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Rear Spring Plates Identical?
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tonys1pr
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 27, 2016 4:15 pm    Post subject: Rear Spring Plates Identical? Reply with quote

Looking for some expert advice on the rear spring plates. I removed both of mine to replace the bushings which had worn badly. While the spring plates were off I decided to paint them both. I thought I had correct marked both as to which side they had been fitted to, but when I refit them they keep sliding off the ledge when I remove the compression to fit them.

I used new wolfsburg west bushings, they are correctly lubricated with talc and the covers are fully bolted down.

Have I fitted the spring plates on the wrong sides or am I missing something else
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67rustavenger Premium Member
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 27, 2016 5:59 pm    Post subject: Re: Rear Spring Plates Identical? Reply with quote

What year car are you working on? I'm not sure it makes a difference. I have a half torn apart car in the driveway. I'll have a look and get back to ya.
Good Luck.
EDIT
While there appears to be no difference between the two 67 spring plates on my car, I cannot stress the need to mark them before you remove them from the car. You do this by using a chisel and making a notch in spring plate where the axle housing has been notched at the factory. That way everything will line up when you re-install the plates and axles.
Someone here will have the information that you seek.
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tonys1pr
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 27, 2016 6:42 pm    Post subject: Re: Rear Spring Plates Identical? Reply with quote

My car was built in June 1966. I have correctly indexed the arms and torsion bars for 17.5 degrees after the previous owner had set them to approximately 11.0 degrees. How the arms are fitted at the moment, when viewed from the rear they appear to tilt towards the outside of car at the bottom, which is why I suspect I may have fitted them on the wrong sides.

The body and pan are currently separated, making it a PIA to keep compressing the arms to install and remove. I finally broke down and have just ordered the VW spring plate tool to make this easier, but am looking for some confirmation that the spring plates are handed for the side of the vehicle.
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61SNRF
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 28, 2016 4:39 am    Post subject: Re: Rear Spring Plates Identical? Reply with quote

The parts catalog only shows one part number for the spring plates (111 511 205B) so they yes are identical.

Probably not going to hurt anything swapping them side to side now, but for optimum results, once they have been "ran in" it is desirable to refit them to their respective side again.
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tonys1pr
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 28, 2016 5:50 am    Post subject: Re: Rear Spring Plates Identical? Reply with quote

Thanks Bruce.

I tried to confirm whether the part numbers were the same, but my usual reference on partsbase.org seems to be offline this week. Hope it comes back up soon, as the illustration reference was useful for identifying where the previous owners had omitted washers and other fasteners over the life of the car.

I going to try swapping the arms over and see if this corrects the problem. I'll update once I get my VW tool in the post.
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jason
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 29, 2016 6:32 am    Post subject: Re: Rear Spring Plates Identical? Reply with quote

They are like the leaves. They get twisted the same way over the years. If you flip them or the leaves there is a chance they will crack. Thats why they say not to change their orientation. I read that in a manual just cant remember which.
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Bruce
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 29, 2016 12:26 pm    Post subject: Re: Rear Spring Plates Identical? Reply with quote

jason wrote:
They are like the leaves. They get twisted the same way over the years. If you flip them or the leaves there is a chance they will crack. Thats why they say not to change their orientation. I read that in a manual just cant remember which.
This is not true. The spring plate is not a spring. It's just a connecting link that someone tacked the word "spring" to.
There's no need to mark them L or R. If there was a need, VW would have done that, just like they did with the torsion bars.

If the OP above takes them apart and changes them, he's wasting his time.
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jason
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 29, 2016 8:53 pm    Post subject: Re: Rear Spring Plates Identical? Reply with quote

Are they sprung steel, I think they are. If they weren't they would crack quick like. It's in their name spring plate. If he did change them back and they fit right, that would be a waste of time?
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Volktales
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 29, 2016 9:16 pm    Post subject: Re: Rear Spring Plates Identical? Reply with quote

Under normal conditions I cannot see how a spring plate could deform permanently to make the way it "fits" different from side to side. If it was severely lowered previously, then could the spring plates possibly deform permanently from running in a position for which they were not really designed??? Either that or is the "ledge" or stop they rest on worn or damaged?
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Bruce
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PostPosted: Sun May 01, 2016 1:57 am    Post subject: Re: Rear Spring Plates Identical? Reply with quote

jason wrote:
Are they sprung steel, I think they are.

They aren't spring steel. Guys have been welding on them for years with success. If they were spring steel, the weld would destroy the tempering and they would crack at the weld very quickly. This doesn't happen because they are just mild steel.
Steel can be deformed repeatedly indefinitely without cracking as long as the deformation is well below the yield point.
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anthracitedub
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PostPosted: Sun May 01, 2016 6:34 am    Post subject: Re: Rear Spring Plates Identical? Reply with quote

I think once you tighten them to the axle tubes, it will hold the plates over to the stop so they won't pop off. Curious to see how well the WW bushings hold up.
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