1986 245 nonturbo.

I am a wetplate photographer that goes to Civil War era reenactments to portray an itinerant photographer from that period. In the past Ive used my Jeep Grand Cherokee to haul some things and pull a small trailer with my gear. I no longer have the Jeep and this past weekend I used the wagon to haul my gear.

The problem I have is weight. I have to take all Im going to need on a weekend event with me when I go...tent/wooden tent poles, tent fly/poles, camera gear, darkroom, clothing, food, chemicals, cooler, 7 gallon water container....its lots of stuff and it adds up. The way I have it setup is most of it inside the wagon and the cooler and water container on a hitch basket out back.

This weekend I had a vibration, I think from the drive shaft/bearing/u-joint...something. It was worse from 35-55 mph...smooth before and after those speeds.

I unloaded yesterday afternoon and no vibrations today...none.

I am assuming that the weight is causing the angles on the drive shaft to get out of specs. To fix this, do you think I could use a coil spring spacer (those black spacers sold at Auto Zone) to limit the compression of the springs once the weight is added to the car?

I don't want to put in new overload springs as it would change the overall look of my wagon. It has the stock wagon springs (uncut) and stock springs up front with 2 coils cut.

So...anyone use those coil spring spacers? Think it could help limit the change in angle I experienced?

Thanks!

Chris
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Chris M. '85 245 w/ 414,765+ miles. ***SOLD***