>a rubber pad in the top of the clamp box in the middle of the rear spring.
>Due to the driver most commonly being alone, the pad wears on the driver's
>side more than the passenger side, and the sliding action of the spring
>causes it to wear out. With the pad worn away, and the weight of the car
>on the spring, the spring no longer sits squarely in the clamp box, but
>sits higher up on the worn side. With the car stationary, each rear wheel
>still carries the same load and so the rear spring still sits parallel to
>the road, but because of the worn pad and the spring not re-acting squarely
>on the clamp box, the differential, and therefore the chasis/body, lean over.
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I'll have to disagree with this article on this one. The spring clamp does
in fact have a rubber pad (actually, the one I have is plastic) between the
clamp and the top most spring leaf, but the spring does not slide in the
clamp, it rocks. If you look at the design of the spring itself, you will
see that the main leaf is securely clamped to the diff. The other leafs
are not clamped as such but retained (laterally) by a bump in each
subsequent leaf and this bump (half arch) rocks or rotates slightly around
a bolt with a sleeve around it. This is what reduces the roll stiffness by
allowing these leaves to rock about this axis contributing little if any to
roll stiffness but still allowing support and springing in a purely
vertical sense. The pad usually doesn't wear so much as it deteriorates
with age, and at any rate, is fairly thin and would contribute little to
cause the body to lean one way or the other. if the body is truly leaning,
I would suspect a broken main leaf in the spring (had one of those), or a
worn out one. If on the other hand, the body is level to the ground, but
one wheel is cambered much more than the other, I would suspect incorrect
parts as I mentioned, or some type of damage-
Barry Schwartz (San Diego) bschwart@pacbell.net
72 V6 Spitfire (daily driver)
70 GT6+ (when I don't drive the Spit)
70 Spitfire
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