ride height front rear springs

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ride height front rear springs

Postby jim327monza » Wed Jun 24, 2015 7:46 pm

Hi Guys, Did the 5-lug s-10 upgrade on my 76 2+2 ( bob gunn ball joint adapters) I noted the left rear of the car is sitting too low. Measuring the center line to top of wheel well, L-F 26 3/4 L-R 26 1/2 R-R 27 1/8 R-F 27 3/8 . IF I did not get the right front spring back in the notch correctly, could this cause this imbalance? Also, could this cause the alignment to be off? The left side is with in specs, the right is out somewhat. I want to look at up grading shocks/springs,but want to solve this first.
As always thanks Jim H.
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Re: ride height front rear springs

Postby cjbiagi » Wed Jun 24, 2015 8:10 pm

You should be able to see the edge of the bottom of the front spring through a small hole on the bottom of the control arm. This should tell you if the spring is indexed properly without pulling anything apart. If the spring is not indexed correctly it could throw things off. In all reality I don't think you measurements are that far off. Your RR is 5/8" higher than the LR. Did you check your measurements prior to doing the swap? I would guess most cars are not perfectly even side to side. I would check to see if you can see the edge of the bottom coil near that small hole in the bottom of the control arm and see if it's close. If it is correct then it would probably be easier to simply shim the RR spring which should raise the RR and lower the LF which should bring everything in spec. Again, I am pretty sure if most people measured their cars they would find some difference due to weight bias differences side to side.
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Re: ride height front rear springs

Postby crawfw » Thu Jun 25, 2015 2:53 pm

Have you driven the car any? Mine dropped almost an inch after replacing the front springs. Just a thought from a rookie. I thought I had the ride height exactly where I wanted it until I drove the car several miles. When I went to get the floor jack under the K member, I noticed it was way lower. It dropped down to as low as it was before the work. maybe a tad lower.
I'm not sure if one side could settle more than the other side but its worth it to consider driving 10 or 15 miles before making adjustments.
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Re: ride height front rear springs

Postby jim327monza » Fri Jun 26, 2015 4:05 pm

Hummm, That is what that little hole is for! I did not take any measurements prior to the 5-lug up grade for two reasons, A the front suspension was toast when I got the car. all off the control arm bushing were completely rotted out. B I was not smart enough to do it anyway. I have put about 40 miles on it since the change over. when you look at the car from the rear the drivers side is notably lower than the passenger side. with the right front at 27 3/8 and left rear at 26 1/2 their is a 7/8 difference. I will put he car up on jacks and check the right front coil. If it is correct then I will look at a shim in the left rear as Clyde suggested. I will post the results.
Thanks Jim
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Re: ride height front rear springs

Postby cjbiagi » Fri Jun 26, 2015 4:32 pm

You may want to try and swap the two rear springs side to side for the heck of it. Simple to do and it might make a difference.
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Re: ride height front rear springs

Postby cjbiagi » Fri Jun 26, 2015 4:32 pm

You may want to try and swap the two rear springs side to side for the heck of it. Simple to do and it might make a difference.
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Re: ride height front rear springs

Postby jim327monza » Mon Jun 29, 2015 8:23 pm

clyde, I pulled the rear springs and swapped them out. No change. I Unhooked all 4 shocks and the front sway bar. No change. I looked in the inspection holes and the front springs look right but it is hard to tell. the plan now is to spend next weekend pulling the front end checking all the components and re instal to verify correct spring location and no overlooked damage or miss installed parts . Hope everybody has a good 4TH of July and I will let you know what i find.
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Re: ride height front rear springs

Postby chevyart » Tue Jun 30, 2015 9:51 am

isnt there a part of the job where you assemble the front end and not tighten the bolts through the bushings until the cars sits on ground , off the jacks and jackstands and the cars suspension settles down. did you do this ? art
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Re: ride height front rear springs

Postby cjbiagi » Tue Jun 30, 2015 11:05 am

It is necessary if you are using rubber bushings to make sure the car is at ride height before tightening the bolts for the bushings. Otherwise you will out a twist in the rubber and preload the suspension. If using poly bushings it is not necessary because they are free to rotate within the outer shell. Keep in mind that the weight distribution is not even on most cars from the factory so if you really want to get it perfect you may have to play with shimming one or two springs.
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Re: ride height front rear springs

Postby jim327monza » Tue Jun 30, 2015 6:00 pm

Reading the last two post, I think this is something that I missed when installing the front suspension. I Assume that we are talking UCA only as the LCAs would have been loosen and tighten when the alignment was done. What would be the best procedure? Leave the car at ride height and loosen then tighten bolts? How, if at all, would this affect the alignment? The side of the car that is too high is also the side that is way out on the alignment. I can not tell you how much A appreciate your input.
Thanks Jim H.
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Re: ride height front rear springs

Postby cjbiagi » Tue Jun 30, 2015 10:13 pm

Yes, you are correct that the uppers would be more vulnerable, yes you can loosen the bolts to allow the bushing to relax to its' normal position once the car is at normal ride height. The lowers should be ok as long as they are loosened during the alignment process. Maybe i missed it, but i don't recall you mentioning that the alignment was way off on one side. What is off, the camber I assume? Loosening the upper bushings should not affect the alignment unless you happened to use offset type bushings. If you used normal upper bushings you should be fine.
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Re: ride height front rear springs

Postby jim327monza » Sat Jul 18, 2015 7:10 pm

Ok, spent the day in the garage working on the ride height. checked all front end components for correct installation. all components look good , springs are indexed correctly. Moved to the back and installed 2 spring rubbers in left rear spring This helped somewhat as the left side now sits at 27" and the right sits at 27.5" . I drove the car about 25 miles over mixed roads to settle ride height. I plan to put 1 rubber in left front to see what that does. In addition, I plan to take the car to the frame shop and have them check the frame. In addition to the right front being too high, the caster is too far out left front camber (-1.0) caster (-1.5) right front camber ( -0.4 )caster ( -2.2). All LCA adjustments are maxed out. If the frame checks out , I will look at offset UCA bushings . I hope the frame shop can pull out enough sag to make this unnecessary. What this will do th the ride height we will haft to see.
Thanks Jim H.
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Re: ride height front rear springs

Postby chevyart » Sun Jul 19, 2015 7:32 pm

hey jim if you use the offset bushings, the guys that know about them, say to use the offset bushing in the front side of the upper control arms and i think you offset the bushing's offset towards the inside (9 oclock and 3 oclock. and try and adjust your settings. these bushings can be rotate to different positions if necessary(you have to remove the control arm to do this)(ithink)cj biaggi and megevega have talked about this process in prior posts(last year i think). let us know how you make out art
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Re: ride height front rear springs

Postby cjbiagi » Sun Jul 19, 2015 9:00 pm

If you look at a "normal" car that use shims to adjust the upper control arm you can begin to understand how the offset bushings can be installed to do the same thing as adding or subtracting shims. The bad part is you have to know what you want to do when you press the bushings in. The good thing is you can still adjust the lower control arm cams to fine tune the alignment. By using different positions you can move the upper control arm in or out to help with camber issues or you can install them in opposite direction to gain more positive caster. There are many combinations that you can do, but again that's why it is important to know what you want to accomplish in terms of alignment settings before you install them. Then you can figure out what position will help get you close to your goal and then do the final alignment with the lower cams. If I remember correctly there is about a 1/2" swing from one extreme to another. Basically speaking, you can use the offset bushings to move the balljoint in or out, or front to rear depending upon how you rotate them before pressing them in.
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Re: ride height front rear springs

Postby TurboKen » Thu Apr 28, 2016 9:55 pm

I noticed the gas tank is on the drivers side and the left rear is always lower because of the extra weight, hth

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