Hi I have a cracked left front spring....the car still rides fine, except when i hit a big bump...which i am doing a good job avoiding...but just curious if i am doing another other damages? If the spring is cracked is most of energy being absorded by the tires? It is a 1985 xj6 series III

 

Yeah, driving with a broken spring doesn't sound good at all...possibly even dangerous.

When you are ready to replace it give a holler. Not a particularly pleasant job and lots of caution required.

Cheers
DD

 

Doug, would it be easy to replace the springs if the shocks were also being replaced on the same day? I'm having my shocks done and some bushings, would it be worth it to upgrade the springs? What brand do you recommend?

 

There's really not much labor overlap between springs and shocks.

I don't know of any upgrade springs for the Ser III cars but there might be some out there. Any good Jag vendor can get standard replacements, though.

What bushings are you replacing? If you're replacing the lower control arm bushings (big job) then the springs have to come out anyway.

Cheers
DD

 

well my spring was replaced months and i never got to drive her since...so i can't wait...my XJR goes in the garage friday and my XJ6 comes out...what a treat, i love going from a 2001 to a 1985...

 

The front springs normally break at the bottom coil, with a piece about 1 - 1.5" snapping off the end. This means the spring end is now resting on a much reduced seat area, so eventually, the spring will wear a hole in the seat, but the other important thing is the suspension will drop and the camber angle will now be wrong so tyre life will be considerably shortened. It's an MOT inspection failure point here in the UK, I don't know what you have each year in the US. No MOT certificate makes the car illegal to be on the road.

I replaced a front set on my old 1980 Series 3 in about 1996. It is a big job so I got a local Jaguar specialist to do the job. There are springs for V12s and the 6s, and they are different. Jaguar also used spacers to adjust ride height, so when you take the old springs out you will see how many there are. These were to compensate for variability in the springs, and there are normally paint markings to tell you what car they are for. I believe Jaguar graded the springs before fitment using a testing rig.

If you're doing the springs, it is probably worth doing the lower wishbone inner bushes at the same time; the top inners and both ball joints can be done with springs in situ, however, if they are worn out, (and the Slipflex bushes on the upper wishbone are notorious for seizing up), better to do the job in one go and be done with it ! Don't forget to use the XJ40 balljoints by Lemforder, they last forever, or almost !

Shocks can be replaced without spring removal.

 

hey BTW...my car rides great with the new spring...now my rear springs are in need of some replacing though :-)...