well ive had this problem with my car sittin funny in the rear. It leans to the driversside in the rear, even when there is no load on the car..... I have taken many...many.... measurements off the rear end and all are about an inch longer on the drivers side. This leads me to belive that my adjustable upper control arms may some how be affecting the leaning problem.... After reading a few post on here, ive come to the conclusion that they are to control the angle of the axle. Not sure if this is right or not, but wouldnt that mean the angle of which the rear end sits in the car??? kind of like controling the up and down motion of the suspension??? for example: when i jack the rear end up, the passenger side tire comes off the ground about an inch before the drivers side comes up. I dont know the manufacture of the control arms, but they essenstial look like a turnbuckle is in the middle.... Dont know if that really helps or not and sorry for the long post, but im trying to figure out why my car leans to the left so much in the back!!!!
i have adjustable uppers.... now how do i adjust them properly???
- Thread starter noslow5_0
- Start date
ok i just looked at these on ebay, and these look identical to the ones i have.... dont know if they are upr, but mine look just like them if anyone can get a picture of how to adjust them....http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2466268463&category=33583
or these: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2467566486&category=33583
or these: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2467566486&category=33583
stangbear427
Active Member
Adjustable uppers give you the ability to fine tune the pinion angle of the driveshaft at the rear end, and somewhat square the rear to the frame. If one side was far enough out of adjustment that one side of the car is a full inch higher than the other, it should be obvious with a quick look at them that they aren't adjusted to the same length. I'd be more inclined to believe you have a problem at one of your springs, but giving you the benefit of the doubt- first of all, they need to be exactly the same length. If they are, that isn't your problem. Not to say they are adjusted properly, just that if they are the same, you're lopsided for some other reason. You need to get the car up on a lift so you can get under it and get a good look at where everything is.
stangbear427 said:
well they both looked like they were within an 1/8 to a 1/4 of an inch of each other. So they are suppose to be the exact same length??? and i just looked at my springs again for about the 50th time today, and made sure both the pigtails were pointing towards the drivers side of the car.... i thought maybe the springs were suppose to be switched or something, cause a guy with another 5.0 locally said that there is a passenger and drivers side spring.... i dont really know though, i couldnt tell much of a difference when i had both of them out yesterday... So i swapped the springs... the passenger side ride height looks like a freakin monster truck, while the drivers side wheel well is filled nice with the tire.... It isnt possible that something in the frame shifted and with my subframes its causing it not to settle back?? i couldnt really tell when i bought the car that it was lop sided, since the passenger shock was missing the bushing at the bottom allowing the car to sit level... by the way i have mac lowering springs....
stangbear427
Active Member
Never heard of the foxbody lean. If it leans, something's wrong. I'm sure when you had the springs out you made sure they were the same? It's possible that it was in a bender before you bought it and it's tweeked somehow, but you're talking about a serious difference. Coilovers would solve it, but that's a rather expensive solution, I know, I have them. There is no reason why you can't fix this with convensional parts. A bent spring perch, cracked torque box, somewhere if you look deep enough you'll find it. Do you still have the stock lowers? Does the rear make any clunking sounds over bumps or on launch? Did you put in the MAC springs? I'm assuming you didn't put in the uppers since you don't know what brand they are. If you did the springs, put the stock ones back in and see if there's a difference. If not, take them to a shop and have them put on a spring rate testor to see if they are up to spec. I wouldn't be surprised if one compresses more than the other- MAC isn't exactly the pinacle of performance spring technology. You can also try cranking in your uppers to the stops (PITA, usually easiest out of the car) and get them even by cranking them down by numbered turns. You want to end up with about 3 degrees angle on the driveshaft, slightly less if you have poly bushings. You can also check your car for square, measure from center to center of the wheels, and corner to corner on the contact patches by chalking them off on the pavement and rolling the car out of the way. Worst case, take it to a body shop and put it on a frame machine. This is frustrating, I wish I could see it.
well i have some sort of aftermarket lower control arms also.... i know there not stock, and by all the other mac products that keep failing on me, im sure somewhere down the line an owner put a set of mac lowers on it...... there rectangular, and look just like the macs... but there is no stamp on them to prove this! ill try to pull the uppers off later on this evening once i get off work... as far as seeing if the car is square, when i measure from the ground (mayed sure it was on a level surface) to the center of the axle, the drivers side is about an inch different!! like i said i didnt notice this before,and the guy i bought the car from said that it had been in an accident a few years ago by a previous owner but the frame checked out. cant confirm this either... so then the uppers being out of alingment wouldnt cause the rear of my car to sit funny then??? thanks stang bear!!!
Here 'ya go. This site has just about everything you'd want to know about setting your uppers, pinion angle, etc.
www.baselinesuspensions.com
www.baselinesuspensions.com
stangbear427
Active Member
Now I'm not sure I follow you anymore. You measured from the ground to the axle, and it was different? The only way this is possible is if you have a taller sidewall tire or bigger dia. wheel on one side than the other. Which would explain everything, but I'd hope you'd have noticed if that's what it was.noslow5_0 said:
Yes, the uppers being out of alignment would make it sit funny, but not a full inch higher on one side. I don't think it's possible to adjust them far enough wrong to cause that, and even if it was possible it would cause the rear to be so far out of parallel with the front wheels that you wouldn't be able to drive the car. The rear would constantly be trying to steer the itself off the road. Why do you have to be in Texas? Not being able to see this is starting to really drive me nuts!
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