Arghh Help :(

[diablostang]

Sooooo, I started my strut/spring/caster camber plate install today, and of course did something wrong.....

I'm guessing I didn't get the spring seated correctly? but anyhow, when I set the car down, it does NOT compress at all... The ride height is LIFTED over stock, when it should be 1.5 inches lower... One possible prob, there was a rubber thing on the TOP of the stock spring, I put it back on... Not sure if I was supposed to?

Pic... H&R Race springs & Tokiko 5 way adjustable struts.
http://img132.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img80679es.jpg

Ride height (sitting on ground)
http://img336.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img80729du.jpg

And check over my C/C plate install to make sure it's ok...
http://img139.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img80685gb.jpg

Sorry for the noobness... This is pretty much the only thing I have NEVER done before... I could swap drivetrains, build them, do all that, and have no probs, but..... THis is unknown territory, lol.

 

[HISSIN50]

So you have two rubber dampers on top of the shock (the rubber dealies are back to back, not on opposing sides of the perch)?

Was the suspension loaded when you tightened the control arm fasteners? If not, it can sit high.

And with CC plates, you dont use the stock strut rubber bushing stuff AFAIK (I DONT have CC plates, so take that for what it is worth).

Otherwise, I would say you are ready to hit the trails with the other Jeeps.

I am sure the other guys can get you fixed up.

 

[95cobraguy]

the rubber thing on top of the spring is the isolator, that should be there, though some people take em out to lower it down some more. definetly make sure the spring is seated properly in its perch. what u could do is jack the car up from the control arm to just get the wheel off the ground and take the strut out and then lower it down. if its sitting higher still then u know the spring is the problem, if its lower then u know the strut isn't set up right. those tokico illuminas come in 2 styles, for stock ride height and for lowered cars.

 

[Chythar]

Sooooo, I started my strut/spring/caster camber plate install today, and of course did something wrong.....

I'm guessing I didn't get the spring seated correctly? but anyhow, when I set the car down, it does NOT compress at all... The ride height is LIFTED over stock, when it should be 1.5 inches lower... One possible prob, there was a rubber thing on the TOP of the stock spring, I put it back on... Not sure if I was supposed to?

Did this a while ago, added springs, struts & cc plates. Let's run thru a few things here, and see what we get

You should have one rubber isolator on the top of the spring, and one on the bottom coil. Helps reduce suspension noise and will lower the car slightly if you don't include them. Stacking two o nthe top would mean the ride height was higher, but I'm pretty sure the spring wouldn't be seated right on the top.

When you took out the spring, did you remove the control arm, or just push it down out of the way? If you removed it and put it back on, Hissin50 has a good point. You have to tighten the bolts tight when the suspension is under load, or the arm probably won't seat right.

When you put the spring in, did you make sure the spring settled in the right spot at both the top and bottom? If the spring isn't settled right, it'll be too high. In my case, I just pushed the control arm down; had to push the spring around a bit to make sure it lined up right.

Also, the bottom of the spring needs to be lined up in the right spot. If you remember, the bottom of the spring isn't flat - the coil just ends in a point. The control arm has a convenient groove in it for this point to fit into. The spring must be rotated so that point lines up in the bottom-most part of the control arm groove. If the spring isn't in that spot, your ride height will definitely be higher. This description may make better sense when you take a look at the spring.

You can see what the spring looks like compressed when you have the car jacked up - put the front on jackstands and pull the tires. Then put the floor jack under the control arm & jack it up. The spring should compress to ride height just before it lifts the car off the jackstand. This will give you a chance to look at the spring while it's compressed, and see if anything looks funny.

Try all this stuff out, and let us know what you find.

At worst, the springs you got could be wrong. I swapped springs on my 94 V6; the company I got 'em from insisted the springs were good for both V6 and GT. Well, he was wrong - the V6 was riding about as high as your GT is in the photos. I had to get a set of springs that were 2 inches shorter, and they fit perfect.

Your cc plate seems fine. Mine came with spacers to change the height of the strut - follow the instructions you should've gotten with the cc plates. However, that won't affect your ride height, it'll only affect how well the strut works and how long it lasts.

 

[diablostang]

Thanks for the replies guys. I didn't unbolt the control arm, left it in.. I put both the top isolator and bottom isolator on with the spring, but I didn't move it around any to make sure it seated right.. I think that's my problem. I did put the bottom half-coil where the stock had been though.

We'll see tomorrow when I pull it back apart. Of course it had to rain tonight, and I don't have a garage, lol.

 

[VibrantRedGT]

The spring has to be sitting in the control arm wrong. I don't even know if its possible to bolt everything back and it be wrong though. Where is the bottom coil facing?

 

[MysteryMachine]

how do you have the isolators on? Dumb thought but the normal molded one goes on top and the tube like thing goes on the bottom. It pushes onto the pig tail atleast thats how i did mine.

I agree with vib its kinda idiot proof when its comes to springs you should be able to see if its seated right.

Where I'm confused is how in the hell did you get the stock springs out without unbolting the CA's. I got lowering springs and I even had to unblot teh CA's an push them down to get them out when I did my other suspension stuff

Oh and on the CA the pig tail only covers the 1 hole. The other is for drainage I guess

 

[HISSIN50]

He probably loosened the LCA bolts but dropped the ball joint to access the springs. But with bound LCA bushings, having the ride height set before tightening is key (it is a pain to torque the bolts like that). Otherwise, the joints are so wound-up when the car is dropped, it sits high.

BTW, dont ask how I know.

Now if the LCA bolts did not need to be loosened to get the LCA dropped (near perpendicular to the ground), that sounds like an issue right there.......

 

[MysteryMachine]

I jacked up the front before tighting the bolts but not the rear. So far no problems lol

 

[Chythar]

Where I'm confused is how in the hell did you get the stock springs out without unbolting the CA's. I got lowering springs and I even had to unblot teh CA's an push them down to get them out when I did my other suspension stuff

Easy. I first take off the front sway bar and the brake caliper. Then I put a floor jack under the control arm before I disconnect the strut. I lower the control arm slowly until there's no pressure left on the spring.

Now that I think of it, I already had lowering springs on the car when I swapped them out for a Steeda set (the old ones were too stiff). So in my case, the old springs just dropped out. With stock springs, I hear this process is a bit more dangerous 'cause the spring still has pressure on it.

Oh and on the CA the pig tail only covers the 1 hole. The other is for drainage I guess

Good point, I forgot about that. and that makes sense too, or the control arm would fill with water & get all rusty.

 

[diablostang]

Well I took it back apart today, removed the isolator... STILL jacked up like nobody's business... I called Maximum Motorsports, & emailed them these updated pictures-


1.) Spring pic #1
http://img445.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img80772pd.jpg

2.) Spring pic #2
http://img445.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img80780gq.jpg

3.) Spring pic #3, overview
http://img143.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img80794mz.jpg

4.) Comparison, old & new
http://img445.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img80805so.jpg

5.) Caster Camber plates
http://img143.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img80838ul.jpg

6.) Fully loaded ride height
http://img445.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img80821jb.jpg

 

[95cobraguy]

i would try putting it together WITHOUT the strut in to see how it sits then. also, like i posted previously, those struts come in 2 styles-for stock ride height and for lowered cars. u may have gotten the wrong struts.

 

[Chythar]

Hmmm, looks like the bottom coil might not be seated right. The control arm has a groove for the spring to sit in. Compare your photo to the photo below it (raided from eBay):

View attachment 488793

It looks like the bottom coil isn't resting in the groove made for it. Basically, the bottom coil should be resting entirely on the control arm. The top of the spring is in the right spot.

 

[MysteryMachine]

http://img445.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img80772pd.jpg

Is this pic suppose to be with the isolator removed? Because to me it looks like its still there. Also not sure what kind of isolators you have but the spring should be like cuped in them. Also when you jack it up tp put the load on the spring you really gotta jack the hell outta it. I jacked mine till it was starting to lift the car before I tightened then bolts.

Chythar: I have 2" lowering springs and i Still had to push down on the LCA till it was on the ground before i could get my springs out. Good thing i was replacing the bushings anyway cause i pushed down on it so hard it snaped the rubber stock ones


EDIT: yeah check and make sure its in that groove right too lol

 

[diablostang]

Thanks everyone for the replies.... Verdict?

It's all back together and working perfect... The only problem was that I needed to get both done before checking ride height.... lol.. I feel sooo stupid...

Lesson learnt... Don't try to make something harder and more complicated than it is

Sneak preview... I wasn't gonna let anyone see it till it was done, but oh well Rears are still stock, they're going in tomorrow. Still got more to do on the car, should post finished pix next week

 

[95cobraguy]

nice side exhaust, looks rowdy.

 

[diablostang]

nice side exhaust, looks rowdy.

Thanks! It sounds awesome too Just short of open headers....