Why does a project car on jackstands (in this case, a lift) need tender springs?

I spy with my little eye a Ron Sutton sticker on those ride tech shocks:goggles:

It doesn't but assuming he has it set where he is going to drive the car I don't think he should leave it in this condition.

Don

.....and I am assuming that since it is a project car, it is far below finished weight........

Weight has nothing to do with my problem, and I will still have the problem every time I want to lift the car on my 2-post lift once the car is finished. When the car is lifted up from the frame, the rear drops until the shocks/springs are completely unloaded and the rear is hanging from the fully extended shocks....the 4-link allows for this, which is different than when the car still had leaf springs. Leaf springs will only allow for limited sag of the rear axle when the car is lifted...no where near the limit of the shock. I've had steel tubing to take the place of the shocks when mocking things up.

It's perfectly fine to hang the rear end from the shocks. They can take it.

You should not have a free spring when the car is off the ground. . .there should always be a slight bit of preload.
5.2" stroke shocks use either a 10" or 12" spring. If for whatever reason your spring is not preloaded at ride height (make sure the shock is roughly 14.5" from eye-to-eye at ride height) we have 12" springs that can be used, or we have a drop spring cap to take up some slack.

Can you tell me the measurement of the shock at ride height?
How about the spring free length?
How about the spring rate?

I have been around and around with this discussion with my G-Link. I first installed a set of Speedway Motors take up springs similar to those listed earlier. This kept the main spring in place at full drop but once I installed the exhaust the full drop would allow the drive shaft to come in contact with the mufflers. At that point I had to install limit straps similar to the ones listed at the beginning of this thread to limit the shock extension to 14". I currently still have both devices installed in the car.

Take up spring
http://www.speedwaymotors.com/AFCO-2...ing,24622.html

OP, it seems you have two concerns.

1. The rear end hanging from the extended shocks. Like Marolf said, non issue. The shocks are perfectly capable of supporting the weight and there are hundreds of OEM applications where the shock runs out of travel in extension before the spring or suspension does.

2. The spring unloading from the seat. This is common as well, see above posts.

I have no idea what state of build your car is in but I assure you, weight has everything to do with it. If you are missing glass, upholstery, fuel, etc you will not have enough weight to load the spring properly at ride height. When all of that weight is added, you will need to adjust the spanner nut to preload the spring to get ride height back. At that point, you may find that you don't have a problem at all.

^^^^ this!

Now we won't say donny is smart....he's just not stupid lol
He is right thou