Winter Storage

Can anyone elaborate as to why you would need to get the tires off the ground? Ous cars are stored on a concrete floor. Is it the actual concrete thats the problem?

The cold floor can cause hard spots on the tires if they stay to long. I store my Harley off the ground on the bike lift also.

WIVES TALES!!!!!! Or is it Wive's tails....

Anyways, Keeping pressure off the suspension, or keeping it off the tires are both worthless. Cars sit for 40, 50, 60 years on their suspensions and nothing ever goes wrong! OLD tires used to flat spot - in 5 or 6 years of no movement! Newer tires are way more resilient and certainly a winter or even a year in storage is not going to affect them. The only thing I see people get from putting their rides on jackstands is scratched frame rails/suspension parts!
You knew exactly how to store it in your original post.

wives tales my a$$. I can guarantee that weight on ANY spring for prolonged periods of time will ruin them. Im not talking 4 months here a year or more yes. More so with leaf springs. I have seen rates drop on leaf spring cars just by them bouncing on the trailers on the way to the race track in many dirt cars, they will un arch themselves sitting on the off season too. Our coil over cars will gain rate in the coils during an active season but will lose that gain sitting on the coils over the winter. We have seen 40 to 50 pound rate increases in some worst case seasons, only to be lost sitting on the weight of the car over the off season.
Must be a reason these companies sell spring rate checkers huh?
For comparison sake, I built an engine that sat for 2 years and a friend of mine needed a emergency piece. Took it out and ran it and it ran like crap. Keep in mind this engine had no run time on it at all, pulled the valve covers and the NEW Comp springs had gone soft from sitting (yes I forgot to back them off). So tell me again that weight doesnt affect springs at idle.

What I have heard about cement and tires in storage, is that the cement draws the moisture (oils?) out of the tires, causing dry rot. Putting tires on 2x10's or whatnot, helps...i guess.

Where the confusion sits on getting the Gal off the ground is, how far. If you take the weight off the springs, i cant imagine it being a bad thing, but if you let it hang in the air, then there is a downward force on the springs, that I imagine would alter the spring rate. Sound plauseable?

Originally Posted by mustang42782

For comparison sake, I built an engine that sat for 2 years and a friend of mine needed a emergency piece. Took it out and ran it and it ran like crap. Keep in mind this engine had no run time on it at all, pulled the valve covers and the NEW Comp springs had gone soft from sitting (yes I forgot to back them off). So tell me again that weight doesnt affect springs at idle.

Maybe there's a difference between stock and HP engines? My 390 sat on the floor of my dad's shop for almost 5 yrs before it made it into the car and it purred like a kitten on startup. Driven a month and sat for another 6 yrs then driven another month and then sat for 10 yrs. The only ill effect sitting had on it was a mouse nest under the intake and it did have a little rust on the pushrods and valve springs. The mouse nest wasn't found until I finally decided after 20+ years that I should change the oil and thennnn the troubles began.

The leaf springs were trash before it sat those years but it did sit level until it sat on an embankment in the pole barn between the motorhome and desoto for several years. I beleive that might be why, in this one's case, that it sags on the driver side. But that is a common sag side for most '64s anyway though so hard to say.

But like I said, hp engines might be a little more finicky.

Ya sorry - I didn't mean to say it CAN'T happen, becuase it does - after MANY YEARS and if it does, usually due to outside environmental factors (moisture...). But I'm quite sure it doesn't happen over a winters storage like people think. There's no need to put it on stands - on or off the suspension. It'll run the same next year.

Originally Posted by e-tek racing

Ya sorry - I didn't mean to say it CAN'T happen, becuase it does - after MANY YEARS and if it does, usually due to outside environmental factors (moisture...). But I'm quite sure it doesn't happen over a winters storage like people think. There's no need to put it on stands - on or off the suspension. It'll run the same next year.

I agree there. Such a short time shouldn't do much to it. But then I've never done anything to the cars I parked. Never even crossed my mind. One spent 3 yrs out in the pasture and only thing that I had to do with it was cut the briars off that grew over it and get new tires, change oil of course too. Then off across the US with it again. So I guess it's just a matter of luck or something.

[quote=gbeeler;1446538

On a side note, nice to see someone else that rides sleds and loves Galaxies.[/quote]

Summer and winter passions. Even my sled is getting to be a bit of a vintage model, but last winter it got a new crank and a port job, the result of losing a bearing at 8000+. It is a '94 but the suspension and rider position have been upgraded and modified. I keep my car more or less stock, but only my imagination and wallet determine the what the sled gets.

Rubber side down, all year long.