How much clearance do you have before hitting the bump stops on your lower arms?

How much clearance do you run between the factory rubber bump stop and frame in front

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zhandfull

zhandfull

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I run my "A" body car right on the factory rubber bump stop with little to no clearance. How much clearance do you run on your car before hitting the lower control arm bump stop to the frame in the front suspension?
 

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How many licks does it take to get to the tootsie roll center of a tootsie pop???

The world may never know....


I've never paid attention to even look...
 
krazykuda said:
How many licks does it take to get to the tootsie roll center of a tootsie pop???

The world may never know....


I've never paid attention to even look...
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Lol.. I know kind of stupid but seems like people think they need an inch of clearance. I run no clearance and don't really think I run my car any lower than what most people do.
 
How does a posi traction rear end work on a Plymouth???


It just does....




(technically, Plymouth's don't have posi traction, they are sure grips....)
 
What are these "rubber bump stops you speak of ? :dontknow:

This is with my older .99" MP torsion bars. Car is a little higher now because of the TTI headers.
 

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If you'd like, run this. I think it's a good idea to.

Part Number: 9.9132
http://www.energysuspensionparts.com/proddetail.asp?prod=9.9132#

ES99132R_lg.jpg
 
When I had the stock lowers I cut 1/2" off the top of the bump stop and had a 1/2" gap.
 
yup. Set the ride hieght where I want it. Then trim 'em and reshape 'em so they still do something but not suddenly, and not 'til needed.
 
Trimmed mine downtown a 1/4". Dropped the torsions,1.25. Probably,a 1" of clearance.
 
I have no play on the bumpstops.
My pass.side bumpstop has recently bailed ship because of the constant squishing between the LCA and chassis. I can feel the pass.side has a bit more travel now.

One of the reasons I'm looking into going with bigger 1" torsionbars.
 
you should have enough clearance that it never comes into contact with metal....if you look around the lower control arm pivot shaft on a 340 car you will see extra gusseting has been added at the factory where a slanty or 318 k frame do not have this...I have seen the lower control arm pivot sleeves completely ripped out of k frames before
 
waggin said:
you should have enough clearance that it never comes into contact with metal....if you look around the lower control arm pivot shaft on a 340 car you will see extra gusseting has been added at the factory where a slanty or 318 k frame do not have this...I have seen the lower control arm pivot sleeves completely ripped out of k frames before
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Agreed 100%. . There is a measurement for street use. It is reached by getting the ground height difference between the lower bushing pin and the ball joint. If you want it lower do what ever you like. Its your suspension and tires
 
Purple Haze said:
When I had the stock lowers I cut 1/2" off the top of the bump stop and had a 1/2" gap.
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Exactly what I did. Trimmed on a band saw. Running .92 T-bars on street car. Oh yeah, also beefed the LCA pivot with extra material and the K is completely welded. I'll have to put some kind of tell-tale, clay or something there and see what it's doing.
 
On most cars I set up right about an inch (which is lower than factory spec). My son's Barracuda sits considerably lower and has had the rubber cut down.
 
Guys run on the bumpstop and run lower profile tires to get that modern look and then wonder why their "cheap" headers hit.
I'm not much better, I have brand new bumpstops and have just a little clearance cause I too like the lower look. At least my Jegs headers haven't ever hit with this and 215/60/15s. That is on stock regular 318 tbars.
 
Hersbird said:
Guys run on the bumpstop and run lower profile tires to get that modern look and then wonder why their "cheap" headers hit.
I'm not much better, I have brand new bumpstops and have just a little clearance cause I too like the lower look. At least my Jegs headers haven't ever hit with this and 215/60/15s. That is on stock regular 318 tbars.
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I don't run cheap headers. Mine are TTI. But the car is very low. I've heard dougs are 3/8 to 1/2 higher up. When I put 275/40/17 it will raise the car up some and help.

I've high centered on crested driveways with the bone stock exhaust when the car was even lower with 225/50/15 tires. It would also hit parking lot curb returns. Not scrape, hit dead on. That was stupid low. I'm not doing that again!
 
I "modified" mine by trimming about 1/2" off so I could adjust the torsion bars more for the stance I wanted and not make contact, but if I were to hit a hard bump for some reason I wouldn't have metal to metal contact.
 
When I bought my Dart they were mashed like an over-cooked potato. Put new bumpstops on, adjusted the torsion bars and have close to 1 inch clearance. Big difference in the ride, no more metal on metal crash at every bump
 
dartindanno said:
When I bought my Dart they were mashed like an over-cooked potato. Put new bumpstops on, adjusted the torsion bars and have close to 1 inch clearance. Big difference in the ride, no more metal on metal crash at every bump
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How were the condition of the front shocks when you got it? Original front torsion bars?
 
I'm surprised that no one has pointed out the obvious -- that if you are actually hitting the bump stop, at that point you are driving a coal cart with zero suspension. Even F1 cars, running enormous downforce, have some suspension compliance. On a geometrically smooth plane of asphalt, you might not need any compliance, but in any real-world situation, including autocross and race tracks, you have to have something, or you wind up bouncing wheels off the ground. Not only do airborne tires have zero grip, the instant transition from full contact patch to zip tends to really mess up your line. A little rubber or poly in there to soften the transition is a good idea.
 
mvh said:
I'm surprised that no one has pointed out the obvious -- that if you are actually hitting the bump stop, at that point you are driving a coal cart with zero suspension. Even F1 cars, running enormous downforce, have some suspension compliance. On a geometrically smooth plane of asphalt, you might not need any compliance, but in any real-world situation, including autocross and race tracks, you have to have something, or you wind up bouncing wheels off the ground. Not only do airborne tires have zero grip, the instant transition from full contact patch to zip tends to really mess up your line. A little rubber or poly in there to soften the transition is a good idea.
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My factory bump stops are really soft and about a 1.5" tall. Before I installed the torsion bars I was jacking one of the new 9" wide front wheels up in to the fender to check for clearance issues. I found that the rubber bump stop easily compresses down to 3/8" before it would even start to raise the car body. So I have found it's not really as bad as one might think to have zero clearance between the frame and rubber bump stop.
 
the clay will work well
KosmicKuda said:
Exactly what I did. Trimmed on a band saw. Running .92 T-bars on street car. Oh yeah, also beefed the LCA pivot with extra material and the K is completely welded. I'll have to put some kind of tell-tale, clay or something there and see what it's doing.
Click to expand...
 
Oldmanmopar said:
Agreed 100%. . There is a measurement for street use. It is reached by getting the ground height difference between the lower bushing pin and the ball joint. If you want it lower do what ever you like. Its your suspension and tires
Click to expand...

There's a right way to do this though. The factory spec means all of about zilch once you run bigger torsion bars, which reduces the amount of suspension travel. Lowering the car to the bumps with stock torsion bars will definitely give a crappy ride and handling, but lowering it and adding bigger torsion bars is no big deal, it will improve ride and handling if done right.

I run the dome shaped poly bumpstops and 1" or bigger bars. My Duster will soon be wearing a pair of 1.12" firm feel bars, and I plan on around 1" to 1.5" of travel to the top of the domed poly bumpstop, will depend on how it sits with the 275/35/18's up front. With a 300 lb/in wheel rate I suspect that will be more than enough to keep me from ever contacting them.
 
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