Move car without spring plates????
 

'81 SC. Removing engine and tranny today. Oil lines removed (all of them). Car is getting a full respray so I am removing everything from the car.

Spring plates and the cover need to come out to allow the painter to work that area and paint everything well. Spring plates and cover need to come out. Can I remove them and still be able to move the car around?? Or removing the spring plates will drop the car so much that it will not move? Are the rear shocks enough to keep the car high enough to move around???

Pardon the ignorance, just checking before I do this in a few hours.

Maybe remove the shocks and replace with a steel strut.

The spring plates do more than simply support the weight of the car vertically via the torsion bars, they are also one of the sides that make up the rear suspension triangle (Spring Plate, Trailing Arm, Torsion Tube).

I can't say for sure, but it seems to me that if you were to attempt to move the car forward without the spring plates in place (assuming the fully collapsed rear shock can support the weight and provide enough tire clearance to do so), then the trailing arms would begin to pivot back (due to rubber bushing where they attach to the torsion tube), allowing the rear wheels to tow out. And once the rear wheels tow out, attempting to move it forward any further will only cause them to tow out more. However, the axle shafts should limit this to some degree.

This is just my theory. You should definitely get other opinions.

Don't try to move it with just the control arms. I would fab up a quick chassis dolly. A nice one can be made for less than $100 in materials and a couple hours time.

Rolling it by hand? Is that all you're doing?

I've rolled tubs around on a square of 2x6s, with a big caster on each corner.

Nice thing is the ability to spin the tub around, and not have to rely on the car's normal turning radius to put the car exactly where it needs to be.

Yes... Wanted to remove them before taking the car to the bodyshop... Empty shell, only wheels and some suspension bits in it... Even took calipers out.

I left them in place...needed to drop it off today...