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rear springs are different lengths ?  Rate Topic 
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 Posted: 03-22-2020 04:06 pm
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Ralph H
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Location: 1974 Jensen Healey # 15681, New Brunswick Canada
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Hi all
I am just putting the rear axle back in the JH after replacing all suspension bushings, shocks, spring seat rubbers etc. I have two sets of rear springs to work with from two 1974 low mileage cars (40k my rebuild car & 50K my parts car) and notice that the springs sets from each car are not the same length as each other with about 15 MM differential. both have a longer and a shorter spring. The driver car I am rebuilding had a longer spring on the drivers side than on the passenger side, I am not sure which side the springs came from on my parts car. I did not have any noticeable lean prior to starting this rebuild.
So I See several scenarios
1. replace the rebuild car original springs as I found them.
2. swap sides using the rebuild car original springs
3. make up a new set with one from each car and replace with a set of springs the same length.
3A longer or 3B. shorter.
PS I have read every thread on rear springs on this forum and not seen any mention of this issue. although there are several threads about "lean". :)

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 Posted: 03-22-2020 09:24 pm
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mtechwim
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I did my springs last week, replaced them for a set new ones from MR.
I did a check for you on my old original springs, and there I no noticeable different in spring length on they old ones ( may be 2 miliimeter) .
The length of my springs are 26,8 cm drivers side 27 cm passenger side.
These length is without the top mount.

My car is from November 1974 left hand drive US version. The car has about 40 k miles on and the springs look from first mount.
The dampers were once replaced for koni dampers I’ll guess.

The new ones are the same, since there is no different order nr for the springs.

I would mount springs with the same length any way, the shorter ones wil drop the car a bit.

I took down the rear US bumper and the car came up on the rear about 15 mm.

Last edited on 03-22-2020 09:33 pm by mtechwim

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 Posted: 03-22-2020 11:39 pm
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Ralph H
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I opted to go with original driver car longer drivers side and the longer spring from the parts car set for two the same length on the longer side. time will tell

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 Posted: 04-22-2020 07:33 pm
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noomg
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Ralph,

When I rebuilt my rear suspension I don't recall the springs being different lengths, however since the J-H has a tendency to sag on the driver's side(left)I think I'd put the long one on the driver's side and the short one on the other just to see how it sits.

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 Posted: 04-22-2020 08:20 pm
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Ralph H
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The difference was marginal but noticable so with two the same length should buy me a few years of sag free driving. wish "my body" parts were as easy to replace as the JH.

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