Can a car still be moved about without any springs on it?

Phate

Phate

Phate

Caporegime
Joined
1 Nov 2003
Posts
35,691
Location
Lisbon, Portugal
A guy has asked how much for the springs off my car I'm breaking. The car is just a rolling shell that's gradually being stripped so it's not being driven.

If I took the springs off would I still be able to push it about?

Sorry for the noobness :)

Thanks,
Jake
 
Should rest on the bump stops (not the dampers), hopefully with the floor off the ground and the tyres off the top of the arches. If not, padd the bumps stops out with something, it'll still roll about.
 
Sin_Chase said:
Yeah it will roll, what it will do to your dampers is a different question though! (I have no idea)
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Ok so to save risk damaging them would I be better off just taking the dampers off and rolling it about? Assuming this is possible?
 
Phate said:
Ok so to save risk damaging them would I be better off just taking the dampers off and rolling it about? Assuming this is possible?
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I'm pretty sure the dampers form an important part of your front suspension, similar to, but not a McPherson strut IIRC.
 
Phate said:
Ok so to save risk damaging them would I be better off just taking the dampers off and rolling it about? Assuming this is possible?
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No, it'll all just collapse onto the wheels. The dampers will at least hold the body up a bit (once they've compressed fully - the springs stop that from happening)
 
Howard said:
No, it'll all just collapse onto the wheels. The dampers will at least hold the body up a bit (once they've compressed fully - the springs stop that from happening)
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Ok cool stuff :) - Thanks for the info :)
 
Howard said:
Not sure I'd advocate it unless you're not fussed about damaging the dampers, though
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I'm not overly fussed about the dampers tbh. Most ZS owners if they ever need to replace, replace with coilovers. They are very good and hardly ever need replacing so they aren't worth much to be fair...
 
Depending on the rear suspension arrangement i'd say with the springs removed the car will simply rest its wheels against the body (as in you can't move it), the bump stops might take an effect if you have a rear beam.

However more to the point, selling the springs is one of the last jobs to do when breaking a car, you must be getting about £30 for them or something, its simply not worth the effort of taking them off, refitting the struts then having a car you probably can't move.
 
If you've got dry storage, you might as well strip all what you can off as soon as you can and get the reamining chassis sold/scrapped. Removing suspesnion bits would be the last bit really, unless you can put the car on stands out the way somewhere.
 
The ZS being MG/Rover is almost certainly going to be trailing arm, isn't it?

If this is the case, the chances are, it won't roll the the rear springs removed.
 
Dup said:
If you've got dry storage, you might as well strip all what you can off as soon as you can and get the reamining chassis sold/scrapped. Removing suspesnion bits would be the last bit really, unless you can put the car on stands out the way somewhere.
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Yeh we've got stands and space so will most likely do this. If we need to move it any further than a few feet we've got the forklift anyway.
 
Firestar_3x said:
Depending on the rear suspension arrangement i'd say with the springs removed the car will simply rest its wheels against the body (as in you can't move it), the bump stops might take an effect if you have a rear beam.
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If the tyres hit the bodywork before the bump stops did anything there wouldn't be any point in having them fitted.

Remove the springs and the car will sit on the bump stops. It will obviously be very low however, so if it's on uneven ground the chance are parts will ground out if you move it around.
 
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