yes, about the same. I'll know more once I get the strut rods off.

I'm almost convinced it's the 7-leaf steel spring sagging. I bought it "new" from Muskegon Brakes and I set the ride height when it was new... I probably need stock length bolts now...

I'm running a dual-mount rear spring and really like it. It's a hell of a lot lighter in weight than a steel spring and you can (you must!) eliminate the rear sway bar. But mostly, you can adjust it for spring rate. I have adjusted mine several times, stiffening & softening it to balance the handling. It only takes a few minutes to adjust.
The only downside I have found is that if you are running rear exhaust, you need clearance from the heat of the pipes. I made heat shields for my pipes from a sandwich of two pieces of 26 guage sheetmetal with asbestos cloth between them and hose clamp brackets to give them about 3/16" standoff popriveted on them. My heatshields are about 1/2" from the spring mount brackets (with 'post installation bolt head clearance divots' by now) and about 3/4" clearance from pipe to spring. Been installed for, oh probably 4-5 years now.
(Here's a shi--er, poopy-- photo from another thread about springbolts, but you can see the end of the heat shield to the right side of the picture. They're not pretty, but they work)



I really like the dual-mount spring. I ain't as much into my car anymore as a lot of you guys, but I still recommend it. A little bit of work, but worth it by far.

PS: You need to remove the sway bar because the action of the double pivot vs. the single pivot of the stock spring is the same action the sway bar produces and running both is too much, it really screws up the rear end handling.

Cross member with dual mounts - for sale

If you are interested, I have a Crossmember with the VBP dual spring mounts. I do not have the spring. The crossmember and mounts are in great shape. I am including the solid aluminum 'pucks' and hardware to mount the crossmember to the frame. I also have the center tie rod mount with the (4) threaded poly ends (I do not have the rods though). If you are intereste please feel free to PM me. Thanks & Good Luck.....Ken

Here's a better photo.....

Well.... I got the crossmember and the brackets from Ken (68VetteModified) and the spring and mounting hardware from VBP.
Very impressed, I received the crossmember, brackets and aluminum pucks very well packaged and in excellent condition. This was almost two weeks ago and then I was busy with my front fender flares.... :smash:
Finally I called VBP and the had no problem discounting the price for the spring and hardware because I already had the two brackets that mount to the crossmember. :thumbs:

Now I need to get my lazy butt moving and install all this stuff (plus the upper/lower strut rods)...

JPhil said:

I'm running a dual-mount rear spring and really like it.
PS: You need to remove the sway bar because the action of the double pivot vs. the single pivot of the stock spring is the same action the sway bar produces and running both is too much, it really screws up the rear end handling.

Click to expand...

Sorry for cutting in in this thread but thanks for the usefull info.

So the swaybar is an absolute no-no togheter with the dual mount monospring?

//Ricky.

I wouldn't say 'absolutely', it would depend on how your car is set up. Mine has 550# springs and a 1 1/8" bar up front, when I had the dual-mount rear with a sway bar also, the anti-sway properties between front and rear were different enough that the rear end would break loose on fast sharp corners.
My theory is that since the front had a softer set up which would allow more body roll while keeping both wheels on the ground, the rear was so much stiffer that when the body did roll, it would lift the inboard wheel thus putting more load on the outboard tire which exceeded its traction point.
You need to keep the front & rear in balance for equal reactions.

JPhil said:

I wouldn't say 'absolutely', it would depend on how your car is set up. Mine has 550# springs and a 1 1/8" bar up front, when I had the dual-mount rear with a sway bar also, the anti-sway properties between front and rear were different enough that the rear end would break loose on fast sharp corners.
My theory is that since the front had a softer set up which would allow more body roll while keeping both wheels on the ground, the rear was so much stiffer that when the body did roll, it would lift the inboard wheel thus putting more load on the outboard tire which exceeded its traction point.
You need to keep the front & rear in balance for equal reactions.

Click to expand...

Oki.

I got the transverse monospring kit from VBP and a 1-1/8 swaybar in the front and i dont really know how many lb:s the different adjustment for the spring will give.
I guess i just have to go for the dual mont spring in the rear and try it out, both with and without the swaybar.

//Ricky.

Words I've had is, the dual mount has a very similar response as the rear sway bar , so I've planned on "ditching it." I am not as close to trials - so it wil be interesting to hear your results.
I went the same path: monoleafs on both front and rear. And a DIY steeroids-like setup.
BTW - very nice projo going there and welcome aboard!
Thanks for sharing all the pics too.

Cheers Jim

phantomjock said:

Words I've had is, the dual mount has a very similar response as the rear sway bar , so I've planned on "ditching it." I am not as close to trials - so it wil be interesting to hear your results.
I went the same path: monoleafs on both front and rear. And a DIY steeroids-like setup.
BTW - very nice projo going there and welcome aboard!
Thanks for sharing all the pics too.

Cheers Jim

Click to expand...

Jim, love to see some pix of your home brew rack install....please send some on email, or if you have them here, love to have a link....

:smash::smash::clap:

MYBAD79 said:

Finally I called VBP and the had no problem discounting the price for the spring and hardware because I already had the two brackets that mount to the crossmember. :thumbs:

Click to expand...

I have no experience with the dual mount springs, but have a single composite on both cars. VB&P has a thermal sticky you can put under your spring and see what color it changes after a long run. More than likely you will need to insulate the spring to maintain the warranty. My solution was to wrap the pipes with thermal heat wrap to insulate the composite spring. It seemed to be the easiest solution at the time.

There was one big down side, the lowest point of the exhaust, where they go under the spring, scrapes every high spot you drive over. Not on the highway, but speed bumps and even the highway median has shred my wrap. I simply wrapped over the shredded material for more insulation, but eventually needed to do more. I made skid shields for the underside of the pipes out of two inch aluminum strap from Lowe's. This solved the problem and no more shredding. I just thought to mention it, as you will be faced with doing something to protect the spring from exhaust heat. In the photo, you can barely see the back of the shields that are 24 inches long.
[/IMG]

Mike, as always you put lots of thought and effort into this. The aluminum skid plates are a great idea and are really not very noticeable.
My solution for keeping the heat away from the spring is very simple: sidepipes

Red said:

MYBAD79 said:

Finally I called VBP and the had no problem discounting the price for the spring and hardware because I already had the two brackets that mount to the crossmember. :thumbs:

Click to expand...

I have no experience with the dual mount springs, but have a single composite on both cars. VB&P has a thermal sticky you can put under your spring and see what color it changes after a long run. More than likely you will need to insulate the spring to maintain the warranty. My solution was to wrap the pipes with thermal heat wrap to insulate the composite spring. It seemed to be the easiest solution at the time.

There was one big down side, the lowest point of the exhaust, where they go under the spring, scrapes every high spot you drive over. Not on the highway, but speed bumps and even the highway median has shred my wrap. I simply wrapped over the shredded material for more insulation, but eventually needed to do more. I made skid shields for the underside of the pipes out of two inch aluminum strap from Lowe's. This solved the problem and no more shredding. I just thought to mention it, as you will be faced with doing something to protect the spring from exhaust heat. In the photo, you can barely see the back of the shields that are 24 inches long.

[/IMG]

Click to expand...

I have about 2" clearance between my pipes and the mounting plate, the same looking VBP plastic spring, been there for 16 years or so....the clearance to ground is about 3.5 inches....

my shafts are slanted to the wheels, so car rides more stock than yours...

BUT even on these shitty saggy Florida roads full of potholes....I rarely hit ground crap with the pipes....

pretty stock diameter tires....:clobbered:

MYBAD79 said:

Mike, as always you put lots of thought and effort into this. The aluminum skid plates are a great idea and are really not very noticeable.
My solution for keeping the heat away from the spring is very simple: sidepipes

Click to expand...

Yup...sidepipes will eliminate the need for exhaust heat shields for the spring.

You must have already worked out your own design leg shield.

Are your shafts flat?

If yes is a better option to have a small angle for the life of the U-Jints..... the small rods inside should rotate a little bit when working!

Stroker-427 said:

Are your shafts flat?

If yes is a better option to have a small angle for the life of the U-Jints..... the small rods inside should rotate a little bit when working!

Click to expand...

I just noticed your comment, sorry! Don't pay any attention to the shaft angle, as when the picture was taken there was a jack under the frame, or something. I agree with the shaft angle comment and they are angled down (lower) at the TA side. I changed the angle a few times as I played with the alignment. It is good your eye picked up on it and thought to make the suggestion.

This is the reason we are here...... to try to help each other!