Rear leaf springs back to front

[Pellow]

I'm trying to find the source of clunks at the rear of my 1961 4 door and have been reading the many excellent posts that are on this forum. However in the course of my investigations I have found that the rear springs have been fitted back to front, i.e. the 2 clamps are behind the axle and the one clamp is before it. The previous owner had completely refurbished the rear suspension and everything looks new. The dampers are reconditioned units. My question is , what effect does this have on the ride quality and should I rectify it as soon as possible? Is it dangerous to carry on driving the car? I have driven 500 miles like it is. Any help would be very much appreciated.

[taupe]

I would swap it as soon as practical and do both sides at once.

Assuming avoiding any heavy loads I would be happy to use it for a few weeks if it were my car. I doubt you would notice any change in the ride.

But you should check out the clunks immediately.

Taupe

[svenedin]

I think the effect of having the leaf springs back to front is that the spring will have a greater tendency to try to twist. They do this anyway if you really push it round a corner and it causes axle tramp. As a teenager in my Minor I would fling it around corners which caused the back axle to hop and one occasion I broke a leaf spring that way. Providing you drive carefully you should be fine but I would change as soon as possible and as Taupe suggests, investigate the clunking immediately.

Stephen

[Pellow]

Thanks for your replies. They are very encouraging. I did wonder if I had done some serious damage or endangered myself or my passengers in driving it like it is. I will sort it out as soon as possible. I have just recently dismantled the rear shackles and front pins to add some grease to cure squeaks. I assume when removing the spring completely I will have to jack up the body with the original jack and an axle stand under the cross member and also support the axle then just remove the shackle pin and front pin and the four u bolt nuts to drop the spring, turn it round and refit?

[svenedin]

You can jack the car up at the back with a jack under the diff and then support the axle on two adjustable axle stands set a couple of increments up from the lowest setting, one either side of the diff. Then you put suitably cut blocks of wood on the front leaf spring brackets (these are very strong) and fit axle stands under the wooden blocks. Now put the jack back under the diff and jack up clear of the axle stands. Adjust the axle stands on the axle an increment lower than they were and now lower the jack slowly. Now the weight of the body of the car is sitting on the axle stands you put under the spring brackets but the axle is not dangling totally unsupported either. It would make sense to change the spring pads and bushes if necessary at the same time.

Stephen

[philthehill]

Having the rear springs fitted back to front is not dangerous or unsafe. Having the two clamps forward of the axle helps to reduce axle tramp. The single clamp to the rear of the axle helps with spring flexing. All three clamps help with the alignment of the spring leaves keeping them in line, the original clamps had about 5mm between the bolt and the top leaf of the spring to allow the spring to flex.
Many years ago I used to clamp the axle leaves with flat plate clamps which could be tightened or slackened as required. Clamping the leaves makes the spring more like a anti tramp bar and reduced axle tramp considerably. The idea of spring clamps was sourced from 1960s American Custom Car magazines were they were used extensively.

[Pellow]

Thank you all for your comments. I'm 75 so I don't think I'll be tearing round any corners now! I did wonder if I could buy spring clamps that just putting an extra one on the front part of the spring would save me all the effort of turning the springs round or do the clamps come off easily and I could take the extra one off the back and use that on the front?

[Pellow]

I've just looked at my car history folder and found that a complete spring kit was bought in January 2021 from ESM. Looking at the kits supplied now, I'm not sure the clamps come off.

[philthehill]

Clamps for the leaf springs are available from ESM.
They are available for different leaf springs.
https://www.morrisminorspares.com/rear- ... s-p1180783