I have a '73 Challenger with a pretty stout 360. I was having cooling problems so I didn't drive it much. Now that the cooling is under control I have been driving it a bit more getting on it pretty hard once in awhile without any problems. Saturday I took it out but this time I had one person in the passenger seat and two in the back seat. I got on it really hard and it felt like something was hitting the floor pan, kind of like a cam lobe(bang, bang, bang). I slowed down and hit it hard again, same thing.

So I drive home and put the rear end up on stands and have a look. I see the balance weight on the rear of drive shaft has a small shiny spot on the side in the direction of forward rotation and a small spot at the top of the hump in the floor pan right above it. I also saw that some of the dirt on the drive shaft is wiped off as if you were to take your finger and lay it on the shaft and spin the wheels, and a small shiny spot on the top of the hump right above that.

This leads me to believe that I'm getting axle wrap to the extreme.

The springs are OE XHD Mopar springs which are about 12 years old but don't have more than 1000 miles on them. They don't have much arch to them with weight on the axle and the rear shackle looks like this _\ with the spring eye very close to the rear valence.

I need some opinions and suggestions. I am unemployed right now so money is tight. Let me here what you guys think I need to do. Thanks in advance.

Does it currently have a pinion snubber? If nont its easy to make one with some tubing etc... Adjust it to where its only about a 1" or so from the stop on the floor board.

With the 2 extra butts in the back you really lower the
body and with springs that are flat the U-joint/yoke
was damn near touching then you added the roll up of
the rear... take your car to a spring shop and have them
re-arched... shouldnt cost much at all... then you wont
have some snubber ripping a hole through the floor pan

I had the rear springs rearched on my old truck & they added a leaf for about $300 and that was with them doing all of the work.

Let me clarify. I can afford a new set of springs but nothing like the Cal-tracs stuff.

Should I go with the SS springs as this will be mostly street driven with a track visit once every few years or ??????

Just find a pinion snubber for the rear end. It will solve your problem.

MR_P_BODY I hear ya on the re-arching but if these springs did this with hardly any miles it makes me wonder if they will do it again and then I'm in the same boat in a very short time.

As far as just putting a snubber on it' at this point that seems like a band aid for a problem I will have to address down the road.

Yes as a matter of fact I was looking at them very closely and they were made in Mexico. If I get a new set of the OE XHD are they of a better quality now?? Thanks for the help!

I ordered another set of the XHD from Mancini. They told me they have had no problems with them. Let's hope this is true

My son had the OE springs rearched on his 62 300 probally 10 years ago.They added a leaf also.They still work better than any new spring you can buy.Im on my second set of SS springs on my 65 B body.This time I added a extra main and clamped them.Rocky

Well, the original springs are long gone so I don't have too many other choices unfortunately.

i will thro my 2 cents in ,i would go to naps/oboys /advance, etc
get you a pair of load helper shocks, they are shocks that have a spring on them that add app 1200 # of load cap
my 75 road runner was a 4000 # whale, with super stock springs for a 3800# car, i put those on it straightned the car up rode great, my 60'
went froma 2.03, to 1.78 /1.83 and best of all you dont see anything , and cost about 69$
just my 2 cents have a great day!!