A bad day!!
 

Installed a new front spring only to find the drivers side not aligned with the perch(front to back) off by 1". Shackle goes through perch fully but not spring eyelet. Passenger side OK, center bolt in crossmember hole, and wishbone rear mount left in place,
Any thoughts before I go to far? I attached a pic of this issue

Re: A bad day!!
 

Do you know if car was ever in a front end accident?

When I had our front end rebuilt. We installed a new wishbone, old one was damaged were it connected to the front axel on drivers side.

Long and short, axel was bent too. Had axel taken care off, everything now fits fine.

Your axel, wishbone, and old spring could be bent.

Re: A bad day!!
 

Don't know if it was in accident, overall in great shape

Re: A bad day!!
 

If the spring is mounted in the crossmember with the u bolts, take the u bolts out and then see if you can mount both shackles.

Re: A bad day!!
 

What Will said.

Re: A bad day!!
 

Yes, the U bolts we tightened 1st and then I went to shackles,

the axle and wishbone look in good shape(undamaged) and the old spring was fine front to back (shackles were bolted up fine, old spring & axle does not look bent or twisted)

I can try dismounting u-bolt and then mount spring to axle with shackles the lift into place

Re: A bad day!!
 

Attach the front end first then put the spring in the front cross member. JMHO

Re: A bad day!!
 

Thanks for the feedback.

I will remove U-bolts and lower axle with Jack. probably remove wishbone rear mount as well.

Assemble shackles to spring with spreader and hopefully everything will bolt back up!

Re: A bad day!!
 

Aren’t these 92 yr-old cars fun to work on! :)

Re: A bad day!!
 

This is worth a try . Back off the clamp bolts to the last thread . Disconnect the right brake rod . Disconnect the the connection at the bell housing . As long as the car is secure and on stands see if you can pull the A frame to align the axle .If you can then fit the shackle bolt everything back together . You have only replaced the spring like for like so in theory it should go back together as before .

John in very cold evening Suffolk County England .

Re: A bad day!!
 

I am sorry but I have to again add my two cents.

Changing the front spring should not be difficult. If everything is in order, old spring should just be disconnected from car and axel. New spring reconnected to car and axel. That’s really it.

I am not trying to be a Debbie Downer, but I think you have other things going on here.

I did not know of the problems I had either. Nor did the mechanic who was doing the work. It wasn’t until things would not go back together that we realized we had some other issues.

Even with the front end completely apart things were not obvious. Especially the bent wishbone.

Good luck.

Re: A bad day!!
 

Thanks for all the feedback,

the problem was resolved by removing U-bolts, dropping axel, and assembling shackles 1st. Axle was then jacked up and U-bolts assembled.

You would think it would not matter, but it did in this case,

Thanks again,

Re: A bad day!!
 

Until you determine why it would not go together, the problem is still there and will show it's ugly head down the road.

Re: A bad day!!
 

I can’t tell from the picture, but if the spring shackle bowl is short, then you just use a spreader to make it fit. Now you have the spring on, get a magnetic carpenters angle Reader, and measure your castor on the axle. Theyre just a few bucks at your local hardware home improvement center, and they work great. Off the top my head you should have about 5° castor, with 1 1/2 ° accepted difference.
Reason I say to check this, is because some springs are too stiff and it will raise your front end up too high and change your caster and it won’t drive right.

Re: A bad day!!
 

Good point, the car does seem to sit a bit higher in the front, worth a check

Re: A bad day!!
 

When you re-assemble things do not drop the wish bone off of the bell housing. You may have trouble getting that aligned enough to start the nuts on the studs. You might loosen things a bit but keep it together. Access will be difficult under the car to do any alignment. Ed

Re: A bad day!!
 

Thanks Ed, that is exactly how I proceeded, went together well and back on the road!