FE-FC Holden Discussion Forum

Bought a set of lowering blocks today and didnt check the back end can anyone tell me what set up i have here , maybe LJ torrie? i am not too sure
                                    Cheers Rusty

another

The spring plates look like the HR diff setups in my cars.

Rusty, youve got an HR diff. LJ was a coil set up.
Colin

Rusty
       Yeah its a HR rear end, but if you lower the car how will it handle the jungle tracks from now on.hehe

Cheers
Sarge

so lowering blocks no good, have to get the springs done? How do i lower the back of this four wheel drive?
                             Cheers Rusty

Rusty, you should still be able to use the lowering blocks, you'll just need longer HT bolts instead of the U bolts. Otherwise, start looking for you nearest Spring maker. This will cut out the middle man, rather than going to a suspension shop.

Rusty, I had my HR rear end "Leaf Springs" sent off to Westralia Springs in Perth, and they pulled them apart, acid cleaned, then hot dipped them, and reset them 1" lower painted black and rebuilt with new nylon/plastic seperators and new eye rubbers all for about $170 or thereabouts.....no blocks, no ubolts, no messing around !

Look for your nearest dealer in the Yellow Pages !

Cheers

Mark

Industrial Springs here in SA built me a set from scratch for a tad over $400.
Lowered, Reversed eyes (allows further lowering if necessary), extra leaf etc,etc.

  Thanks for all your help guys i have decided after reading your comments to look for a spring place and doing it right , thanks again
                               Cheers Rusty

Hey Rusty.
Here's a shot of my lowering blocks.
I have HR rear and used the u bolts that came in the kit rather than the bolts between top and bottom plates. I thought these looked safer. They have spacers to ensure they do up evenly.  The rear does bottom out with a load at times and chews up bumpstops.....I removed the FC bumpstops from the body. The tailshaft hits the floor sometimes on those flat changes when the rear end twists.
Will your tyres clear the guards if you lower?
Regards
Alex

Iif i only lower it one to one and a half inches it should be ok , two inches and i will scrape i think , will drop the front first then even it up
                                             Cheers Rusty

         Just on lowering cars , when i am ready to drop the front two inches, will i need another set of smaller shocks or will the set i have in now be ok?
                                     Cheers Rusty

Rusty,
I have lowering blocks on mine - about inch and a half on the rear although FC rear not HR - however I noticed on the weekend that with adults sitting in the back my tyres rub on the guards.
No probs with the two kids in the back though.
I should mention that I have 15" dragways with 195 55 R15 tyres.
Hope this helps.
Regards
Tim

PS the photo

Tim, i have 13 " dragways with 225 x 60 tyres but i do have pump up shocks in the rear so i should be ok with passengers, Cheers mate thanks for info Rusty

gidday rusty

you could try pedders on burwood hwy in ferntree gully. they did some work on the springs in the HT and i have nothing but praise for them.

hope this helps


denis

I notice on Tim's pic he has an original rear end but there is no rubber between the lowering block and the diff housing.  Alex has a HR rear with rubbers between the block and housing.  I am going to fit some blocks over the next week or so and am wondering if I should dispense with my rubbers between the spring and the housing (same as Tim's) or not.  I know a couple of my rubbers are worse for wear so is there any problem getting rid of them rather than buying more?

i wouldn't run ANY rubber between the block and spring/axle tube.

when it wears, you could have a VERY dangerous situation on your hands.

solid mount the blocks and let your leaf springs do the work they were designed to do.

this is something I am also trying to decide on wich way to go.
before I had Hr diff housing and bottom plates but on windy roads my 185 tyres were rubbing on the skirts, next I put on HD rims wich helped a bit with there different offset but still rubbed on the bends when I was late for work.
Since the HR springs were wider than FC the housing was swaying from side to side so I tried a trick phill Illfeild told me about wich involved grinding the holes in a bit on the diff housing and using a FC bottom plate with U bolts.
This worked good for a while but then the lowering blocks started chewing through the rubbers.
I was thinking of rounding of the edges on the lowering blocks and filling them with bog but my uncle reckons I should get rid of the top rubber.
I dont really like the idea of getting rid of just one rubber as I reckon it would give a bit of slop without the other rubber pushing the other way, also my car doesnt exactly give a smooth ride in the back so I was worried that totally eliminating the rubbers could make it worse.

I first had 2" lowereing blocks but wasn't satisfied, still looked like a truck so I then got the springs lowered 3" and a leaf added and took out the blocks.
I still wasnt satisfied so I ended up with my blocks back in but after a while I wanted it lower so I had the eyes reversed and replaced the 2" blocks with 11/2 " and fitted air shocks hooked upto a cheap compressor in the back. The cheap compressor lasted about 1/2 a hour so I then bought a $95 compressor
this was the only way I could have it this low and still get in the driveway.
with the car completely down the tailshaft hits the floor when I take of and again when it goes into second so now I have cut the tunnel and openned it up a little to give the tailshaft more room, I was limited by the back seat since I have a wagon, but now after doing it I wish I had gone bigger and just modified the back seat.
bump stops seem to be disposable items on this thing.
it still doesnt look very low so I will now put some lakes pipes uder the sills, it will still leave the roof high but the bottom will look closer to the ground, I also will be slightly raising the front and maybe having the back a little lower than the front if it steers ok like that.