Help, noisy MII front end.

Have a TCI Mustang II type front end under my pickup and it's noisy as hell. Have around 2500 miles on it and the front end is still real stiff and I get a real bouncy ride out of it. Have a little 289 Ford in it with quite abit of set back and I am thinking about cutting a half to a full coil out of the springs to level out the lower control arms a little more as they still have a fair amount of angle to them. Wondering if that will soften my ride and I know I don't have spring insulators in the upper part of the spring and I believe that's where alot of the noise is comming from. So should I look for softer springs or start with cutting mine? And any leads on where to get the insulators would be cool to. Thanks..

 

Cutting the coils will likely make it stiffer. Try a set of springs from a 4 cyl Mustang II. Was it assembled with it up on jackstands? All the fasteners should be torqued with some wieght on it so it isn't preloaded in the up position.

 

You need softer springs for sure, do not cut coils. The rubber insulators should be in there

 

I just finished doing battle with a MII. I learned alot on this one too. Let me just list the concerns as I went.
1. The coil springs were rubbing on the upper spring "pockets", I found that rotating the spring slightly cured that, although the lower end was correctly orientated on the lower arm.
2. The stock MII shock absorber bushings at the top were out of place on one side and the shock shaft was contacting where it passed through the "hat". They were correctly installed in the beginning but the lower cross-mount was tweaked slightly causing a side-load on the shock which popped the bushings enough to allow that contact. Unbolting the lower and flipping it around relieved that.
3. The upper ball joints were in a mechanical bind causing a squeek because the "ball" was not centered, the stud was contacting the side of the ball joint cup. This was due to the tubular upper arms not having the correct angle when the chassis was sitting at curb height. This required removal and modification of the upper arms so that the ball joints were centered. A 20 degree bend of the upper arms was required to make this right. Of course the alignment had to be reset after all this.
4. A pop noise could be heard at times that came from the lower control arms (stock Ford parts)......tightening the through-bolts took care of that. If not tight the inner steel sleeve will move around and pop at times.

Most of this stuff may or may not apply due to all the different configurations and parts everyone seems to use these days. Hope something here might help.

 

Short list of springs and rates

Mustang II 4 cylinder is about 320-340 pounds per inch

Vega 4 cylinder is a bit softer at 300 pound per inch

Corvair works also and are even softer 250-275 pounds per inch

 

Thanks, I am going to start looking for some softer springs and insulators. It makes most of the klunking, popping noise when I hit bumps in the road which lead me to believe it was the lack of the spring insulators and too much spring rate, giving that metal to metal sound, it's driving me crazy. Thanks again.