Okay, so I finally got a set of temporary axles to set up the car to go to the body shop.
We re-assembled the rear end, new springs, shackle kit, bushings, etc. When we lowered the car down on the tires it sits up very high in the rear!
A little backstory on how we assembled everything.
We first attached the front of the leaf springs to the brackets and tightened the bolts up until the bushings compressed tight.
We then dragged the rear end under the car and set it on the springs.
We then lifted the rear of the leafs (with the housing sitting on the leafs) to the rear brackets and inserted the bolts and tightened them down until the bushings compressed tight.
We then mounted up the rear end to the shock brackets and pads and tightened all bolts down.
I then subsequently read that everything should not be tightened until the car was sitting on the ground under load. My question is...if I simply loosen all bushing bolts will this help the springs and bushings give some and maybe settle a little more? Is it as simple as that? Should I put a little pressure from my own weight on the rear as the bolts are loose to give the bushings some help? Or will the weight of the car itself be enough? It seems to me that this can be done safely while laying under the car, just don't remove any of the bolts.
My car is basically a skeleton right now. No engine, tranny, gas tank, interior, doors, fenders, hood, trunk lid, is installed. Simply a subframe up front on tires. I know that this is a lot of weight removed from the car but it still looks very unnatural and it worries me a little bit.
Before we removed the rear end and old springs the car was sitting pretty low in the rear and was sagged a little on the passenger side. But this was in a skeletonized state as well.
