Well i was doing some traveling for work and noticed my truck wanted to roll over to the right a little more than usual, but i didnt think anything of it, thought it was just the crown in the roads.

Well i went to rotate my tires and give the front end a once over and this is what i found:



Passenger side, no one had one last night at 7pm but found a Ford dealer a half hours away in the same town my wife works in so she is going to pick one up for me, and guess what im doing tonight?

 

Damn. Did u notice any sounds/vibrations prior to your discovery? From the pic, the break looks old. Good luck w/ the repair.

 

Ya, i thought it looked like it was old, i did get rear ended back around christmas i just wonder if it happened then, and i did sort of feel like it would drift to the passenger side, and i was getting a slight vibe at 40-50, im sure this has something to do with it.

But with all the crap ive gone through with this truck, if it doesnt vibrate or drift, there must be something wrong.

Im just wondering also if this spring has been weak for a long time and cause some of my drifting to the right problem ive chased for 2 years.

 

xjcamaro89, when you get your new spring in and are up and running again, let us know if you still have the drifting problem. I just read an article 2 or 3 months ago on front end alignment that talked about your proablem. If it's still there, I'll go back and see if I can find it.

 

ok, im putting it in tonight.

 

HOLY SHEEP DIP! Dang XJC, I don't recall ever seeing a broken coil spring! Leaf springs sure, but a coil? You haven't been doing any monster truck car jumping, have you?

...I did notice when I was doing my actuators the coils on the front have a plastic coating (discovery upon tearing same). I guess that could hide a crack for a long time until it finally gave way.

 

Ok, replaced the spring last night. Im wondering if my problem with vibes and drifting has had to do with that spring being weak until it finally broke. Because i have had plenty of alignments and everyone says the truck is aligned perfect but it always drifts to the right and i have always adjusted my tierod ends, dirver side out a bit and passenger side in a bit so my steering wheel would be straight while driving.

Well after i replaced the spring i took it for a ride and and guess what it doesnt seem to be drifting anymore, and my steering wheel is cocked a little to the right from my tiny tie rod adjustments prior to this. and the drive seems to be a little smoother.

I have noticed that the front of the truck seemed to roll over a bit more than i thought it should before i replaced the spring, but never thought anything about it.

I think this might have been my problem i was chasing for a long time. i think the spring was weak for a long time and then it finally gave. I just hope it wasnt broke in February when i took a 800 mile trip for work.

 

Just another update, ive put a few more miles on the truck since i changed that spring, and i just have to say it has completely changed my truck, so far this has beent he best my truck has felt since i got it two years ago, and i dont know how many of you remember all my posts over the past year and a half going through alignments, tires, shocks, steering rack, and brake calipers chasing a drift. Ive really come to the conclusion that the spring was weak on the passenger side allowing the truck to put alot more weight on the front passenger side, rolling over easily, making it pull, and also giving me a vibe every now and then.

Also i noticed that a while ago i started getting a humming noise that i was really hoping that it wasnt a rearend hum cause i really couldnt pin point where exactly it was coming from, and i was trying to ignore it, but guess what it is also gone too, it had something to do with that spring.

I really wish that one of the many shops that i took it to over the past couple years over and over again would have maybe looked into that after i complained over and over again about the same problems. It would have been a quick easy cheap (compared to what i ended up spending chasing the problem) fix to the problem. Oh well. So maybe this will help some others out who might have a similar problem.

$79 and 2 hours of work would have definately been better than hundreds of dollars and years of problem.

At least the problem didnt ruin my tires

 

Wow...

I haven't been in this forum for awhile, but I've never heard of a broken coil spring before!

I agree with your thoughts, that break is OLD! There is no possible way this could have happened in a rear end accident. These springs carry lots of weight and handle shock loads everyday that are far worse than anything that could have happened in an accident that didn't cause direct damage to the spring.

The only thing I can think of that would cause this is a manufacturing defect in the spring. These things should NOT break like that!

Glad you got your truck running right!

 

I agree it is old but I know it hasn't been broke since I got it cause I've had everything apart several time in the past year and the last time I had everything apart to the point were I would clearly notice was august when I put new shocks on the front. And this truck is six years old with 90000 miles. But I also agree that it could have been a manufacturing defect in that it was a weak spring from day 1 and it just took this long for it give. That's my only conclusion because I don't off road or drive like a manic on rough roads. But also when I was in that wreck the car that rearended me pushed me with my brakes locked up into the truck in front of me. So the body shop did an alignment. And they didn't see it but if they didn't really look they probably wouldn't hae noticed either just like me.

I don't care at this point what caused it. I'm just glad it didn't fall apart and cause an accident. It was an easy fix that right now seemed to fix a lot of my problems

 

From the look of the pic, looks like it was close enough to the bottom that the spring was still carrying all of the weight, and probably wouldn't have been really noticable unless you were unsprung (read "airborne"), so chances are that it was that way for a long time, even through multiple alignments. I don't know about where you are, but a lot of shops I see are just idiots who've been taught to do one thing (usually with a computer), and would never look at that. Just quick check of alignment specs and shove it out the door. Glad to hear it drives better now, wonder how it could have happened? I would guess manufacturing defect too, I've never heard of one breaking shy of big air or serious overloading for a long time, or both combined!

 

You need to stop jumping bridges with the general lee. I have never seen a broken front spring before, and I have beat the holy living crap out of my older fords. I beat them up so bad, they littery leaned heavy to the left. Drivetrane never ever failed me though.

HAHAHA, a broken spring, that's a first. They usually fall off before they break.

 

Wow, and when my drivers front spring on my F150 broke I didn't think anything of it. 2004 F150 FX4. I replaced it earlier this winter. Looked like it had been broken for a while

I put in a used assembly. Hopefully this one doesn't break too.

I cant believe so many people have never heard of coil springs breaking. I mean between Taurus's (probably the worst car there is for broken coils), Focus's, Escorts, It feels like i've replaced a million of those thigns. Granted I was surprised to see one broken on a truck, but you see something new everyday.

 

I think this is strange i just had my driver side to snap,i didn't notice any drive difference anything that you discribed, what i want to know is what the diffeculty was in replaceing it?

 

Undo the upper ball joint, support the lower control arm when you do this. remove the big bolt and nut holding the bottom of the strut to the lower control arm, and then undo the 3 nuts on top of the strut tower, at that point lower the lower control arm so all the spring weight is off and slide out the whole spring and strut assembly. Either take it somewhere and have them compress it and put the new one in, or rent/buy a spring compressor to compress the spring so you can pulll the strut out of it. Then reinstall in reverse of the above. That is just the quick run down.

Ive had my front end apart so many times i can have it out, replaced and back in, in under an hour. But you have to have the right tools.