I have new 4-leaf springs, new NOS 3.5" shackles, bolts, and bushings, new shocks, and still have a lean of approximately 3/4 inch toward the driver side (line up the tape measure to the straight line on the tire around inch 3 and 2.25 for visual reference). Not as noticeable as before the spring replacement, but still there. What is the correct way to fix this...do I need to put a shim or something under the springs to level this up?
I know you can see that lip on one side is a little more bent downward than the other, but I can also see that it's not bent THAT much (3/4"). Do you have a level you can place on the trunk to get an exact number? I'd trig out the angle and distance between the center of the spring perches to determine exactly how much the difference is. If it's not too much, I suppose you could add a plate underneath the spring perch to lower that one side some. That might be a poor-man's solution for now. Personally, I have no idea why you'd have that much drop though - especially after you've changed everthing. I think I remember you saying you had different size tires on at one time. I assume they are the same now?
Swap the leaf springs ... if it still leans the same way something must be bent on your unibody ... I suppose the cheap fix is to put a longer shackle on the low side .. the right way if it is a unibody issue is a body shop with a frame machine ...
How doe's the front measure? Have you measured from the bottom edge of the rear wheelwell or other points? Just curious
Yep, Id also say to rule out the front suspension, support the frame (not the front suspension) near the front and re-measure the back. Then you could narrow it down to the rear suspension or the body / frame.
Actually ... put the rear up on jack stands using the same notch on each side. Support at the rear of the back frame rail behind the shackle mount (if there is room) and see if the rear sits level ... if it does do the same thing on the frame near the front spring mount ... and see if it sits level. That may narrow down where the frame issue is if there is one ...
Shocks could do it too. These gas charged shocks have a lot of pressure in them and do put some lifting pressure on the body. The passenger side is in front of the axle so given equal pressure in both, it will lift the body higher. Its really noticable with air shocks. Easy to disconnect the shocks and eliminate that possibility.
Funny thing is when it is jacked up on level jackstands, it all sits pretty darn close to flat, but when I drop it down to the ground, it sits off-level. The fender lip is not bent, that I know of, I think that is some optical illusion from the camera angle and flash, but in real life, my fenders are straight. I took the pictures with one hand while holding the ruler up with the other, and should have spent more time making sure the angle and distance were equal. Tires are same size, but worn pretty bad. Front tires are same size, but used and different brands, so the front may be a little off-even. Would that be what pushes the rear off when it is all on the ground...the front is throwing it all off? If so, I will just drive it like that until I wear everything out and then put new tires on all around and see what gives.
I know, for a fact, that the front is out of allignment, caster, camber, and toe. I have new cut-down 351 coil springs in front, have swapped some ball joints, etc and have never had it realligned. So I am pretty sure that the front is way out of line, but not enough to make it pull or wear tires too bad. How much will getting it realligned mess with anything I do at the back. I don't want to sink a lot of time into getting the back flat, then getting new tires and allignment to find that the back WAS flat, but is now leaning 3/4" the other way!!! I guess the real question is How much of the lean could be attributed from front end misallignment? If it is only a small portion, I will work on the rear to level it up. See, I don't want to have it alligned and THEN fix the back to have it mess up the allignment, and I also don't want to fix the back and have an allignment mess IT up. What is the best sequence of events to keep from having to do multiple allignments, etc? I am sorry if I sound like a wuss, but allignment will cost me as much as a tire or two, and I really don't want to waste money by doing the wrong thing in the wrong order and having to double up on something. What I really need is a 1-2-3 step by step to follow, ie. 1) measure front at points A, B, C, 2) level the front and allign, 3) level remeasure 4) level the rear, 5) etc in a way that I do as little doubling up as possible. Does anyone work frames/allignments and know a procedure for doing this? I have so far been messing with this lean for about a year, and after replacing the entire rear suspension and more than half the front, I feel like I am just going in circles and not accomplishing anything (on a positive note, I only have 1/2"-3/4" lean rather than the 1-1/2" lean I had last year, so it is getting better...)
I guess you need to check the front end ride height first to determin if the suspension needs adjustment then you worry about the alignment of the steering angles. So... I would measure first, the same exact spot on both sides, maybe try at the bottom corner of the wheel wells. Don't tell (brag,lol) about anything to the shop guys where you get the alignment incase you need the wheels realigned under warranty. Usually if they suspect any alterations you void the warranty. You know, ride heights can affect certain angles(usually not the wearing) but the amount you are contending with is insignificant in my opinion.
Coil springs are cut the same length, but not sure if they are compressing the same amount under a full load. I might have to swap, or cut a bit off one or the other to even the front out....
You mentioned front tires being different brands but same size,all tires are not created equal. Place them side by side or measure them , I think you will find a difference . Please let us know. lastchance
Right front side is also higher, by 7/8" (measuring from ground to fender lip, I need to get under and measure at frame). I would expect that if the right front was high, it would push back on the left rear causing a lean to the left. Is this my problem? If I confirm high on right side by measuring at the frame, do I need to cut the coil off a bit on the right side, or would allignment fix the height? I tried to measure the tire height, but the tire on the low side was so close to the bottom of the fender that I couldn't get a flatedge on the top of the tire flat enough to measure. Is there a way to measure (for cutting springs to match) where the settling of the front suspension won't interfere with my measurements...ie. Should I jack the car up and measure to the a-arm or leave it on the ground and roll it back and forth in a straight line to help things settle, etc. On another note, would adding a 7/8" spacer to the low side be a good way to test the difference-in-spring-height theory before I cut anything?
