I am in the middle of replacing the rear leaf springs which I thought would be a straight forward job but have hit a hurdle.
I thought I would fit the rear eyelet into the axle first then jack up the front of the spring onto the front mounting plate and then just bolt in the centre plate but the rubbers are sitting to far forward to allow me to fix the centre plate .
So I have had to fit the centre plate in position first then jack up the rear eyelet into the axle and fix then jack the front onto the mounting plate, does this seem correct as only the front half of the spring has any movement for deflection and buy jacking the rear eyelet into position is that not putting a lot of extra pressure on various components around the axle ?
The springs where purchased from BCC and measure the same as the old ones so surely must be correct size unless the old ones where incorrect as well.
Many thanks for all comments and help.

 

Normally you would attach both springs to the axle, but not tighten up the bolts, Locate the front spring pads on their reaction plates at the front of the spring hangers then jack up the assembly until you can attach and bolt up the middle plate with its rubber pads. Having loosely bolted up the shocks at their top mount, you can then also attache them at the bottom on the axle. When it's all assembled, attach the Panhard rod. Once the road wheels are on, get the car up in the air but on its wheels, and tighten all the securing bolts. It's a long time ago, like about 1985 that I did this and I hope my memory is OK.

 

If the centre rubbers are too far forward with the rear eyelets attached to the axle, this implies to me that the axle is rotated and the pinion shaft is pointing upwards.
I would like to know your reaction to the BCC springs since I am considering buying a pair.