'66 Barraduda front suspension won't adjust down one on side

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Mikk

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Hi, I noticed my '66 is sitting higher on the left than the right side.
I backed off the adjusting screw on the lower control arm to the point where it and the little crossbar it screws into are actually loose in the arm, meaning the adjusting screw is no longer contacting the torsion bar arm. The ride height didn't move down. Turning the right side screw adjusts the suspension up and down just fine. Bouncing the suspension shows that the torsion bar is turning. Might it have been clocked too tight during assembly at the factory? I'm sure everything is original, so removing the torsion bar would likely be a challenge.

Any ideas would be appreciated!

Mikk
 

Think of a chair or table with one of the four legs shorter than the other. Shortening that one leg more may appear to have little or no effect, as the other 3 legs hold the majority of the weight. Increase the downward forces and the chair or table can fall over.

Be careful working on suspension, brakes and other major component groups, as failure can be costly in more ways than one, and remember, "A man's got to know his limitations". Ask for help, post pictures and be cautious with repairs.
 
Thanks for your concern, but I have been working on cars for 47 years, done many, many brake jobs, changed ball joints, etc, pressed in new control arm bushings, changed axles, rebilit engines, done bodywork, welding and paintwork. So I am quite familiar with auto work. Just this is something odd, so I thought I'd ask whether anyone has seen this, before I dig into it.
 
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I would most definitely keep my fingers out of the way
 
Mikk said:
Any ideas would be appreciated
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Can you move the suspension on the side with the t bar loose through its range of motion? Maybe it is frozen?

Does the car have a sway bar?
 
If the car sits level in the back but not in the front, then the car body itself is likely tweaked. Imagine the car as a solid flat plane. If one side of the plane is higher in the front, say on the left side, then the right rear should be lower.
 
It does seem to move, no sway bar (6 cyl car). I am wondering how many ponts are in the torsion bar socket at the control arm? If it's twelve points, not six, it may be possible it needs to be removed and rotated one notch. I'm thinking it may have been installed off by one notch.
 
DC 340 said:
If the car sits level in the back but not in the front, then the car body itself is likely tweaked. Imagine the car as a solid flat plane. If one side of the plane is higher in the front, say on the left side, then the right rear should be lower
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Assuming your shop floor is relatively flat you could test this theory out by supporting the body on jack stands, if it is twisted it will show up.

I have a 67 dart stripped down and one of 4 jack stands needed shimming. Might be my shop floor cause it was only a fraction of an inch.

If it was an inch I would suspect twist
 
Mikk said:
It does seem to move, no sway bar (6 cyl car). I am wondering how many ponts are in the torsion bar socket at the control arm? If it's twelve points, not six, it may be possible it needs to be removed and rotated one notch. I'm thinking it may have been installed off by one notch
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6 faces. (Or is it 5?)

Not really a way to mis clock the bars.
 
Thanks, that was the info I was looking for! I guess some investigation is in order. I wonder whether the pivot at A-Arm might be patially siezed? I guess time will tell.
 
did you loosen the control arm pivot nuts before attempting to raise and lower?

is it clapped and sitting on the bump stop on the one side?

t-bar mount isn't rusted out?

100% what dana said, the bars are almost impossible to mis-clock. sounds like something is borked.
 
If the car is sitting on all 4 wheels and one t bar is fully loose then something else is keeping it up.

Put a jack under the loose t bar lower control arm and jack it up.

If the car raises them either it is at full bump and hitting the up bump stop or something is seized
 
No, I didn't loosen that. I figured it pivots, but to be honest I didn't look into the assembly diagram beforehand. It's not close to hitting the bump stops, a good three fingers fir between. From the responses I now know that it can't have been clocked incorrectly. Thanks!
 
it does pivot to a degree, but it's more like it flexes. there's not a whole bunch of range when tight.

anyway, i'd loosen that up and retry.

if it's loose, and everything is still stiff, then it's likely the pin is rusted into the K, the up.per control arm is rusted solid in place (less likely), or the mount cup in the arm for the t-bar is rusted, bent, froze up, pinched or otherwise waxed

a distant possibility is that some where along the way a t-bar got bent or broke and somebody replaced it with the wrong side (they're specific side to side, but swap front to back). you can check the #'s on the end of the bar on that.
 
Thanks for the tips, I had just had the front suspension apart, replaced all the ball joints and upper control arm bushings. The lower arm swung all the way down to the shock's full extension at the time. I reassembled it but didn't tighten the upper a-arm bolts until the car was back on wheels.
 
Mikk said:
I've had it on four stands, no issues with gaps to the stands being uneven. She lowered on all four stands nicely.
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Unless you had those stands at the forward most end of the forward subframe and the rear most ends of the rear subframe, then I would say you still do not know the condition. And the garage floor must be flat (in a plane) and your jack stands the same height.

Another possibility is your vision is keying on the bumper and/or fender positions which if out can be adjusted somewhat. I still say if the rear is level and the front is not then the car is tweaked or built that way.
 
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Given these cars flex, I would place the stands where most probably do at the innermost beginning of the front/rear subframes and take a measure to the flat floor at the outermost 4 corners of the subframe structure.
 
I have found the problem: the adjustment arm (blade) that runs down the middle of the control arm (from the torsion bar socket to the adjustment bolt) has rusted itself to the control arm. I have sprayed it generously with penetrating oil and backed the adjustment bolt out slightly to give it a bit of space to move. If it doesn't pop loose in a couple of days I'll put a bit of heat on it.
 
Mikk said:
I have found the problem: the adjustment arm (blade) that runs down the middle of the control arm (from the torsion bar socket to the adjustment bolt) has rusted itself to the control arm. I have sprayed it generously with penetrating oil and backed the adjustment bolt out slightly to give it a bit of space to move. If it doesn't pop loose in a couple of days I'll put a bit of heat on it.
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Interesting! Is the lever arm itself rusted to the LCA? Because the levers don’t usually contact the LCA’s. I’d suspect the socket is rusted to the LCA where the socket is supported by the LCA halves. Especially since that part doesn’t move with the adjusting bolt set, so if it hasn’t been adjusted in a long time it may have frozen.

I would be removing that LCA. If it’s so stuck it holds the weight of the car it will need to be cleaned up.

junkyardhero said:
it does pivot to a degree, but it's more like it flexes. there's not a whole bunch of range when tight.

anyway, i'd loosen that up and retry.

if it's loose, and everything is still stiff, then it's likely the pin is rusted into the K, the up.per control arm is rusted solid in place (less likely), or the mount cup in the arm for the t-bar is rusted, bent, froze up, pinched or otherwise waxed

a distant possibility is that some where along the way a t-bar got bent or broke and somebody replaced it with the wrong side (they're specific side to side, but swap front to back). you can check the #'s on the end of the bar on that.
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Glad the OP found the issue, but I wanted to address something here. The LCA pivot/pin doesn’t rotate when the suspension moves. At all.

So, if the pivot were rusted or stuck in the K, it would have no effect on the movement of the LCA itself.

The movement of the LCA is due to the flex in the rubber of the LCA bushing, since neither the pivot nor the inner shell rotates. The outer shell also does not rotate with respect to the LCA, but does rotate with the LCA around the pivot because of the flex in the rubber. The rubber flex allows all the suspension travel.

Unless you have poly or delrin LCA bushings, in which case the pivot remains fixed and the bushing rotates on the pivot.
 
The outer shell DOES rotate in respect to the LCA when you adjust the ride height bolt. But making a ride height adjustment is the only time it rotates with relation to the LCA, not at any other time. I confirmed this today when turing the adjustment bolt in and out on the other side. My issue is that the ride height will not adjust on one side. Either the outer shell or the arm (that the adjustment bolt contacts) is stuck to the LCA itself, thereby not allowing any ride height adjustment. The LCA itself moves up and down just fine with the suspension movement.
 
lol wut?

the bushing shell most certainly does not move once installed. if it does then you've got a bigger problem.

the hex anchor moves within the control arm, yes. but the shell? no way jose.
 
This was news to me too. I had a look at several Youtube videos today on replacing the lower control arm bushing. From them I saw, very obviously, that the bushing is indeed loose on the control arm, it is pressed into the smaller arm that runs in the middle of the lca beween the bushing and the ride height adjusting bolt. That explained my issue, I confirmed this myself on the arm on the other side. I scribed a mark on the bushing and turned the ride height adjusting bolt in and out. The bushing's outer shell turns as you adjust the bolt. This actually makes sense, as it changes the angle between the control arm and torsion bar. Google it and see for yourself! To clarify, this is only the case with torsion bars, the upper arms and arms of coil sprung cars have the bushings solidly pressed into the arms.
 
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