name='StanIROCZ' date='Jun 8 2007, 01:01 AM' post='105512']
I'm just finishing up my DIY weight jacks. This is one of the many reasons why it is June and my car is still on jack stands.


I bought a bunch of parts from Stock Car products. Some of which I won't be using, so they are for sale if you want to take this on yourself.
4 - SCPSB57 Spring plate 5.5" steel (2 for sale)
2 - SCPSB18S Weight jack bolt 8" steel (for the rear) note, get 4" instead
2 - SCPSB16S Weight jack bolt 6" steel (for the front) note, get 4" instead
4 - 500TC815 Wedge Bolt, thrust bearing
8 - 500TWA815 thrust bearing washer
4 - SCPSB20 Nut wedge bolt
4 - SBB (I forgot to order this)
Total cost 147.48 + 10.23 shipping + the bolts that I forgot

you can see these parts at http://www.stockcarproducts.com/susp28.htm

It is fairly easy to copy GC's front weight jacks.

The very top is a 4" schedule 40 pipe (4" ID, ~4.5 PD) that I sliced and then spread open to expand it to a 5" OD. Instead of pipe you could uses some 3/16" x 1.5 or 1.25 stock and bend it to form a circle. Hindsight being 20/20, thats what I'd do.

Below that is a 5" spring spacer that I got from Coleman Racing. I had to drill a hole in it for the 7/16 bolt.

Not shown, but between the weight jack bolt and the plate a thrust bearing will go. I got it from Stock Car Products but I don't see it listed on the website. The guy on the phone sold it too me. Go to the link in my sig and you will see a pic of this.

Below that the weight jack bolt. It is 1-1/8" IIRC. In the picture is a 8" which is way way too long. The guy told me to get this, so I did. I think 4" will be enough. The bottom of this bolt has a 1/2" square hole so you can turn it with a rachet and extension.

Below that is the wedge bolt nut SB20 from SCP which is welded to the spring seat Part No SB57. Most of the nut is hidden in the spring seat (you only see the top of it). I had to hole saw a 1.75" hole in the seat to get the nut to fit. They come with a 7/16 hole since they are designed to be used on the opposite end of the way the jack bolt installed.


The rears are a PITA. The first problem I noticed was that the spring seat didn't do a good job of keeping the rear springs from falling off the edge.

Then I started doing math and realized that there will be a height problem if I want to us high rate springs, like 200 - 300 lb/in. If you are going to lower your PHB, you can significatly increase your rear spring rate. Higher rate springs don't compress near as much (duh).

stock spring
14x107 lbs/in. Assume 600 lbs of weight on each spring and your spring height at ride height is ~8"

The shortest pig tale spring that I could find is 9"
9x200 lb/in spring = 6" at ride height. If the weight jacker is built like it is for the fronts it will take away about 1.5" of height, so the total spring height is 7.5" which only leaves .5" to lower the car
9x300 lb/in spring = 7" at ride height + 1.5 =8.5 total height. Now I'm actually .5" higher than stock! Not what I want!

So I'm somewhat determined to make this work. I decided to "stamp" the plates that you see in this picture because I thought it might be fun, or something(?). These plates started as a sheet of 1/8" steel. I drew 6.5" circles in the plate and then found some misc circular objects that were the proper size and put it in a big *** press and pushed. They ended up being wavy, but I straightened them out. Then I had to cut the OD again because they didn’t shrink as much as I thought they would in the press.



The top plate fits around the stock spring seat in the car perfectly. The second one holds the spring and they fit inside each other so I don't loose near as much height. I'm going to drill a 1.75" hole in the car to allow the nut and the bolt to go up through the floor. I will adjust the jack from the top.



The GC rear perches sit on the axle and are made of aluminum (I think), and don't take away much height as-is.



So are you thinking "that's a hell of a lot of work"? Your right, it was, and there really isn't any particular advantage to what I did over the GC kit.
My costs were about probably about $175 for the jacks and $212 for the springs, so about $387. GC sells you the kit for $459? How much is your time worth?