FE-FC Holden Discussion Forum

Hi all, I have noticed the rubbers on the front of the rear springs on my FC are worn out causing the rear end to hammer on corrugated roads. These were replaced 3 years ago with the rares kit  that included the bolt. The car has only done about 6000 miles since then. I remember they were quite easy to fit compared to the rear hanger rubbers which were the same size (also a rares kit that included the shackle bolts.). So the question is has anyone else had this problem? , were the original rubbers the same size front and rear? are there any better rubbers available?. Thanks, Jack.

Jack, if the front rubbers were the same as the rear ones and they were tight in the rear and loose in the front - I would say that your problem is that the eyes in the front of your springs are worn and this is causing the rubbers to fail prematurely.
You may have to remove the springs and check them to confirm this.

I have a set of good wagon springs here which would be of benefit on a sedan as well since they beef up the spring stiffness a bit.

Ken

i noticed mine (rare spares) were cracked up around the edges after about 6 months but before the car got on the road.
 also noticed my timing cover neoprene seal (acl) was splitting out around the edges before i got the new motor running, dunno if its the environment here or rubber and neoprene is worse now than it was or if rubber and neoprene doesnt like sitting around fitted to the car without being used

Thanks for that info Ken,
I never thought about the spring eyes, I will check next chance I get, It's a bit hard at the moment as I am using the car as my daily driver. Cheers, Jack

I don't know if it was a dud batch or not but i got out some neoprene ones i had in a box for a couple of years and they had gone all crumbly and just fell to bits when i squashed them with my hand, an easy way to fit the rear shackles is to fit a block of timber(70 x 35 pine stud works well) between the spring eye and chassis rail, put a jack under the diff/shocky mount and jack it up "slowly", as it goes up the spring eye will slide along the timber till it is in the right position to fit the shackle easily, when you let the jack back down the block of timber will just fall out, too easy.
                     Pedro

My front rubbers didn't last long either so I converted them to the EH type inner and outer steel sleeve with a rubber in between them they should last  10 years easy now  ......FC427.....