I see alot of articles on HOW to do it. But how do I know if I NEED to do this?

I do have bachelor lean, but that isn't unusual.

The car has not bottomed out or given me cause for concern, other than the bushings are worn which I am replacing. Thoughts?
Thanks



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2019-02-05 07:17 PM by dogeddie.

What does your car set like looking at from the side? Does it squat in the rear more than your liking?
You could get the springs re-arched at a spring shop if you wanted to raise the ride height a bit. They could even address the bachelor lean as you refer to it.

Thanks Richard. I have a pic of it in my photo above. I think the height is ok except for the lean to the left. Maybe I'll wait and just do the bushings and see what I have then.

New rear springs didn’t correct my lean. Front could be the problem too

Most of the sag comes from the plastic spacers between the leafs wearing out. I have rebuilt several sets with new strips with the assumption that replacement parts now days are seldom as good as the original. You can compensate some for the bachelor lean by swapping springs from one side to the other. Big job so if what you have isn't too bad might not be worth it. Leaf springs aren't really worn out till the plastic wear strips are gone and the leafs have worn a deep indentation into the adjoining leaf.

Kurt

Thanks again Kurt

I knew the springs needed changing the day I had an overweight passenger who liked talking. There was a light clunk and suddenly the steering wheel adopted a slightly different angle to keep it straight. My passenger never missed a syllable. Not wanting to alarm him, I drove carefully the last 3 miles, dropped him off home and ordered new springs that evening.

Ha ha ha!

Has anyone ever simply swapped the springs over from left to right and vice versa to counteract "batchelor's lean"?

If you swap both front and rear springs it should work.

Many have tried swapping only the rear leaf spring but most find that, alone, doesn't suffice.


N

When ever I was working on the rear springs I was working on the whole suspention so, as Norm says, the front's should get swapped as well. I have replaced the fronts with stiffer springs and heavier sway bar which I adjusted to compensate a little for the bachelor lean as well.

By the looks of the general public, to compensate for the lean you shouldn't have much trouble finding a rather heavy girl friend!

Kurt

Hi Andy,

Before you go and start pulling apart your rear springs it may be wise to check and test your front and rear shocks all around. They are lever shocks and sometimes need a bit of help hydraulic fluid wise. There are procedures for testing the shocks, but I don't have them handy. And, no, the procedures are not just bouncing the fenders up and down. Rather, it is a measure of the shocks' resistance to compression. The shocks "want" to be at a certain point when not under added load, and that point is one which keeps the car rather level on level ground when unoccupied, and is irrelevant of the springs. I had the procedure years ago, but not now. It's the testing used to see if the shocks need to be replaced or rebuilt. Someone else in the Forum may have it.

Regards,

Richard

The shocks have nothing whatsoever to do with ride helght. All they do is dampen spring oscillations, and in the case of our Spridgets they do double duty as the front upper suspension link. But the springs are the only thing that determines ride height.