drive it around after cutting the other spring to settle it, I cut a full coil off my stock springs today, it was still high, drove it around and it settled perfect.

 

Hi ,

Ok , tonight i will cut the other spring by the same amount and re-fit and leave it alone until i have had a chance to drive the car , its a little while off yet , still have to put the drivers door back on and all the interior panels in the vehicle , but i am close .

will keep you up to speed !

By the way how much did your suspension drop by removing the one coil , static nothing happened at all with mine the height stayed the same ???

John

 

The upper and lower control arms are attached to the steering knuckle through the ball joints. The spring that is between the arms does not affect their location. So the relationship of the turn stops on the knuckle versus the lower control arm stops does not change much under ordinary suspension build conditions.

I suppose at full jounce and full rebound the designer of the front suspension did not really consider full lock turn and turn stops in those extremes of suspension travel. But that shouldn't be part of your concern.

Jim

 

it didnt drop at all when first off the jacks, even with bouncing it up and down, drove it around the neighborhood and across a few road dips and it dropped to exactly 27" per side measured at the center of the wheel well. That was from a previous measurement of 28 3/8" per side. I think when you drive yours you will see about the same or a bit more.

 

Hi Jim ,

I fully understand what you are saying and agree , because my logic tells me the stub axle is a fixed item with fixed reference points and set connecting points for the steering arm to bolt onto and the locating nib of the casting must have a fixed cast position .

The top pocket is a fixed position on the chassis , therefore the spring can only be used to restrict the upwards travel of lower control arm , which is connected via the lower ball joint to the stub axle (correct?)

The spring can affect the ride height of the car depending on its tension and length . My springs seem extremely tight and were thicker and longer than standard .

I am of the opinion that the problem i have with correct location must be in the stub axle tapered holes that slide onto the ball joint taper . If the lower connection goes onto the ball joint deeper then the whole axle and the control arm , in theory will become lower (correct ?) This has no bearing on the top connection or the ball joint because all the top arm does is pivot up or down and can be made to mate up with top connection of the stub axle and ball joint anyway .

I am going to strip off the stub axle from my 73 vette and carry out an experiment to see if the 80 stub axle produces the same issue on the 73 , if it does not then i am really clutching at straws .

Maybe i am a bit **** over the small difference i have from lock to lock and it is small , but while looking at that problem i picked up that the steering arm was using the lower control arm edge to determine the full stop point and not the GM designed welded stops recessed onto the arm , it just bugged me and now i know about it i wont stop until i get and correct the issue , i dont think most people would ever worry or bother as it has no effect on the steering really , only on my brain

I cut the spring last night only to drop the ride of the car , but did notice the bump stop came up a fraction higher , how i do not know i am still trying to investigate the issue . As i said before the top locator on the stub axle will not go further onto the ball joint and the dust cover that normally be under a bit of compression is loose , yet the lower ball joints cover is being compressed quite a lot .

I will find this problem , you know me after the horn contact / wiring problem that took weeks and two turn signal units before i got to grips with the real cause .

It doesnt seem as if anyone has really had this problem with their cars before , or if they did or have they have never noticed it . Must say the wife is also getting a bit pissed , all she see's is my feet sticking out from under the car for the last two weeks and when i get to bed she is fast asleep already

Jim

John

 

Well guys,

Eventually last Sunday i set out to strip my front suspension off the 73 and fit the stub axle from my 80 to get a comparison to the relationship of the bump stop locations .

The 73 is still complete and original with the riveted ball joints , lots of grime and rust and extremeley locked up tapers . With the help of the ball joint splitter and the good old 4lb hammer i got the thing apart .

I fitted the stub axle from the 80 onto the 73 with the original ball joints and the bump stops located perfectly into place , whereas the one from the 73 fitted to my 80 with its new ball joints did not , it ended up in the exact same position as the correct stub axle for the 80

The issue is definitely with the taper of the ball joints , the lower original ball joint allows the stub axle to go higher onto the taper thus raising the arm with the bump stop into its locator lug .

The next issue is the ball joints on my 73 are also shot so will have to be replaced along with all the bushings I notice that there are different ball joints offered by the various vendors , ones that are identical to the originals at about $60-$70 a unit or other units which i think come in the complete set that i bought with the idler arm and individually these are about $30-$40 each , guess its down to quality and country of origin . (i dont want to get into the China debate , we have the same issue in S.A )

Thanks to all the guys who helped me such a lot Oldlaksman and Jim , i appreciate it .



John