Firm Feel Leaf Springs; New Vendor

[dm330]

The shop I'm having upgrade the rear end on my car initially ordered springs from General Spring back in late April or early May, and after leaving calls and emails for an ETA that went unanswered, I offered to order from Firm Feel if I could get a time frame on when they'd ship out or arrive, to which the shop doing the work was fine with. I was told it takes about 2 weeks before they ship, but the following week I learned the order would take a little longer to fulfill, that they were talking with a new supplier due to shipping issues. Turns out their former supplier suddenly decided they did not want to ship the springs to Firm Feel's customers, but ship to Firm Feel instead, and have Firm Feel ship them from their facility. I placed the order on June 27th, a Friday.

So 2 days ago I called Firm Feel for an update and they said the deal with the new supplier had been finalized and they will order the new springs for my car tomorrow and leave me message on when they should arrive at the shop. Instead of coming from Vancouver, the springs will now ship in from Missouri. I'm not sure whether or not I'm the first customer to get these springs, but I'll be one of the first. My guy took the car in on Friday to begin dismantling the back end to clean up the parts he'll be swapping from my 7 1/4 to the 8 1/4 and as soon as the new leaf springs get installed I'll let you all know how they fit. Firm Feel said they went with a company that's been around for over 100 years and also said they're happy with the quality of their work.

 

[dm330]

Just about done. Sending the driveshaft out to be cut.

 

[AMC Diplomat]

Just about done. Sending the driveshaft out to be cut.

View attachment 56438

Looks good! Those ubolts look a little strange though

 

[Camtron]

Looks good! Those ubolts look a little strange though

Like they have a little splay in them? I thought that’s what I was seeing but figured it was just optical illusions

 

[AMC Diplomat]

Like they have a little splay in them? I thought that’s what I was seeing but figured it was just optical illusions

Like they're too long and they angled them to try and take up the length to make them tight

 

[dm330]

Different from the old ones for sure, I thought maybe the length was excessive, but that's not a big deal to me as long as everything works the way it should. They called me in about the driveshaft and I told them it needs to be cut and balanced to fit, so they're sending it out. Looks like about an inch needs to come off, not much. I didn't notice a splay in the bolts at the time, but I didn't wanna take up too much of their time either, but I'll get underneath to look some more, maybe take some more detailed pics when I get it back.

 

[AMC Diplomat]

Different from the old ones for sure, I thought maybe the length was excessive, but that's not a big deal to me as long as everything works the way it should. They called me in about the driveshaft and I told them it needs to be cut and balanced to fit, so they're sending it out. Looks like about an inch needs to come off, not much. I didn't notice a splay in the bolts at the time, but I didn't wanna take up too much of their time either, but I'll get underneath to look some more, maybe take some more detailed pics when I get it back.

you don't want any play in the u bolts.

 

[M_Body_Coupe]

Yeah, I'm with you guys on the U-bolt thing. Keep in mind, my definition of the 'proper' U-bolt is the flattened & serrated OEM setups...which I think have dried up a long time ago (I'm talking Mopar part# 3845264, U-BOLT, Axle U-bolt (clip), 4 3/8" length, 7/16 - 20 tpi).

Either way, these need to be tight and seeing as they have a bit of a lean to them I would worry about them straightening up all of a sudden and creating slack!!!

Have the shop explain this install to you and make sure it makes sense.