Early Rabbit and Scirocco 74-79 had front springs with all equal sized
coils. The 80 on models came with springs that had a smaller diameter coil,
or pig tail at the top. All the coils were the same diameter except the top
coil which is smaller. The newer style springs last longer , have less
breakage due to fatigue. There is a plate between the spring and the upper
bearing, called the upper spring mount. If you use the older spring, you
must use the older spring mount to seat the spring. If you use the newer
spring, then you get a new upper spring mount to match the new spring. The
strut bearing is the same from75-88. rabbit Scirocco. Your strut bearings
are not different and will work, on either spring style. Also Rabbits
,Sciroccos, Jettas 75-84 have external threads on the strut casing. Internal
threads are used on USA Rabbits 79-83. But many have been converted. If you
do change the struts. You must get the ones for internal, or external
threads, which ever you have. Remember to put gear lube or engine oil in the
casing, so the strut will be removable next time and not rusted in. I use
old engine or gear lube for this. Make sure it squeezes out when you insert
the new strut so it fills the whole space. I once disassembled the front
struts on a 80 rabbit in a buddies garage and could not get it back together
because I bought the older springs which fell right around the newer upper
spring mounts that were on the car. I could not find the older spring mount
anywhere and had to buy the newer style spring to match my spring mounts.
"Bryan K. Walton" > wrote in message
ink.com...
> I've just acquired a pair of the old-style A1 strut bearings (the kind
> that came on the 75 and 76 rabbits, I believe). I'm getting ready to
> redo the suspension on my 84 rabbit. But I've just been told
> that early rabbit springs were slightly different that later rabbit
> springs. Specifically, I heard that the later rabbit springs were
> smaller at the ends. The person I was talking to said that if I was
> intending to use the older style strut bearings on my '84 rabbit, then
> when I purchased replacement oem springs, I needed to be sure that I
> ordered oem springs for one of these early rabbits. OEM springs for an
> '84 rabbit won't work on the earlier bearings, he said. Can somebody
> please confirm/deny this?
>
> Thanks,
> Bryan
>
> --
> remove the "REMOVE" from my email to email