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Front dampers for Amazon w/ lowering springs

James M

James M

Unknown Member
Joined
May 2, 2017
Location
Davis CA
I've had a set of Classic Swede 60mm lowering springs laying around for my Amazon for a while and am hoping to install them soon. The site notes "Must be used with shortened front dampers" and he sells adjustable ones to match but I couldn't justify the price for a car that doesn't need adjust-ability.

I've measured stock ones and looked though a few hundred pages of monroe catalogs with no luck yet. Old threads seem to mention looking at 70s C10 units but I have yet to find any suitable ones.

TLDR- Anyone know a pair of shuts that work up front in an Amazon with a 60mm drop?

<a href="https://ibb.co/Fs0YTd9"><img src="https://i.ibb.co/M8G10Jb/PXL-20220202-230401819.jpg" alt="PXL-20220202-230401819" border="0"></a>​
 
Pull your old ones and take an extended and collapsed length and drop that by 60mm, jump on summit and grab a set of pinto/mustang competition engineering 3 step adjustable shocks, there’s like 4 lengths to choose from. They’re like 70$ Each, and soft seems good for stock springs, and hard is nice with what ipd used to call a sport spring.
 
cwdodson88 said:
Pull your old ones and take an extended and collapsed length and drop that by 60mm, jump on summit and grab a set of pinto/mustang competition engineering 3 step adjustable shocks, there?s like 4 lengths to choose from. They?re like 70$ Each, and soft seems good for stock springs, and hard is nice with what ipd used to call a sport spring.
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This is what I was looking into, thanks for the tip on pinto/mustang. I'm not really too concerned with adjustability I just don't want to bottom out the strut before the suspension. If I have to spend $140 it is what it is but I'm more interested in the TB approved price range if you catch my drift (OE replacement for some POS that cost $80 for the pair)
 
Let us know what measurements you find for the original compressed/extended length for your shocks are. Inquiring minds want to know for 100mm drop springs on a wagon (yes I know the rears are different).
 
vwbusman66 said:
Let us know what measurements you find for the original compressed/extended length for your shocks are. Inquiring minds want to know for 100mm drop springs on a wagon (yes I know the rears are different).
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100mm doesn't seem that big until you convert it to freedom units and realize that's 4 inches:omg:. When picking between the sizes I sure considered those, but hope this and maybe flipping the balljoints will get it low enough.

After looking over my pictures I might remeasure, not very accurate but I got ~15 inches uncompressed and ~9 1/2 inches compressed.
 
<a href="https://imgbb.com/"><img src="https://i.ibb.co/6BVpmf4/shockinfo.png" alt="shockinfo" border="0"></a>

Yeah I was definitely off far enough to need better info, either that or the pair I measured may actually work with these springs


OttoB said:
Chevy A body around late 70' early 80. Pretty close
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Those seem to all use a Tbar instead of two studs for mounting, not that It would be too hard to change the lower shock mount.
Monroe 5840 lists as 13.25" uncompressed, 8.75" compressed (1979 Monte Carlo)
Or the Cheaper 32132 with about the same measurements in a fancy blue color that you can buy at home depot
 
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James M said:
Those seem to all use a Tbar instead of two studs for mounting, not that It would be too hard to change the lower shock mount.
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You might find that when you remove the little shock cup mount on the LCA you end up with a convenient 2 bolt hole and with the right amount of wiggling and such that cross bar might just reach both holes. :oogle:
 
The 5840 lists the Tbar size as 2 7/16" from the center of each bolt hole, I have not measured the Amazon control arms but looking at them yesterday I'd guess they are wider?

Gonna get a measurement and see if there are bars available that are about the right size
 
I kinda wonder if Dodson is right. The 140's ran the t-bar style, control arm design is pretty darn similar from what I remember.

At some point I want to replace the Bil's on mine with something a touch softer, since the Bil's really are not well paired to lowering springs. Koni's out back are easy, 240 stuff works with minimal effort, and that made the ride and handling much better. I'm definitely curious to see what you find.
 
It’s really close. I can’t remember exactly what was on it, but there was a guy around Hood River Oregon that was running a Buick 3.8 and insanely low but good riding shocks on a 122. Had to have been close to 100mm drop, and it was on the stock spindles/brakes and cut ipd springs of some variety.
 
classicswede said:
going to ride terrible with all that pre load on the spring. Damper wants to be about 40mm shorter open length than original for use with 60mm lowering springs
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You guys should message me back about buying a set of 100mm wagon/estate lowering springs. I (vwbusman66@gmail.com) sent you a message last week through your website.
 
classicswede said:
going to ride terrible with all that pre load on the spring. Damper wants to be about 40mm shorter open length than original for use with 60mm lowering springs
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Straight from the horse's mouth. Thanks for the heads up, would have gotten them straight from you but the car isn't worth adjustable dampeners.

vwbusman66 said:
BTW the patina on this car is phenomenal.
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Thanks, I'm glad someone did a poor job of painting it a few decades ago so it looks cool now instead of a new half assed paint job.
 
You can unbolt the shock mount from the control arm, flip it to the bottom, and weld it on to regain the travel you?ll lose from lowering the car. Whether or not they?ll dampen properly is not something one can guarantee :-P

That being said, I?m using the 100mm lowering springs like this and I?m quite happy with it. There?s room for improvement but it?s good enough that I?m not going to mess with it or spend any more money on it.
 
AndrewNance said:
You can unbolt the shock mount from the control arm, flip it to the bottom, and weld it on to regain the travel you?ll lose from lowering the car. Whether or not they?ll dampen properly is not something one can guarantee :-P

That being said, I?m using the 100mm lowering springs like this and I?m quite happy with it. There?s room for improvement but it?s good enough that I?m not going to mess with it or spend any more money on it.
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I flipped and welded my mount. Does make a shock change a bit more cumbersome but you do get an inch of travel back. Another downside is it puts the shock stud one inch closer to the ground as well which you can shear off while pulling on to a soft shoulder with a decent drop, ask me how I know. :roll:
 
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