[LetsFNgo]

Decent update today.

The phrase “The shoemakers children never have shoes.” Comes to mind. I had some free time this afternoon and after getting the rear of the car up on stands I figured I’d start pulling the rear apart. I set up some cardboard, my dad built a fire in our small burn barrel, and I got to work disassembling the rear suspension to rebuild it for this year.

What I found was actually pretty terrifying. I drove this car ALOT last year, and quite a few of those were with passengers. I knew the drivers side leaf spring was worn out. So I wasn’t too surprised to find a broken centering pin bolt on the left side. What I was horrified to find was the right side literally fell apart while removing the spring plate/traction bar. The main leaf on the right side was broken, and from the wear, has been for a very long time. Which also explains the hose clamp on the leaf spring on the right side. It was keeping the spring together.

Getting past that I pulled the rear out, removed the leaf spring shackles and mounts, installed rear axle bump stops that were missing in the car. Luckily they’re the same as a Rambler and I have an extra set laying around.

I put a bunch of parts in the back of my daily VW to bring to work and clean on my breaks and lunches. I need to pick up a couple cans of spray paint and primer and next nice day I need to pressure wash the rear. I also found one of the new axle seals is leaking, Lucky me.

All in all it was good. Spent a couple hours outside and now when all the parts start rolling in I can get to rebuilding it all. Big plans for the car this summer. After seeing all this I might do the front suspension before I leave for South Bend.

Thanks for reading.