Suspension too low

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Agent_Orange

Agent_Orange

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I feel like I've been spending too much time on this sight lately.

Short story: my car is riding too low and it's causing issues with clearance everywhere.

When I put together the 8.8, I used taller perches to lower the car with stock springs. Installed hotchkis springs and they lowered the rear even more. Now I love the look of this car squatting, but unfortunately it's too low to be fun.

Currently, she's sitting at 24 ¹/2" inches to the bottom of the lip in the rear, which forced me to set the front height at 24 ³/8".

I'm assuming the best option is to cut off these perches and replace with a shorter option. Hoping to push this off until winter when I have more time.

Option 2 would probably be some sort of front spring hanger that lifts the rear end an inch or so. I haven't found one yet but it looks easy enough to make

Inot sure the cons associated with option 2, and I really don't like the idea of longer shackles. However I proceed, safety and handling is high priority.

Rear end is a shortened 8.8 with hotchkis springs and bilstein rcd's.

Front end has 1.08 sway away tbars, boxed lca's with delrin, qa1 strut rods, offset uca bushings, proforge ball joints, hellwig sway, bilstein rcd's

20230605_204101.jpg
 
You can lift the rear by using the older front spring mounts . The holes are only 1/2 but are a taller mount. You can also have them offset drilled I have gotten 3/4" out of a set. Get moroso rear adjustable shackles for the back of the spring.

Compare the holes with the studs in these pictures . The spring hangers you would need has the extra hole you see in the pictures

The second picture is the adjustable shackles. If you use them with good bushings they are stiff and good in turns.

1" to 4" Adjustable Rear Leaf Spring Shackle Lift Kit A-Body Dart Duster Valiant 768855330122 | eBay

For a 73 up you would need the larger bushings. Order a B-body shackle set. That is what I ordered to use with SS springs in the picture below.

100_0029.JPG


Steve 051.JPG
 
SO raise it back up. Pretty simple solution.
 
Oldmanmopar said:
You can lift the rear by using the older front spring mounts . The holes are only 1/2 but are a taller mount. You can also have them offset drilled I have gotten 3/4" out of a set. Get moroso rear adjustable shackles for the back of the spring.

Compare the holes with the studs in these pictures . The spring hangers you would need has the extra hole you see in the pictures

The second picture is the adjustable shackles. If you use them with good bushings they are stiff and good in turns.

1" to 4" Adjustable Rear Leaf Spring Shackle Lift Kit A-Body Dart Duster Valiant 768855330122 | eBay

For a 73 up you would need the larger bushings. Order a B-body shackle set. That is what I ordered to use with SS springs in the picture below.

View attachment 1716099539

View attachment 1716099540
Click to expand...
The hangers on the right are headed in the correct direction. I'm thinking that to get me through the next couple warm months, I will fab up a quick set of front hangers with an extra inch of height built in. Not ideal but my schedule is hectic for the next couple months and wrench time is about to be severely limited. Once it's hibernation time, I will weld up the right perches with an offset kit. Thanks for the pictures and time
 
Keep in mind that you MIGHT be changing the pinion angle by doing this.

Might be worth checking before and after
 
Lift the front of the spring the same as the back or the pinion angle will need to be corrected with wedges.
 
wouldn't the easiest solution be to get another set of springs that aren't as low? granted that is probably the most expensive route, but it seems like kind of the direction to head...

do you know what arch is on the hotchkis are and you can order accordingly?
 
blueprint from the adjustable front spring hangers used on the australian Valiant charger RT. Suggest the holes should match the bolt you use for your 6 or v8 sized bushes.

3 parts need printing matching together and sticking..

might be a starting point

but keep in mind adjusting the height of 1 end of the spring has an impact on under/over steer
which is why these had two holes. one for twisty short track use and one for 24 hour race long road track use. The effectiveness potentially greater on the aussie car 8 inches shorter and 2-3 wider at the back

Dave
 

Attachments

  • Aus RT and Abody spring hanger.pdf
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Last edited:
Dave999 said:
blueprint from the adjustable front spring hangers used on the australian Valiant charger RT suggest the holes should match the bolt you use for your 6 or v8 sized bushes.

3 parts need printing matching together and sticking..

might be a starting point

but keep in mind adjsuting the height of 1 end of the spring has an impact on under/over steer
which si why these had two holes one for twisty short track use and one for 24 hour race long road track use. the effectiveness potentially greater on the aussie car 8 inches shorter and 2-3 wider at the back

Dave
Click to expand...
This is the quality of information I was hoping to see. Thank you sir. Those schematics are exactly what I saw making.

I've been thinking about it over the last 24 hours and there would have to be a difference in handling characteristics when changing the spring mounting point relative to the center of gravity. In this case, I would be raising the rear roll center by 1 inch while front mounting location of the unsprung weight of the axle remains unchanged, reletive to the ground. So a 1 inch increase in the measurement between front eye and it's connection to the subframe.... what change would that actually cause, can you even feel it in the seat? According to the file you posted, I think I might. I love science, time for an experiment.
 
Agent_Orange said:
I feel like I've been spending too much time on this sight lately.

Short story: my car is riding too low and it's causing issues with clearance everywhere.

When I put together the 8.8, I used taller perches to lower the car with stock springs. Installed hotchkis springs and they lowered the rear even more. Now I love the look of this car squatting, but unfortunately it's too low to be fun.

Currently, she's sitting at 24 ¹/2" inches to the bottom of the lip in the rear, which forced me to set the front height at 24 ³/8".

I'm assuming the best option is to cut off these perches and replace with a shorter option. Hoping to push this off until winter when I have more time.

Option 2 would probably be some sort of front spring hanger that lifts the rear end an inch or so. I haven't found one yet but it looks easy enough to make

Inot sure the cons associated with option 2, and I really don't like the idea of longer shackles. However I proceed, safety and handling is high priority.

Rear end is a shortened 8.8 with hotchkis springs and bilstein rcd's.

Front end has 1.08 sway away tbars, boxed lca's with delrin, qa1 strut rods, offset uca bushings, proforge ball joints, hellwig sway, bilstein rcd's

View attachment 1716099531
Click to expand...
Just use taller shackles, cheap, easy and quick. There is no need to over complicate it, the next option would be buying new springs, which cost more money and takes more time to install. I would try taller shackles first, then make a decision from there.
 
Last edited:
Ant said:
Just use taller shackles, cheap, easy and quick. There is no need to over complicate it, the next option would be buying new springs, which cost more money and takes more time to instal. I would try taller shackles first, then make a decision from there.
Click to expand...
Dad says the same thing...
 
certainly will rasie it but it also increases the amount of leteral movement of the axle in the corners

which may or may not be a problem depends what you want and what you do with the car
 
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