Tightening upper control arm bushings at ride height dilemma… need some help

[from6to8]

Front Suspension
Were the front LCA bolts torqued without the suspension being loaded? Did you get the pig tails on the springs seated into the cups on the control arms correctly?

Rear Suspension
Are the spring isolaters installed?

The other thing to do is look on the springs themselves and get the model numbers off them and make sure they are the correct ones.

Once you have the shocks back back in and bolted up and the rear lower control arm bolts not torqued, raising the rear end at the pumpkin is that sufficient load to go ahead and torque the control arm bolts? (ofcourse having jack stands placed under the rear end as extra security as well)

If not what are some other ways to load it to torque the bolts?

As with the uppers is it necessary to have under a load as well? I will be swapping out the rear lowers on the 94 to put in adjustable and the J&M's that's on the 94 will go on the 95. With the 95 I'll be swapping in my other rear end and will be doing shocks and struts, ect but for now just asking about load.

 

[from6to8]

And another thing is I thought about having the rear wheels on ramps when final torque but wouldn't it be kind of hard to get to the bolts?

 

[AeroCoupe]

You need to have the front and rear suspensions loaded and having them level helps as well. Yes, it is a pain in the ass to torque all of this with the suspension loaded. What I have done in the past is use jack stands under the rear end as far outboard as I can get them and with the wheels off. For the front I use jack stands under the hat of the rotor (with the wheels off and lug nuts torqued up on the rotor) and then another pair of jack stands under the k-member but not touching as backups. I do not have a four post lift (drive on style) or I would use that as its way easier. I am not saying do it the way I did it but it has worked for me many times in the past.

 

[from6to8]

You need to have the front and rear suspensions loaded and having them level helps as well. Yes, it is a pain in the ass to torque all of this with the suspension loaded. What I have done in the past is use jack stands under the rear end as far outboard as I can get them and with the wheels off. For the front I use jack stands under the hat of the rotor (with the wheels off and lug nuts torqued up on the rotor) and then another pair of jack stands under the k-member but not touching as backups. I do not have a four post lift (drive on style) or I would use that as its way easier. I am not saying do it the way I did it but it has worked for me many times in the past.

can't the front wheels be on the ground if you're not doing anything with the front?

it would seem jackstands under the rear end nearest the axles as you can should be sufficient then and the jack under the pumpkin for safety?

I'm guessing you want to get the rear end up as high as it'll go then place the jack stands at that point?

 

[General karthief]

You're making a big thing of this, I understand you want to do it correctly but don't confuse yourself with paragraph overload, a jackstand on the four corner suspension points, jack the front up to the height needed, race ramps work good for this but blocks and wood work, need the weight on the out board of suspension so under the wheels is best, jack the back up to match the front and place the stands under the axle tubes as far out as you can or use the brick and wood method, torque your little azz off

 

[from6to8]

You're making a big thing of this, I understand you want to do it correctly but don't confuse yourself with paragraph overload, a jackstand on the four corner suspension points, jack the front up to the height needed, race ramps work good for this but blocks and wood work, need the weight on the out board of suspension so under the wheels is best, jack the back up to match the front and place the stands under the axle tubes as far out as you can or use the brick and wood method, torque your little azz off

Yeah the thing I was missing and I didn't understand why was getting or needing to have the front up if you were not doing anything with the front. I didn't think it was necessary to have to have the front of the car up at all so now I see I guess you have to have it leveled all around

 

[General karthief]

Yeah, jack the back up moves the fulcrum point and basically the back gets lighter and the front gets heavier.

 

[from6to8]

Yeah, jack the back up moves the fulcrum point and basically the back gets lighter and the front gets heavier.

gotcha and thanks for the insight

 

[90sickfox]

I've had cars where the front suspension was causing the rear height to be different from side to side. How are your door gaps ? Without subframe connectors it isn't hard to twist a fox.

The factory style arms have rubber bushings with a bonded sleeve where the bolt goes through. If the suspension isn't at ride height, when torqued, it can cause binding. Most aftermarket arms have bushings that rotate on the bolt sleeve. It doesn't matter where the suspension is located when those bolts are torqued. When greased properly the arm and bushing will rotate on that sleeve.

If the rear is still off, after doing all that work, it's qorth taking yo a body shop to have the car put on a frame machine. It really isn't expensive.

 

[from6to8]

I've had cars where the front suspension was causing the rear height to be different from side to side. How are your door gaps ? Without subframe connectors it isn't hard to twist a fox.

The factory style arms have rubber bushings with a bonded sleeve where the bolt goes through. If the suspension isn't at ride height, when torqued, it can cause binding. Most aftermarket arms have bushings that rotate on the bolt sleeve. It doesn't matter where the suspension is located when those bolts are torqued. When greased properly the arm and bushing will rotate on that sleeve.

If the rear is still off, after doing all that work, it's qorth taking yo a body shop to have the car put on a frame machine. It really isn't expensive.

not sure this was for me or the OP but I was just asking for reference of under a load. It appears even when just doing one end of the car only both fr and rr need to be under a load

 

[Mindseye007]

Got everything finished up today. Installed all the new control arms and bushings. I left everything a little loose like you said and took the car on a quick drive around the block.

The ride height got much more even. There went from being about a 2 finger difference between both sides, to now both sides having about the same ride height.

The right tire still sticks out a little more than the left tire though. It’s definitely less than before, but my right tire goes past the fender and the left does not. I’m going to just tighten everything like this, the difference is much better and you only notice it if you really look at both sides.

Thanks a lot for the help everyone

Check out the pics below

I think the tires look better on the rear sticking out a bit for better traction maybe?

 

[General karthief]

'sticking out' does not mean more traction, air pressures, rubber compound, tread design, contact patch and road surface effect traction.
But I do know what you meant
Actually 'traction' is overrated, if you gots good traction then donuts, burnouts and slip'n sideways is more difficult.