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I was down under the car working on stuff and noticed these clamps, one on each front spring. I presume these are there to stiffen the ride, but why? This car ('73 Delta 88) is supposed to be a living room on wheels. Why would you want to stiffen the ride on a car like this? Is there another reason why someone might put them on?
I bought this car is the spring of last year, but I only just now noticed these clamps. (Yes, I'm THAT observant!) They look like they've been there a while.
The car sits nice and level, and the ride is fine. I don't see a reason to remove them, but what would happen if I did? The front of the car might ride a little higher? Or have the clamps been in place so long that some stress relaxation in the springs has taken place, and the springs will keep the same position even without the clamps?
Imagine going around an exit ramp, merging into traffic, then one of those bolts snaps. The car's attitude suddenly changes, possibly crashing you. I wouldn't trust them as far as I could throw them.
Removing them is the absolute minimum suggestion. I'd replace the springs, but I also only have a gut feeling of what the metal has endured while driving around with 2 coils clamped together. Seems like a solid recipe for unexpected, rapidly occurring events.
I wouldn't be taking the springs off, just the clamps. With all of that extra length on the bolts holding the clamps on, I assume I could slowly loosen the nuts on the bolts and let the spring slowly uncompress as much as it wants to until the clamps are hanging loose and then just take them off.
If I decide I want the springs replaced, I'd have a shop do it. That's a bit more than I'm comfortable doing.
There's got to be a reason those clamps were put on, and I can think of a few that would equal the springs being bad. Did you look at the rear springs as well?
If the springs were bad, how would this clamp help anything? Especially since there's a clamp on each side in the same place. It looks more like an attempt to either lower the car or stiffen the ride or both.
I have the car on lifts to work on the front brakes, and I'll look at removing these clamps while I have the opportunity.
The rear springs look fine. There are no clamps, and they look much newer. They may have been replaced at one point.
I bet the previous owner wanted to lower it. The rear springs swap very easily so they probably started with the back. Once they got to the front they found out its way harder to swap the fronts and put the clamps in instead. Just a guess..
Sometimes if the chain of ownership is disrupted, the reasoning behind the weird things that are done to a car over a 50+ year history must remain a mystery.
Actually, I do know the entire ownership history. The first owner kept the car for 15 years, selling it in 1988. She died in 2013. She was a 50-year-old mother and housewife when she bought it, and I would think she' s not a likely suspect for wanting to give the car a more aggressive stance.
The second owner had the car until 2000. I've been in contact with him. I sent him an email asking about the clamps as it seems he's the most likely candidate for having put them on. Haven't heard back from him yet. The third owner and immediate past owner is now in his late 80s and kept the car only as a showpiece, putting almost no miles on it during the 23 years he owned it. I doubt he would have done it.
I was under the car just this morning, and I found the nuts holding the clamps in place impossible to break free, at least at first attempt. I could soak them in PB Blaster or whatever and keep at it, but I'm kind of inclined to let sleeping dogs lie. The car sits level and rides fine. Replacing the front springs is not something I can do at home. For now, I think I'll leave things as they are.
I heard from the second owner (1988 to 2000). He says that he didn't have them put on or put them on himself, and he doesn't know if they were there while he owned it. They're not something you see unless you're under the car, and he likely had all service done by repair shops.
Like I said, I doubt it was the most recent owner before me both because he hardly drove it and because the clamps look so old. I wouldn't expect them to be as aged and rusty as they are if they were installed in the last 20 years, and the car was rarely if ever out in wet weather.
I'm going to guess it was done while the first owner had it, and it was probably a quick fix by the dealer or a repair shop to correct the stance and make the car more level. It would have been much cheaper and simpler than installing new rear springs.
When/if something breaks, I'll fix it. The bolts, nuts, and clamps, while rusty, are still solid and have likely been on the car for 40 years or more. They'll certainly fail at some point, but probably not tomorrow.
Big seller for JC Whitney, back in the day we either cut the coils or used clamps, the ‘Rake’ was the thing…
As I said above, the most likely candidate for having these installed is the first owner, a woman who was 50 years old when she bought it in 1973 and 65 when she sold it in 1988. Why would a middle-aged woman care about "the rake."
As I said, I think this was done for a more practical reason, but I can't figure out what it might have been.
Before applying PB Blaster, a wire wheel on a drill would help remove most of that rust below the nuts.
Perhaps, but it's a tough spot to access and it's difficult enough to get an open-end wrench in there and on to the nuts. It doesn't look like it would be easy to get a wire wheel attached to the end of a drill in there, especially around to the back side of the nut and bolt.
If I ever decide I want them out, I will likely take the car to a repair shop and have them remove them. I wonder if they would just resort to cutting through the bolts.
I wouldn't be taking the springs off, just the clamps. With all of that extra length on the bolts holding the clamps on, I assume I could slowly loosen the nuts on the bolts and let the spring slowly uncompress as much as it wants to until the clamps are hanging loose and then just take them off.
If I decide I want the springs replaced, I'd have a shop do it. That's a bit more than I'm comfortable doing.
Not knowing exactly where you are in Michigan, I'm outside of Toledo and would be willing to help you change the springs and save you to money that a shop would charge. You buy lunch lol.
