Suspension porblem has me stumped....

tweet66 · Apr 11, 2010

This one's got me good(errr) I just replaced the entire front suspension on my 66 coupe this weekend. Put in new lower arms with roller bearing, camber adjustment kit, new roller perches (Opentracker design), new upper arms with the "free" negative wedge setup again from Opentracker, used 620 1" drop coils, and the Shelby drop, and 12.5" 05 Mustang GT front discs. This is essentially the same setup as my other 66 coupe, but this one isn't working right for some reason. When everything is back together the drivers side drops down so low I can't even turn the tires without hitting the fender???? I can bounce the suspension and no difference. I thought the coil spring might have been bad as the coils are more compressed than the pass. side so I swapped in a set of new 480lb springs (for my 65 Falcon) and I still have the same problem??? I checked the towers, frame rails, put in the monte carlo bar and no change. I can't even mover the car without the drivers side dropping a good 1.5" lower than the passenger side. Any ideas????

pyroman · Apr 11, 2010

Don't mean to be an ass, but you're certain you did the shelby drop right?

tweet66 · Apr 11, 2010

Yeah I double checked that as well. I make two templates out of 1/16" steel plate with the correct drop and 1/8" rearward movement. I leave the plate in there (all four bolt holes have a bolt in them when doing this). Only other thing I can think of is the sway bar is disconnected (waiting on the 1" one to arrive) and no shocks. The bar might have a little to do with it but my Falcon has no bar in it right now and she sits level....

rbohm · Apr 12, 2010

are you sure the coils are more compressed and not that you are maybe missing a spacer on the drivers side?

tweet66 · Apr 12, 2010

rbohm, not sure what spacer you mean but the coils is most definitely more compressed on the drivers side. I can get my finger tips between the wound coil on the passenger side but the drivers side looks like staked rings. There's no space between the coil...

rbohm · Apr 12, 2010

try pulling the shock out and see if that changes anything. you might have a collapsed shock.

TeamEntity · Apr 12, 2010

he's got no shocks in it now. Put the shocks back in and the sway bar. but i'm thinking it's in the coil. Post pics of it. if you can. and check air pressure in that tire too.

S-Car-Go · Apr 12, 2010

Swap the springs and see if the problem follows the spring or stays on the same side.

Also what's going on with the rear suspension? Old? New? Worn out on one side worse than the other?

Decurion · Apr 12, 2010

I had some horrendous problems with my Falcon when I used a modified Mustang center link. It would make the tires tow out and compress the suspension, and was totally unsafe to drive. It was only barely better after an alignment. Fortunately it didnt take too long to figure out that I had taken about 3/8" too much out of the center link and it screwed up the geometry. After ordering a new one and cutting to the right length, problem solved. My point is it may not be the actual springs that are bad. You didnt say if you changed anything else, but its just a suggestion to look at everything. You may even try sticking the uppers back in the original holes without changing anything else and see if it changes anything.

tweet66 · Apr 12, 2010

TeamEntity, not sure the shocks would make a difference. If I put them in and it lifts the front end I'd be afraid I'm stressing the shock and just waiting for it to break.

S-Car-Go, I already swapped to different coils. Same results, same side. I did find coil spacers on the old coils but only on the passenger side which is opposite of my problem.

Decurion, prior to all this work the car sat evenly, worked okay and generally rode like crap due to all the worn out parts. The only new parts on the car at the time (and still) are the power steering setup, inner & outer tie rods and sleeves (should have mentioned that in the o.p.). I know it's the springs as I just put them in my Falcon this afternoon and the car sits evenly side to side.

TeamEntity · Apr 13, 2010

were missing something then. none of this makes sense. something must be way off. from what your telling us nothing has changed except new parts. minus the shelby drop.

tweet66 · Apr 13, 2010

Essentially yes, just new parts. Obviously some parts are better than stock but just like replacing all the parts with stock components. Hence my confusion

Decurion · Apr 14, 2010

If you put the suspect springs in your other car and it sits level, wouldnt that kind of rule out the springs as being the culprit? Or am I just being obtuse?

coolblue65 · Apr 14, 2010

there is a spacer that goes on top of the springs between the spring and shock tower. They make them in 1/4" and 1" thicknesses and the are usually made of polyurethane (at least now a days they may have been rubber in the past).

I am wondering if somehow you have one of these spacers on one side of the car and not the other, or if you managed to install two on the same side.

S-Car-Go · Apr 14, 2010

Is the sway bar installed? If so, are the end links the same size? If they are not, it would compress one spring.

tweet66 · Apr 14, 2010

Decurion, that's why I posted. I can't think of anything that would cause this problem.

S-Car, no sway bar, yet.

Cool-blue, the spacers are 1/4" thick poly

S-Car-Go · Apr 14, 2010

Okay, dumb question.. Where the original springs that came out of the car the same or was one longer/fatter than the other?

Even if you drilled the UCA holes wrong, the car would tip and the space between the coils would equalize if they were the same rate. Something is compressing one spring. I'm back to thinking about a problem with the rear suspension or frame damage. Just for grins how about putting jack stands at the same height behind the doors, but unloading the leaf springs and see what happens to the front end?

tweet66 · Apr 15, 2010

Springs were the same thickness and length. I measured that to be sure as I was thinking the same thing... The holes are drilled the same 1" down on both sides, measured that as well. I don't think there's any frame damage. There are no visible signs of damdage or repairs. that's one of the reasons I traded my old Jeep for the Mustang in the first place, that and it already had all teh bodywork and paint completed. I'll check the back end. I have new leafs to put on there anyway.

coolblue65 · Apr 15, 2010

how about taking a ton of pictures and posting them up, this way maybe we can spot something that you are overlooking some how.

tweet66 · Apr 15, 2010

I can do that this weekend. I plan on swapping the rear leafs and standing in a dumbfounded stare at the front end for the weekend

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