dICKj
Well-Known Member
Turn the bolt out to lower the front end?
Torsion Bar Lowering
- Thread starter dICKj
- Start date
Scody21
Just send it
Yes. And do yourself a solid, get a paint pen and mark a line on the bolt head, count how many time you turn it...
I'm curious if anything else should be loosened(bushings)? Prior to loosening/lowering?
Cuda Al
Well-Known Member
Just jack the car up first, up or down.
Alan
Alan
Scody21
Just send it
I wouldn’t. Only on the first time when putting in new bushings. For a ride height change, don’t have to jack it up much, just enough to take some of the weight off the adjuster bolts.. tires would still be on the ground..
3406pk
Well-Known Member
Jounce the car by bouncing the bumper to reset height when checking side to side.
67autocross
A new iron curtain drawn across the 49th parallel
Put stands or a jack under it to take the weight off…even if are lowering it
pishta
I know I'm right....
yup take the weight off the LCA, and loosen the bolt, it will not be difficult as there is no load on it. The reduced length of that bolt allows the chassis to sit lower, dropping the front end. Just a few turns will make a difference. roll the car a few feet after you set it back on the ground to allow the tires to track.
Depends on how much lowering is going to occur. For less than a 1/2” I probably wouldn’t bother.
But for more than a 1/2” with rubber bushings, absolutely. The lower control arm pivot nuts should be loosened and then torqued again at the new ride height. It’s just like the initial install, you want the bushing neutral at ride height. If you’re lowering more than a 1/2” then you should also be adjusting the bump stops heights to recenter the suspension travel around the new ride height, and if you’ve got rubber LCA bushings the bushing needs to be “reset” so it doesn’t twist too far in one direction.
Whether or not it’s the initial install or not is irrelevant, the reason the LCA pivots are tightened at ride height is so they don’t tear with too much suspension travel in one direction. If you substantially change the ride height they should be re-torqued at the new height.
And if you change the ride height by any significant amount up or down you’ll need a new alignment too.
This does not work. If the ride height is changed and the car is lowered off of jack stands the friction of the tires once they hit the ground when it’s can keep the suspension from reaching its true height. “Jouncing” won’t fully settle the car, the tires need to roll on the ground so the suspension will reach its true ride height.
.Back in 1963 I tried to lift my 63 Sport Fury
up form clearance on my new Headers with the
wheels on the ground for header clearance.
I stripped the block the adjuster went through
and dropped the K Member on my Chest - Stuck lit a Rat in a Trap.
Please take all the weight of the adjuster before turning it!!
It HURT!
up form clearance on my new Headers with the
wheels on the ground for header clearance.
I stripped the block the adjuster went through
and dropped the K Member on my Chest - Stuck lit a Rat in a Trap.
Please take all the weight of the adjuster before turning it!!
It HURT!
Thank you for repeating this.
Too many people parrot what they hear when they have no direct experience. A height change of an inch or less, the change in the alignment is so small, it is a waste of money to put it on a rack.
I have owned a few of these cars. I had a 73 Duster that I bashed off road. I had the front cranked up and had booster springs in the rear.
When these cars are lifted this high, the caster goes negative even if you're able to get zero camber like shown.
When they are lowered to the bumpstops, you can get a lot of caster but it can be hard to get zero camber.
An inch drop/raise is too much change without an alignment IMO.
I've run my car from stock height all the way down to its current height- lowered about 2" from stock. I do my own alignments so it gets checked whenever I make a change to the height or suspension components. If you change the ride height by more than about a 1/2" without re-doing the alignment it will change your numbers enough to warrant a new alignment.
You can look at the charts that Bill Reilly made when he compared the A-body spindles to the later FMJ spindles, he showed all the alignment changes based on dive and rise. If you're lowering the car you can just look at the dive numbers for the amount you want to lower and see clearly how much the alignment has changed. For example, a 1/2" of dive on the car used in the article almost doubled the caster for both the A and FMJ spindles (adding almost 1°). And the caster went negative by .14° or .26° depending on the spindle (although that's a good thing unless you're still running bias ply's, 0 camber and radials is not the best choice). Negative camber gain is better with the FMJ's. Toe changes are also more significant with the FMJ spindles, making the need for a new alignment at the 1/2" mark more significant. You can see all the numbers yourself here Swapping Disc-Brake Spindles - Mopar Muscle Magazine
Bottom line is, if you care about how your car handles and you lower (or raise) it a 1/2" or more, you should get an alignment. No, it won't peel the tread off of your tires, but a 1° change in caster changes handling. So can a 1/4° change in camber, and so can a 1/32" change in toe. And that's just at a 1/2" drop. Granted if you have stock alignment specs the changes from a 1/2" drop are an improvement. But if your alignment is already set where it should be it's a big enough change to want it corrected.
You should also upgrade your torsion bars to lower any amount from stock. The stock torsion bars are too soft even at stock height, you use the bump stops quite a bit. Lower the car a 1/2" and you'll be using those bump stops a lot more, which hurts ride quality. If you lower the car and want the suspension to function normally, the torsion bar diameter needs to be increased. For the 2" drop I run I use 1.12" bars.
cudamark
Well-Known Member
Yup, and lube those bolt threads REAL good!
How much lower than factory ride height are you going for and why ? The best way (best?) would be to use lowered spindles. That would not affect your front end alignment specs or ride and maintain full suspension travel (until you hit a big bump) and ouch the pan...
This ^^^^^
You must take the weight off the suspension before adjusting the torsion bar height adjusters up or down as adjusting them either way with the weight on the suspension will damage the threads.
They're idiots. Consider the source.
dICKj
Well-Known Member
I am actually not lowering the car. I raised it up about two years ago for clearance on temporary tires that rubbed a lot. I remembered how many turns, but I couldn't remember clockwise or counterclockwise. Just got too old I guess.
