front spring upper perch, help needed!

[SgtRauksauff]

So, I bought a clean SR5 coupe a couple weeks ago. got it running first, now addressing the suspension issues. there was a big clunking when turning, and I found that the previous owners had put lowering springs (orange, not megan, dunno what.) on, but did NOT put any upper spring seats (perches) on. so, the spring would pop and make noises when rotating over the bottom of the strut mount studs, or on the bottom perch where it would rotate.

I ordered some sr5 perches, and they came in today. I've had a GT-S for years, but have never seen stock springs installed on either model, so i was dismayed to find the new upper spring seats that I have will not fit the springs, because the springs have an upper coil that is much smaller than the rest of the spring.

I posted this over on hr.net as well, but there's a blizzard going on right now (Wisconsin) and I was hoping to get this done before the end of the day. so any help would be appreciated:

Ah, crap. So, I get the upper perches today... and guess what? apparently, the springs in here have the top coil smaller than the bottom. never having seen a stock top spring, I didn't even know to look for it.

I'm guessing the GT-S uses the smaller coil at the top, while the SR5 does not?
Are there any upper spring seats from any other cars that will fit the smaller top coil of a GT-S spring, other than a GT-S? Say, something common that O'Reilly's would have in stock??

Did I just waste the day taking this off in a blizzard just to have to put it back the way it was? I found my front set of stock GT-S springs, but I am NOT going to cut a coil off just to make this fit.

some pictures of this travesty:

The lowering spring on the strut. It's orange, but it is NOT a Megan spring. the part number on this spring is "0507AE86GF". I emailed support at Megan to see if they could get me specs on what I was working with, because I didn't recognize the part number from their catalog. They said "All of our lowering springs will have our logo on it. Without the logo it is very hard to say the lowering spring is ours. Please inspect all around the spring." Inspection shows nothing other than the part number. Anyone know what I might be dealing with here?


This is what the upper end of the spring looks like fitted to the seat. note that it does not actually fit:


In comparison, here it is flipped around, showing that the bottom diameter of the spring fits just fine!



So, if anyone's got any ideas that could help me ASAP, so I can put this back together by the end of the day, that would be great, yeah....


Thanks!

--sarge

[jondee86]

Under the circumstances, a temporary solution might be to just install the springs
with the small end down ? With a bit of some old rubber mat cut to fit underneath
the spring where it sits on the perch, and the bearing allowing the spring to rotate
at the top, it should work OK. Not ideal, but gets you mobile.

Cheers... jondee86

[SgtRauksauff]

yeah, I was thinking about it during the 2 hours it took to clear the snow from my driveway. better than nothing. I see it needs a new balljoint anyways, so this stuff will be coming off again, so maybe I can find good springs by then.


Thanks!

[Deuce Cam]

FYI the sr5 and gts spring tops hats are the same.

[jondee86]

Going by the part number, this is what you got...

Part 48471-41012 (SEAT, FRONT COIL SPRING, UPPER RH) was found on the following models:
TOYOTA CAMRY (HYBRID) ACV51,ASV50,AVV50
LEXUS ES250/350/300H ASV60,AVV60,GSV60
TOYOTA HIGHLANDER ASU40,GSU45
LEXUS RX300/330/350 MCU3*,GSU35
LEXUS RX270/350/450H AGL10,GGL15,GYL1*
TOYOTA HIGHLANDER, KLUGER GSU4*
LEXUS RX400H MHU38

©2016 ToyoDIY

So looks like you got sent the wrong part ? According to the interwebz you
need this part... TOYOTA 48045-12050 SEAT, FRONT SPRING UPPER found
in every kind of AE86.

Cheers... jondee86

[SgtRauksauff]

so, putting them on upside down seems to have worked for now. one strut is shot, one is almost there, and one balljoint needs replacing, so I'll do both pretty soon. But now I can turn the wheel and it's not retarded and klunking. didn't take it for a drive, it's about 4 inches of salty slush in the roads, and there are no fender liners.

put some rubber/cork pad on top and bottom to help reduce squeaks.


Finished:


Question involving the strut mounts. I know they're specific right and left. Does flipping them side to side do something to the caster/camber? The strut mount I took OUT of the right-front was towards the back of the opening, but both new strut mounts are towards the front. there's a difference of like 3/4 to an inch. I've only ever experienced my AE86 with camber plates, so I'm learning new things!

Yep, I also learned that I ordered the wrong part. They are supposed to have the cut-out to fit the flats of the strut piston, but they do not. yay. ah well, I need to replace both shocks anyways, and both balljoints, so I'll just try to get proper parts when that happens.

I think I probably was retarded when I ordered, and maybe typed the wrong thing in. and I know why. even though I was supposed to get 48045-12050, I got 48471-41012.

The reason is because the assembly number in the exploded diagram is 48471. When I found the part number, it was embedded in a button on the village toyota site. Here is the link



So, when I typed the search in Amazon (prime member, free shipping a lot of times), i plugged in the wrong number.

end of story: I need to pay better attention.

--sarge

[jondee86]

Question involving the strut mounts. I know they're specific right and left. Does
flipping them side to side do something to the caster/camber? The strut mount
I took OUT of the right-front was towards the back of the opening, but both new
strut mounts are towards the front. there's a difference of like 3/4 to an inch.

This is something that I had heard about, but never bothered to research. But now
that youbring it up I went looking, and found this bit of information from a guy who
knows what he is talking about.

Stock AE86 camber tops come in 2 different offsets.
4A-C and 3A-U with P/S have the high caster ones.
4A-C and 3A-U normaly have low caster ones.
But all 4A-GE models had the high caster ones, with or without P/S.

So possibly you had one GTS top and one SR5 top ?

Cheers... jondee86