lowbuck Lowering front&rear suspension ?

[rustytoolss]

For a guy with limited funds (me and maybe you). Whats the cheapest /safest way to lower a mopar stock suspension (no big dollar parts/not in my budget). I might be able to score some 18-20 wheels cheap or free !, going for the ground hugger look. But MUST not be to low and still have a reasonable road height.

 

[Darticon]

Cheapest way for the front would be to adjust your torsion bars (have to get aligned afterwards though). If that isn't enough, for "relatively" cheap, you could get some 2" drop spindles.

Cheapest way for the back, I would suggest these adjustable lowering blocks. They are available in a couple different heights. the 'adjustable' part is just front-to-back but makes it very easy to center your wheel well! I bought some Mancini leaf springs that ride amazing but had the *** end up too far. These are what I got to fix things while they settle (if they settle). I think they worked well.

 

[72bluNblu]

There isn’t really a cheap way to lower the front.

Yes, you can adjust the torsion bars to lower the car. The problem with that is you lose suspension travel. So, if you keep the stock torsion bars, you’ll constantly be bottoming out the suspension on the bump stops, so your ride quality and handling will suffer greatly.

The way to solve this is larger diameter torsion bars. The stiffer the bar, the less suspension travel there will be, and the lower you can go. How low you want to go will determine the size of the bar. I run 1.12” torsion bars, and am lowered about 2”. I also replaced the upper and lower bump stops to recenter travel range to match the stops for my ride height. I think my car is about as low as you want to be on the street, and the 1.12’s are probably about as small as you can get away with at my ride height.

Next problem of course is shocks, if you go with bars larger than 1” you need better shocks. Bilsteins or Hotchkis Fox’s are good. Otherwise your ride quality will suffer with the larger bars.

While that sounds expensive, it’s still not any more expensive than the 2” drop spindles. And, your car will handle better without the drop spindles. You get less bump steer lowered using the stock spindles and better camber curves. Plus, the larger bars mean better handling too, since these cars are very undersprung in the front. Even more so if you upgrade the tires.

In the back you can just use a block, that’s the cheapest way to go.

 

[rustytoolss]

Thanks guys

 

[Hutch71Scamp]

Has anybody ever notched the front subframe then re-braced it or raised the lower bump stop to increase suspension travel when lowered?

 

[rustytoolss]

moving the front K member up, would also mean you would need to change the angle of the steering columm

 

[Hutch71Scamp]

moving the front K member up, would also mean you would need to change the angle of the steering columm

I'm not talking about the K member. Just the subframe rail where the lower controller arm contacts the bump stop.

 

[rustytoolss]

my mistake...misunderstood. ...might work.

 

[72bluNblu]

Has anybody ever notched the front subframe then re-braced it or raised the lower bump stop to increase suspension travel when lowered?

The problem is that at some point the tires will bottom out on the inner fender, and that can happen before you do anything like notch the frame for clearance. I have QA1 tubular LCA’s that came without the built in bump stops, so they add some suspension travel even with the bump stops I installed on the frame. When the LCA’s are on the stops the center of the spindle is only 13” from the bottom of the inner fender. Meaning, a ~26” tall tire would be bottomed out on the inner fender.

It would be a ton of work for very little gain in travel, you’d just hit the next thing a 1/4” later.

 

[Hutch71Scamp]

Ok I'll check clearances.

 

[72bluNblu]

I've just found that the lower limit for a functional ride height doesn't require any of that stuff. With a decent height front tire (25.6" in my case), the QA1 LCA's, 1.12" torsion bars, and the short poly button bump stops I rarely bottom the front suspension. The ride height on my car sits around 24 7/8" to the top of the front wheel opening, and my driver's side header is a bit less than 4" to the ground. The bump stop I added to the frame was to keep my tires from hitting my inner fenders at full compression, because that would have happened either before or about the same time as the LCA touching the frame. And I already have to take tall speed bumps and pitched driveways somewhat slowly and at an angle to keep from dragging my Doug's headers.

Can the car go lower? Sure. Could you actually drive it on the street on a regular basis without tearing stuff off of it? Probably not. I've driven cars that were set up lower than my Duster, they just get to be a pain. That's my opinion of course, and it's my opinion that if you want to go much lower you need air ride or something similar. Because going that low with the suspension is going to create hassles. And it doesn't improve handling anymore either, once the hard parts start dragging on the bumps and dips you're at the limit for handling improvement.