Springs....I am retarded

I need to replace all 4 shocks and figured if I am under it already......springs need to go.

I have looked at a couple of other posts and have checked ROCK AUTO and now am confused more than ever.
This is what I have....92 caprice 5.0. I tow nothing but the "fam damly" around and the occasional camping trip up north.
My wife wants to retain the factory ride as much as we can, but I want a little stiffer ride. I hate seeing sag when loaded.

Soooo my question is:

MOOG Part # CC623
or
MOOG Part # 5417

I have read a lot of people swear by the cc623's, but not much on the 5417's
This is our DD and will have very little performance mods to it.
Currently have factory size tires...or close to it.

Input please.

I have the 623's on both my wagons......very happy.

Tom

Stiffening the ride is accomplished with the shocks. You should not have to change the springs unless the car is sagging. The springs only hold the car up, and allow it to go over bumps without jarring your eyes out of the sockets. The shocks control the rebound of the springs and keep you from bouncing all over the road. The ride with stiffer springs will not vary much from the ride with the OEM springs if you have the same shocks. The car body may move more with the stiffer springs, but the smoothness of ride, and the control of the car will be determined by the shocks. If you want to improve the handling and keep the ride, install heavier sway bars. You will have the same straight line ride, but the bars will make the car act like it has stronger springs when cornering.

Thanks for the info.
I will start with the shocks first and then see how bad the springs are. I would rather do it all at the same time.

I will do a couple of searches and try to find some measurements to determine how much sag (if any) that I may have.

Fred's right. I used to run H&R race springs on my Focus and it was fine around town. It had adjustable KYB shocks. If you cranked them full hard it would knock your fillings out. Full soft felt close to stock. I liked it somewhere in the middle.

One thing stiffer springs will help with is bottoming, or sag. A stiffer spring obviously won't deflect as much when fully loaded. I eventually swapped out the H&R race springs for a street touring spring and started bottoming out. They were softer, and not stiff enough to prevent full travel.

I also need shocks, I'm planning on trying the KYB gas adjust so I can dial them in. Plus firmer sway bars, and a little drop up front.

Oh, and if you've sagged a bit and want more height, you could add a spacer or spring isolator under the spring. Still requires removing the spring, so same work, a bit less cost.

OK so I crossed this thread kinda on accident. I was in a hurry and needed the answer quick.

I was told in another thread that the springs are different size and shape from front to back.
I was under the impression that all 4 corners were the same coil, but different shocks.
Am I wrong on this?

This was straight from the MOOG website:
http://www.fme-cat.com/Application.aspx?year=1992&make=CHEVROLET&model=CAPRICE&cat=Suspension&subcat=Coil%20Spring%20Sets,%20Seats,%20and%20Insulators&engbase=5.0L%208Cyl%20V%20(-)(305)&ga=Y

I did not see a specific spring on the front labeled "wagon". I have also noticed this on several other sites.

I will keep doing some research, but as always, I like asking the "experts" first.

On that link it looks like you may have to click on COIL SPRING SET to expand the chart I was referring to.

Shocks and springs are both different for front/rear.


Rear springs have a tapered end on them like this:


Rear shocks look like this:


By comparison....


Front springs:


Front shocks:

What is the part number for the front springs?
For the life of me I can not find a "wagon" specific front spring.

Not sure on the stock one, unfortunately.

Thanks for all the help guys.
I changed my shocks this past weekend and reading through all of your posts helped me be prepared for ANYTHING that may have gone wrong.

The front shocks is what I expected to give me a bunch of problems, but it was the rears this time.
Fronts were easy. The first thing I did was use a pair of vice grips on the shaft to keep it from spinning. They came off with very little effort on my part.
The rears.....that was another issue among itself. Whomever changed the shocks last needs to be hauled off to the wood shed and beat. They must have stripped/lost/threw away the factory mounting hardware. It was a mixture of metric and standard nuts and bolts. I think all 4 bolts were different sizes and all 4 nuts ended up the same way. Used my entire wrench collection to get them off. Luckily I have a great selection of nuts and bolts to bring it back to a standard size.

I have only put on 30-40 miles since the switch and am already very pleased with the outcome.
KYB gas-a-just shocks were worth the money.

For anyone looking.....amazon has them for $30 each currently. They were running $75 each at autozone.