Thread: Botched coil spacer installation? (pics)

Originally Posted by MSkinner

It's not hard. I fully understand everything involved and are capable of doing it myself. My only problem is that I don't have a jack that will lift the body of the Disco high enough to let the suspension drop down enough to let me get the coil and/or spacer out.

Just called Malcom at Mornington Prestige who can do it on Saturday for me.

No special tools required, just a set of axle stands, jack the offending side from under the diff and place axle stand under the chassis, take the wheel off and using a trolley jack or similar lower the side down untill the spring becomes loose. If the brake line is stretched unbolt the caliper and suspend out of the way with a coat hanger or fencing wire, once diff has dropped as low as it will go a boot pushing down will help dislodge it. This of course is after the shock has been removed complete with tower as its easiest that way.

Originally Posted by mike 90 RR

I'm was mainly thinking of the of the tarmac driving that we all do

At high speeds ..the air forces come into play
With the front lifted ... the air is compressing under body // (Loss of vacuum)
With the front down ... the air is + Vacuum under body

While on a tangent.. we did a heap of testing on pan and silhouette designs in a wind tunnel a few years ago, and the basics were as you would expect, though there was an optimal front height off the deck before airflow slowed too much and vacuum was lost again..... so the sports cars that you sometimes see with their front spoilers on the ground are not necessarily getting all of the downforce they may have been able to ....

But, the big problem with the aerodynamics was more to do with the rear - a problem highlighted by the Audi TT when one of their drivers met his maker. The lift created off the back glass is a huge problem, and significantly greater than the downforce created at the rear by a shaped pan. I suspect thats why a lot of pans are flat on the bottom and have the majority of shaping done at the very rear for max gain in that area. The wedge shape reduces the lifting as does a rear spoiler. For the front.... there is downforce galore off the bonnet and windscreen.

Anyway, that was just a unit I did with a Yr9 class.

Originally Posted by Utemad

Do you have a trolley jack and chassis stands?
You have the wheel off at the time. So you just put a jack under the axle housing and lift it up and put a chassis stand under the chassis. Then lower the jack until the disc brake is touching the ground. Use a trolley jack for stability and lowered height.

With the shock absorber removed already of course.

This should have the springs dislocating.

Or the Disco bottle jack between the axle house and chassis, best place, the bump stops, now jack the diff and chassis apart, springs should full out, BRAKE LINES may limit how far you can jack.

Done. We used two trolley jacks to lift the body, disconnected the shock from the bottom, compressed the spring, and with a little weight on the wheel, simply took it out. The front is now sitting perfectly...a little lower than the rear but with more than enough room to allow the tyres up into the guards with no cutting of body panels. It was reassuring to know that my coils will not dislocate at full articulation because the shock won't let them, and that my brake lines are still plenty long enough. Why this took those clowns over an hour to do with a hoist and air tools the other day I will never know.

Looks heaps better.
U live near the beach I take it?
Cheers Dean.