Spring has become unseated on top, front left, on XF ute

[iamaelephant 35]

I had some weird suspension noise develop today on the front left. I haven't had time to get under it and inspect properly, but from looking through the shock tower gaps it looks like the spring has popped partly out of the spring seat. Do you guys know what would have caused this, and is there an easy way to solve it without spring compressors? The ute has been lowered, but it was done by previous owners so I don't know exactly how.

 

Do the springs seat against the body or does the shock have a seat on top? I guess what I'm really asking is, when I lift the car by the frame and the wheels hang, are the springs under compression? If not, I hope I can just drop the shock from the top and re-jig the spring into its seat.

[deankxf 20,292]

1 hour ago, iamaelephant said:

I had some weird suspension noise develop today on the front left. I haven't had time to get under it and inspect properly, but from looking through the shock tower gaps it looks like the spring has popped partly out of the spring seat. Do you guys know what would have caused this, and is there an easy way to solve it without spring compressors? The ute has been lowered, but it was done by previous owners so I don't know exactly how.

 

Do the springs seat against the body or does the shock have a seat on top? I guess what I'm really asking is, when I lift the car by the frame and the wheels hang, are the springs under compression? If not, I hope I can just drop the shock from the top and re-jig the spring into its seat.

the top part of the spring is flat, it sits in a bit of a recess so wouldn't have any issue there unless it wasn't put in properly initially (possibly but unlikely)

the part that sits on the spring saddle has a tail end that is meant to sit on the spring saddle against a stop. (rotated into position when it's not under tension when fitting it initially)
 

if you jack up the car (both wheels off the ground otherwise the sway bar will hold tension)

 

the shocks should hold the spring captive, if not either you have superlows with standards shocks or ultra lows 

 

check everything is still bolted up right

proper springs will be red (pedders) blue(lovels) yellow (kings ) orange(kmac) etc but if they are plastic coated black, they will be cut and therefore don't usually sit on the saddle well(or drive very well either, boing boing bump stop crash etc)

 

you should be able to jack up the side that's got issues under the lower control arm, take the weight off the shocker then loosen/remove shock bolts and let the arm down further..
pedders, king, springs etc if LOWS ) will be movable in there with some mild force, super lows and ultralow will be easy to reseat/reposition.

 

cut springs will be soft enough to wrestle back into position (or the bin if you plan to drive the car much) 

 

i'd be checking if a lower control arm bush or something else failed while you are under there(caster rubber if nolathane etc)

[hendrixhc 10,921]

5 hours ago, iamaelephant said:

 The ute has been lowered, but it was done by previous owners so I don't know exactly how.

 

Spring may have been cut.

 

While you at it check round the shock tower on the inside facing the engine and check there are no cracks in the tower. If it was lowered too much and had been bouncing on the end stops the tower may have cracks.

[CHESTNUTXE 7,312]

sometimes people put spring packers on top of the very low sets of springs just to raise them 5 or 10mm,the recess inside the tower sought of guides and holds the top of the spring into a comfortable position,but add a packer or nolathane spacer and it leaves the top of the spriing out of the groove so to say,and i hads this happen on my xf ute when i raised the low kings a cm and put bluepro spacers,the packer and spring moved somehow into an akward position and compleatly stuffed the spacer,just buy the right springs guys.yes like dean said low or super or ultra low will be able to turn and fix up but std i doubt it ,they are so high .

[SPArKy_Dave 8,881]

13 hours ago, iamaelephant said:

 looks like the spring has popped partly out of the spring seat.

 

Can u post a picture of the spring, and height that the vehicle is sitting at?

Also the bump-stop clearance.

 

That will let us help u more.

[iamaelephant 35]

Thanks for the advice so far guys, will have a proper look for cracks and spring packers when I get it in the air. @SPArKy_Dave here's some pictures, they're a bit shit but it's the best I can do until I get the car lifted up. You should be able to make out the spring, bumpstop and how it rides.

 

 

 

[CHESTNUTXE 7,312]

I thought you had a 6cyl,it's an 8,they are definitely low or super low v8 springs,bump stop is pretty close to hitting but drivable,can't see anything wrong in those pics,just take the wheel off,lower down the arm and take the shock out and see what is going on with that spring,take off the inner splash guard 6 bolts and that will give a better idea of what is going on

[deankxf 20,292]

5 hours ago, iamaelephant said:

here's some pictures, they're a bit shit

those pics show the springs are BEEFY, i suspect not cut stock ones. and it's seated on the saddle well with surprisingly rubber pads under(never seen anyone do that before)

THE SHOCKER IS STUFFED (covered in oil) this could be the noise, i'd remove it and see how stuffed it actually is

 

Ride height looks at LOWS height, which is a good height for drivability, bump stop clearance looks sufficient also and hasn't been pounded away from a soft spring.. 

fit some BIG BORE short stroke shocks,  there's budget ones on ebay AU, but if you can stretch for Koni brand they were the choice back in the day (i've only had Pedders branded ones, which i liked) 

[CHESTNUTXE 7,312]

Most spring saddles come with that rubber Dean ,weather it does anything, my ones I just fitted had the rubber,but some don't.

[deankxf 20,292]

6 hours ago, CHESTNUTXE said:

Most spring saddles come with that rubber Dean ,weather it does anything, my ones I just fitted had the rubber,but some don't.

never seen it, in at least 50 cars i've poked around with(including at wreckers)

[SPArKy_Dave 8,881]

2 hours ago, deankxf said:

never seen it, in at least 50 cars i've poked around with(including at wreckers)

 

The USA Mustang saddles had rubber pads from factory I think.

It's a thing for some recent aftermarket spring saddles - suppliers source Chinese repro mustang parts probably?

[iamaelephant 35]

Thanks for all of the advice and discussion folks it's been really helpful. I lifted the car and the spring easily popped back into its saddle. Not sure what caused it to pop out and what I can do to prevent it in the future

 

@deankxf thanks for the advice on the shocks - I will start searching for a replacement pair ASAP. I've replaced every single bearing, ball joint and bushing under the car so it makes sense to finish it off with new shocks.

 

Regarding the rubber on the spring saddles, that came like that with the Rare Spares complete bushing and ball joint kit.

[deankxf 20,292]

3 hours ago, iamaelephant said:

I lifted the car and the spring easily popped back into its saddle.

this makes me believe they are standard length shocks , 

big bore(handle the stronger springs) and short stroke (stop the shock bottoming out and also retain the spring better) would be the go. 

you'll be amazed at what new(good quality) shocks do to a falcon