johnnybrewmeister

I've been going thru and lowering things a bit. I just replaced a bad mono spring in the back that left the rear ride height jacked way up too high : 30+ inches with 8" bolts.
So now I finally got around to getting a new std. steel 9 leaf spring for the back. With the same 8" bolts the drivers side comes down nicely to 27", which is just about perfect.
The problem is that the passenger side is still at 28.5". Is it common for one side to be that different than the other??? The last 1.5" of threads on that side only brought the car down 0.5", and I've driven the car several miles to get things to settle.
I don't really want to go to longer bolts (8" is enough), but how can I get this one corner down to align with the rest?
Weird.

Rebelrob

I just installed 8 inch bolts on mine and have realized that for every inch longer the bolt is, that does not mean your car will lower one inch. Its not 1:1 by no means.
Why did you lose the mono composite spring? They are the better spring from what I hear.
I think most vettes are off by a little on each side as far as height. I would fill the gas tank up, then check it on a level surface. If its still way off. Get the 10 inch bolts and just install 1 and cut it to lenght if needed and then adjust it to match the 27 inch you have on the other side. BTW , 27 inches sounds pretty low. I bet it looks good. Assuming you have 15 inch 60 series tires. What year is your car?

Alan 71

Hi JBM,
Is there any chance that the driver's side FRONT is DOWN a little which can make the passenger's side rear come up a little?
Have you driven the car some? It sometimes takes some action to make the leaf spring settle.
Just 2 thoughts!
Regards,
Alan

johnnybrewmeister

There is an ancient thread about some bad mono springs increasing ride height way too much. I think I got a bad one, and the rear has been way too high for way too long. My car is a '73. The 27" isn't that much below factory specs, and yes on the tire size (15", 255/60) it looks very nice.

Alan, both the fronts are too low but I don't think that is affecting this corner. I gak'd up the front by cutting too much coil and the fronts are both at 26" now (nuther thread about that). Seeing 26, 27, and 28.5 I can tell that 27 is really the sweet spot for me. And yes, I've driven it several miles.

Thanks for the feedback - love this forum!
John.

MN-Brent

I'm using a new 9 leaf steel HD spring for 80-82 and have cut the front coils 3/4 turn in my attempts to lower the car to how I like it.

In all that, I had to make 3-4 extra turns on the passenger rear spring adjustment to level out the rear which may have been a 1/8 to 1/4 inch adjustment.

I would be very wary of 1.5 inches and look to a few frame to ground measurements in the garage on a level floor with tires all aired up to the same pressure to determine if your body mounts have settled or is the suspension the true cause.

You could reverse the spring orientation to see if the problem follows the spring or stays with the car to rule out the spring as a cause. It may be that you are suffering from the effect of a cheap Taiwan-Vietnam made steel spring, brought in through Canada, and marketed in the US.

ccs96

A couple of years ago there was a lot of discussion about one side being lower than the other on a bunch of cars.
There was lots of speculation as to why, but no definitive answers.

My 76 is 1" lower on the driver's side, as measured from the bottom of the frame. Don't know why it's lower, but I'd like to get it level.
I have even thought of going with height adjustable coil overs, but just can't let go of the bucks to try that.

johnnybrewmeister

Interesting...with level ground, even tires, the right rear frame (measured at the jack-point on side, in front of rear tire) does measure 0.5" higher then left side. It is 6.0" vs. 5.5". So there is some difference, not quite the 1.5" to the wheel well.

Regarding reversing the spring, I had thought of this - but the bad mono spring was higher on that side as well. I had to thread the 8" bolt all the way out just to level things at 30+". Still could be coincidence, but both rode higher on the passenger side.

Regarding 10" bolts...I looked again and it sure looks like this would put the washer/cusion/spring-end into the sidewall. tire size = 255/60/15

johnnybrewmeister

Where did you measure the frame & the 1" delta? Just curious. Yeah man, if Walmart came out with a Sam's Choice version (cheapie!) I'd be all over 'em.
What to look for when frame isn't level? I'll poke around the archives...

Crash80

I thought there was a thread that basically attributed this to years and years of a drivers weight being on the drivers' side of the car causing a little bit of sag on that side. Mine will stit a little lower on the drivers' side when the tank is near empty. It levels out with a full tank of gas. If true or not, it makes for a good story...

ccs96

It's been some time, but I believe I measured from the bottom of the frame just in front of the rear wheels and in back of the front wheels.

Here's a link to more on this::
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c3-t...r-wrecked.html

johnnybrewmeister

'nuther thought...I think I found some mention of this following the frame threads...

Does how tight the front sway bar is set affect the rear height at all? Is there recommended torque settings for this? I haven't seen any...too many rubber bushings for anything really tight.
Interesting how just about everybody who has an issue has the right rear sitting higher than the rest (as I do).

Sway bar? How else to fix?

7t3shark

FWIW mine came from the factory with the right side about 1" high. Needless to say the dealer and zone rep were unable to fix so clamped one coil on right front spring. Getting ready to redo front suspension and will see if VBP GT springs level it out. If not, may go with Sharkbite coilovers.

bashcraft

If you think the sway bar is effecting it, just unbolt one side and see what happens.

johnnybrewmeister

Good idea; quick test, no change.
Thanks.

m010702

Finishing up my resto: Have placed a new, 7 leaf spring in the back with 8" bolts. Left is 29 3/16" and Right is 29 5/8". AIM states a ride height of 27.03". Very little gas is in the tank and the car has never seen the street to allow any settling. Many opinions in previous posts in this thread: should I go with the 10" bolts (if so, does anyone know the size and thread count)....should I drive it a while and see if it will settle out? Thanks for the help.

johnnybrewmeister

Give it at least a little road time before deciding. 29+ is pretty high, 27 is perfect, IMO. Changing the bolts to 10" at a later date is not that time consuming. But you need to be careful about wheel/tire size...I'm running 15" wheels and a 10" bolt would be too long. So I guess I'm stuck with a crooked car, rear passenger won't come down enough.

Aldo_45030

So has anyone ever resolved this issue? My car is apprx 3" diiference from the left front to the right rear. My first plan of attac is to replace the front springs and possibly rebuild the front end. I did find one of the bolts which holds the rear spring to the diff broken and the diff leaking so i will also need to remove replace the rubbers there also.
I would like to drop it some, both front and rear. if i level the car using a jack now, if i measure at the center of the wheel from the ground to the lip of the wheel opening is 29-30" around the car. I plan on running the stock rims and a tire unknown at this time, so how lo to go?

MalibuVLX

I am in the process of dropping my 69 a little. It was off about 3/4" from left to right. I figured mine was from years of having the driver in w/ no passenger. I flipped my mono spring in the back and it sits w/in 1/8" each side now. I put 9" bolts from a C4 in the rear of my car and it now sits right at 27" w/ 235/60/15 BF Goodrich tires. I love the stance. I also put new adjustable arms in the rear to get the camber correct. Before I did anything to lower it, the rear tires leaned in at the top a ton. So, I knew when I put the longer bolts, it only make it worse. $99 from Zip. I live here in Mechanicsville and can run up to Zip any time. No shipping costs.

stumpshot

Here's a theory from my father who was a mechanic all his life. He said that almost all the cars he had seen sat high on the passenger side to compensate for the "crown" built into most 2 lane roads. He also had a theory about how steering was set for the road crown but he told me that almost 55 years ago and things are certainly not like they used to be. Come to think of it, my memory (among other things) isn't what it used to be either.
Roy

C6DuffMan

Wow. Old good thread. I too have a 71 that's about 3/4" lower on the drivers side. I have a new Eaton rear spring and thought that was the cause, but I just rotated it 180 and the lean is the same. And it's not the front springs. If I jack the car up from under the rear pumpkin, it will end up being level. I think it's something with the rear spring mount or the carrier. I tried to measure as many things as I could and nothing stood out. I'm going to resort to using 8" bolts to level it.