Hey all !!

I encoureted a lowering problem when i attemtpted to lower my ute...

Havinlg already placed 2" blocks in the rear i decided to lower the front.. I have 14" rims all round and decided, given that it was already quite low at the front, i figured 1" would be sufficient...

I bought some factory 1200 springs from the wreckers... and got them compressed to 1" at a special spring place.. (they even painted them for me) ... so i dropped one side out... took th eold spring out and put the new compressed one in.. It was then upon lowering down off the jack with the wheel on... it had gone higher than it originally was... I wasn't impressed.. id did everything right... any clues on this... much appreciated ???

Cheers

try roling the car back and forward a bit to let the tyre settel

Do you know for sure that the original springs in your car have not sagged with time and were actually lower than the factory spec?

they may take time to settle, if you havent waited, but if they were not cut (proffesionally of course) but just compressed by resetting the ute wont be much lower as the spring will have a higher k value (spring co-efficient) and will require a higher force (weight of vehicle) to compress as much as before, therefore i would think that the ute would be lower but not by an inch, only a fraction of that, and you would have a much stiffer front end too

understand me or not?

Err... i think i understand..

I just figured that it would be somewhat 'lower' not at all 'higher'... and yeah i didn't at all try and let them settle... immediately i jacked it back up... and started putting my original springs back in...

I guess with the change in spring is it possible that i may have to soften the tension or something or is this idea way off ??

Cheers for ur ideas so far

Just put the new springs in and then sit on the front quarter panels a few times... Then once you are sure that everything is in properly. take it fr a quick strap around the block..

yes, but you cant really soften them, the spring keeps the same tension, if you stretch it the distance between coils is increased and ovarall effect is similar to less tension, if you compress smaller distance similar to more tension, but to shorten and keep same tension your only option is to cut off some height

Thanks fvor thst Lobster...

Yeh, i might tryu that, i wonder if it will work... i mean i jumped up and down on those fron quaters... tryin to make her go down...Arrrggghh.. yeah fustrating ...

I'am just wondering is it worth doin the job again to see the same result again...

Cheers

maybe you could try getting one new and one old spring and put them a bit apart with a lump of wood between and sit in the middle to see which one compresses the most. you may need a couple of mates to balance them though. I check mine in a drill press with a set of bathroom scales at the bottom, you just wind the handle down an equal amount on eace spring and see how much it weighs. Easy

Heres another idea...
Perhaps your original ones were lowered springs?
Perhaps the person before you already lowered it?
Have you compared the height it sits at compared to other 1200 utes'?

On the other hand lowered springs start at around like $119 or something for a pair... So it isn't that big an outlay for some proper ones...