Help!!! Do I have bad springs???

[erkitner]

Well, Gents, I'll be the first to say I know the 4G63 front to back and every square inch between. But sadly, I know absolute diddley about the suspension. Never had a problem with it, so never had to do research on it.

Straight up, I need some help.

After doing a TON of work to my car (6-Bolt swap, 2G head, rebuilt the entire drivetrain), I was driving to work this evening and noticed my car pulling quite heavily on the driver's side.

I work at Jiffy Lube, so when I got there, I got under the car to check my driver CV avle. I just replaced it 3 days ago and wanted to make sure it didn't separate from the half shaft. All was good.

I DID, however notice that the rubber boot area on the half-shaft side wasn't sitting level with the rest of the shaft. It was canted a bit.

Upon further investigation, I found that the drivers side was sitting significantly lower than the passenger side in the front ONLY.

The clearance between the top of the passenger tire and the fender-well is about 2 inches even. But the driver's side is like 1/4 of an inch! OBVIOUSLY BAD!!!

It's affecting my ride and WILL, with further driving, destroy the axle again. Needless to say, I will not be driving it until I fix it.

MAIN QUESTION: I have Eibach springs, the black ones. I'm not exactly sure what type that is. Again, I do engines. By no means am I also a suspension guru. The springs are fairly new. Like 3 years-ish. Came with the car when I bought it. What could cause this drop in the left side??? Do I need to replace the entire spring assembly? Or is it just a bad bushing, or something else? I have never diagnosed this issue and need to find where it failed so I can fix it.

Some preliminary diagnostic instruction would be most helpful.

Thank you, all.

DSM FOR LIFE!

- E

 

[PotatoFlakeSTi]

Blown strut. Easy fix. If you're on stock struts they all really need to be replaced if you're lower than stock.

 

[erkitner]

So replace all the struts? Okay I'll look into thst. But the springs should still be good, right?

 

[yayocc393]

Your springs should be perfectly fine but I would check over the passenger side one just to make sure everything looks normal, best of luck!

 

[erkitner]

Just looked over some tutorials on this job. Seems easy enough. I think I may have an outside shop swap the springs over for me. Apparently, it's pretty dangerous and could potentially ruin my day.

Thanks, all.

 

[mchustle]

Just looked over some tutorials on this job. Seems easy enough. I think I may have an outside shop swap the springs over for me. Apparently, it's pretty dangerous and could potentially ruin my day.

Thanks, all.

Honestly I would switch the springs yourself. It is very easy and you can rent a spring compressor from advance. You could easily change the fronts in an hour. All you have to do is take your time compressing and decompressing the springs and you'll be fine. That is just my opinion though.

 

[yayocc393]

Did you ever get it done? Like mchustle said it's not too bad, as long as you have a spring compressor. Keep us updated!

 

[laserspeeddemon]

I would check the conditions of your tie-rods, tie-rod ends, ball joints, wheel bearings and all bushings.

 

[91fwdnightmare]

if the strut has been bad for some time i would take the fronts out, set the springs side by side and do a height check to make sure you didnt compress that spring any, the eibachs have a 1000000 mile warrenty yes a million mile warranty so dont be shy on calling them and talking to them about replacement springs they take care of the people running there stuff.
If you replace the strut in the front you should do both and like the reply above me, check all the tie rod ends and the ball joints factory recall on the lower ball joints if the car hasnt been wrecked or anything strange take it to mitsu and have them replace those bad boys!

 

[seandog]

that a go warrenty

 

[Colt4G63 also]

Unless the spring perch is busted off the strut or something, I can't see why you wouldn't be changing the springs over the struts.

Honestly you should have it looked at by someone who knows suspension, because a lower ball joint that's about to let loose would give you about 1/2"-3/4" drop just before it lets go, or a rusted out strut tower could be causing it.

Struts however could be blown all to hell and not change ride height, unless they are physically broken, at which point I would think you would have noticed something just by looking at it.

 

[erkitner]

I would check the conditions of your tie-rods, tie-rod ends, ball joints, wheel bearings and all bushings.

So since I was going to do the struts, I figured I might as well do all the ball joints too. So I replaced all of the lower control arms and replaced the struts with KYBs as well as replaced all the bushings and hardware with all new ones.

No luck. Still low on the driver's side.

New springs are on the way.

 

[Tyeler18]

Since when do struts support the weight of a vehicle? I've got 4 completely blown (ZERO oil in them) struts in my GVR4 right now and it still sits at completely factory ride height. The springs are what support the weight, so the springs are what are you problem.

This wasn't directed at your Erkitner. You were given incorrect information.

 

[jayson427]

when you do the springs there are two different types of spring compressor tools. go rent the right one from autozone and it shouldnt be to hard at all. i usually use a vise to hold the shock and then remove the spring. if you havnt yet get on youtube and watch how someone does it then it will be a piece of cake. hope you resolve your issue

 

[erkitner]

Since when do struts support the weight of a vehicle? I've got 4 completely blown (ZERO oil in them) struts in my GVR4 right now and it still sits at completely factory ride height. The springs are what support the weight, so the springs are what are you problem.

This wasn't directed at your Erkitner. You were given incorrect information.

Thanks, Tyeler.

I bought my own spring compressor. It's really easy. The springs should be here on Monday or Tuesday.

I'll keep you all posted.

 

[erkitner]

Well, new springs are installed. Wasn't difficult at all. I was a little concerned with with the difference in ride height, still. The driver's side is about half an inch lower than the passenger's side. After a bit of reading, I guess it's pretty common in 2G's. Just normal wear and tear.

I also replaced the driver's CV axle since it got F'd when I orginally ran into the "slammed down" driver side and had to drive home. Crunch crunch. Good thing O'reillys has lifetime warranty on those.

Drove it for the first time on over 3 months. Drove great. Just need the alignment done, now.

Thanks all for your input.

DSM4Life!