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Front end just lowered itself.. 1993

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Old Aug 4, 2019 | 06:09 PM
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Default Front end just lowered itself.. 1993

Went for a drive after fixing AC and the car started bouncing a little. Didnt think much of it. Parked it and , well it is slammed now.
I lowered it about 2004 timeframe. I had a ZO7 spring from a Corvette Challenge car so it had no pad eyes on the end of the spring or rubber in center. Pretty much had to raise it with Delrin pucks on the ends to get it to 25.5 inches to fenderwell from ground.
But, its at 24.5 now.
Not sure how it happened. Could the pucks have slid outward towards end of spring essentially lowering it? Ideas , thoughts
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Old Aug 4, 2019 | 07:13 PM
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If it happened that quickly, I imagine the spring broke.
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Old Aug 4, 2019 | 07:39 PM
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Originally Posted by LTxDave
If it happened that quickly, I imagine the spring broke.
I opened the hood and noticed a gap between the rubber grommet and shock tower. Shock wiggles inside the housing.
Can a broke shock drop a car?

Last edited by krackenvette; Aug 4, 2019 at 07:50 PM.
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Old Aug 4, 2019 | 08:54 PM
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You need to examine the entire front end, but if it was mine I'd start with the front spring.
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Old Aug 4, 2019 | 08:56 PM
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Originally Posted by hcbph
You need to examine the entire front end, but if it was mine I'd start with the front spring.
I will in the morning. Just brainstorming. Seeing the shock have a gap there made me think it may be broken.. Going to cover all bases. I will jack it up, and verify everything I can.
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Old Aug 4, 2019 | 09:57 PM
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I decided to check now. Spring is in great shape, no cracks or anything. But look at the bottom bushing of the QAI HAL shock. Kinda thin..
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Old Aug 5, 2019 | 06:48 AM
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Maybe I'm missing something here, I thought from your description that the ride height of the car changed - is that correct or not? This is assuming you have not done anything to the car recently.
Shocks are not going to affect your ride height unless you happen to have coil-overs which it sounds like you don't. If the ride height is unaffected then if the only thing is the shock, then look at the bushing below the mount and see if it's failed as that could allow the shaft of the shock to rise in the opening. Because normal shocks only control wheel rebound, you can take them off and it won't change your ride height. It might ride like a buckboard, but everything else should basically be unaffected.
If on the other hand the ride height is changed, then you need to look into the suspension for the issue. Things that might affect this would be the spring, the connections between the spring and the front suspension, the upper and lower control arms and their bushings along with the ball joints and front spindles. If both sides dropped, I'd still start with the spring. If on the other hand it's only 1 side then I'd look at the suspension on that one side.

Good luck.
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Old Aug 5, 2019 | 07:22 AM
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Originally Posted by hcbph
Maybe I'm missing something here, I thought from your description that the ride height of the car changed - is that correct or not? This is assuming you have not done anything to the car recently.
Shocks are not going to affect your ride height unless you happen to have coil-overs which it sounds like you don't. If the ride height is unaffected then if the only thing is the shock, then look at the bushing below the mount and see if it's failed as that could allow the shaft of the shock to rise in the opening. Because normal shocks only control wheel rebound, you can take them off and it won't change your ride height. It might ride like a buckboard, but everything else should basically be unaffected.
If on the other hand the ride height is changed, then you need to look into the suspension for the issue. Things that might affect this would be the spring, the connections between the spring and the front suspension, the upper and lower control arms and their bushings along with the ball joints and front spindles. If both sides dropped, I'd still start with the spring. If on the other hand it's only 1 side then I'd look at the suspension on that one side.

Good luck.
I am baffled too. The spring looks fine. I looked at both ends.. So far, no cracks etc The pad eyes for the springs are solid delrin, and they haven't moved.
The shocks are QAI HAL single adjustable, and the bottom mount is solid to the Lower Control arm. The upper busing on the other hand is deteriorated, as it is super thin. I am going to put new ones in , just to do it.
The front suspension has very few miles, maybe 5000 miles. It has Vette brake upper bushings, lower offset bushings, and new Ball Joints.
The spring is solid. Cant see anything wrong with it. I have never seen or heard of a OEM spring breaking or sagging.

Last edited by krackenvette; Aug 5, 2019 at 07:23 AM.
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Old Aug 5, 2019 | 11:27 AM
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Okay, I think I found the issue.. I put my hand on the spring where the lowering rubber goes. I put marine epoxy and tape to keep it on the spring, and left the tape on when installed. When I put my hand up there, pieces of rubber, hard rubber, came down. I think the rubber spacer is deteriorating. Couldnt get my hand on the inner side, but I am betting there is allot rubber coming out and its caused the car to lower even more.
So, I guess I need to go through the spring removal process and put another rubber piece in there. It was done around 97, so its had a good life...


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