Suspension ripoff in progress?

Hi gang - this is my first post so please excuse any mistakes. This past January I bought a 91 Tercel with 130K miles, four speed. I love the car - the engine is in great shape and there are only minor scratches on it. Its a peach.

Problem is the owner before me modified the suspension - he put snow & mud tires on the car, installed a trailer hitch and installed air compressed shocks on the back, to help lift the rear end up. In order to prevent the front end from biting the pavement he also raised the front end up about 2 inches. I'd like to get it back to being a regular old Tercel. I've swapped the tires out and have taken it to a couple of shops to see what could be done about the front and rear ends.

Bottom line - everyone is saying it won't pass inspection unless new springs are installed on the rear, along with new shocks. My big dumb question is this - does the 91 Tercel need rear springs? I am getting many mixed answers to this question and it seems like the only people who are telling me it needs rear springs are the shops that are willing to charge up to $1000 to install them. I want to get the car road ready again but I think $1000 is too much to install springs on the front and rear, especially if I end up not needing them on the rear.

Any help is appreciated - thanks!

As far as i know all cars need springs in the rear unless its a leaf spring suspension. $1000 is ridiculous for springs... you can get oe springs and shocks at autozone for like $85( i think) a corner and install them yourself(very simple job). If you dont wanna do that and youre anywhere near columbus oh ill do it if you give me like $50.

Thanks - I'll check them out too. I'm just really getting mixed answers all over the place. The Chilton book mentions rear springs for the 4wd and the 84-87 wagon or something, but nothing about the 91. I'll keep digging around - need something to work on this summer.

How hard of a job are we talking about when it comes to putting in springs yourself? :uhoh:

Springs are as simple as unbolting and removing the strut, compressing the spring, removing top hat/mount from strut and lifting the spring off... its a very simple job and after a few tries it doesnt take more than 20 mins a spring. good luck with your project.

Hey,

Every car on the road that I know have springs. Front and rear (at least since 1930 lol). Leaf spring suspensions use springs they are leaf springs. Anyways its a very simple job to have the springs changed, any shade tree mechanic can do it for a small fee. Look on ebay for tercel springs they are very cheap. Also Im sorta confused, so you have air shocks in the rear to lift the rear suspension? Anyways you can drive a vehicle without shocks, although not reccomended as the ride wouldnt be smooth at all. That would be very noticable, not really sure what kind of inspection you have to undergo. If you have taller springs in front which is weird, you can remove them and have them cut as well (there are a few ways to do this). If you had them cut it wouldnt cost anything in parts.