Safe storage

[jknappster]

Living here in Minnesota, the viper will be in storage for several months. My question: if stored on a two post lift (wheels hanging freely), is this damaging to the vehicle?

 

[BlknBlu]

I have always been told not to leave the suspenions on cars just hang. When you leave it with a load on you may get flat spots on the tires but I just move the car around once in a while. A battery tender and Stabil fuel stabilizer is a must for these snakes.

Bruce

 

[Martin]

As long as you're supporting the car from approved jack points, it's actually good to have the weight off the wheels while in storage. Also make a practice of turning the wheels through a few rotations every month or so - that keeps the gears in the rear end from rusting.

 

[Martin]

I have always been told not to leave the suspenions on cars just hang. When you leave it with a load on you may get flat spots on the tires but I just move the car around once in a while. A battery tender and Stabil fuel stabilizer is a must for these snakes.

Bruce

Did anyone ever say why it's bad? The way I learned was that keeping the weight off the wheels helps to keep the springs from sagging over time. Might have been bad advice, though - I know it didn't do a damn bit of good for my ****...

 

[okloneranger]

In the last week or so somebody posted a thread that had drive up ramps for changeing oil. If you look deeper into the site of the outfit selling the ramps, they also sell blocks (some kind of 'plastic') that has the dished in curve for tires (so they don't flatspot) and the tires are also off the cold floor. The stuff wasn't cheap but looked like it worked well. If I find it again I'll try to post it.

 

[okloneranger]

It's raceramps.com

 

[jknappster]

I also saw those at race ramps. I'm in the market for a lift and it would be nice to address two issues at the same time.

 

[2000_Black_RT10]

I have always been told not to leave the suspenions on cars just hang.

An aspect to support HK's comment, when you hang suspension the driveshaft pulls out of the transmission (not much if anything on independent rear suspensions, more of a problem on straight axles) and more of the yoke shaft is exposed which can rust. A rusty yoke plunging into the transmission can damage the rear transmission seal.

The damper / shock shafts are exposed when extended, but they're less likely to rust being chromed & harder steel, but it can still occur if not prevented.. yet that's pretty much the reason why hanging suspensions is discouraged because shafts are further exposed which can rust and ruin seals.

For example, here's a pic of the driveshaft yoke out of the car that I took while on my recent clutch job and a pic I just took (you can see there is about 1/4" of the yoke that is clean / not rusty due to the yoke plunging in and out while driving, due to bushing delfection, etc..)..

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