Mikey65

I finally got my Junk Yard Dog wheels from Newstalgia and have some questions on the fitment. The rear wheels are 17x8 with 5.5" bs and I knew I would have issues with the sway bar and possibly the rear spring. When I test fit the wheels today with the sway bar on it looked as if the rear spring almost fit. I removed the sway bar and have to do something about the rear spring now. The current spring is a VBP 330# composite. How do I know what length spring will work with my wheels so I can have VBP make one for me? Here are some pics on my wheels and tires so far.. and the conflicts:

macdarren

Nice wheel.

I have the same rear size and I ordered the VB spring one inch shorter. I think that is basically the only real choice, they didn't seem to offer a cut to length choice. The 1 inch shorter fits perfect, however if you don't have offset holes in the trailing arms the spring bolt might be a bit more angled than normal.

Shortening the spring changes the spring rate, so that I imagine is why they dont just custom build them. They know cutting off the inch increases the rate about 30lbs. Apparently they also measure spring rate on each spring and wacking a 330 makes it something they can measure and call a 360 which is one of their standard rates...at least that is my guess.

Mikey65

I called VBP and they said they could take 1" off both sides but that's the most they generally do. The more they do the more rough the ride.. I was planning on the 360# spring. How do I know how much I "bolt" the rear spring down (or up I guess)? How difficult is it to remove? I assume it is under tension, but I can actually jiggle it a bit and doesn't seem that tense with the rear in the air and the sway bar removed..

tdelph

It rides fine with the 1" off of each side. I used to have the 5.5" BS with off-set T/A's and everything fits pretty nice. The rear mono spring is very easy to remove. take the wheels off and the pressure off of the spring, un bolt everything, ship it back to VBP and reinstall later. Good luck

macdarren

I have a 360 lbs spring but they were sorta reluctant to shorten it after I had run it for years. I ordered a new 360 lb sping but specified it be shorter. They actually start with a lighter spring and shorten it the one inch on each end then retest it....mine new one came up around 355. I felt that was better than if they had shortened my original 360 and pushed it up to say 390...to me the normal length 360 was just about the right stiffness more might have been to harsh for me.