62RDSTR

Good Morning,

Over the last few years I have installed fresh front coil springs (4/08) and new rear springs (9/09).

Last week I took the car around the block and noticed it was very hard to turn left; in addition, the front right seemed low. My initial guess is that I had a flat but there was none.

I pulled in the garage and the front right is definitely lower than the left side. I haven't jacked her up but I did notice a few things from underneath.

The shock mounts on both front shocks wiggle where they connect to the lower A arm. Could this be caused by the springs settling in?

The ride height before all the changes were (as measured from the ground to the bottom of the wheel well):
Front: 28.75"
Rear: 26.5

Unfortunately I didn't document ride height measurements after everything was done. However, here they are as of today:
Front Left: 28.25" Front Right: 27.25"
Rear Left:: 28.125" Rear Right: 27.375"

As you can tell there was a huge raise in the rear and that the right side sits exactly 1" lower in the front.

I've taken the following measurements:

Left inner pivot shaft to ground: 9.75" (Serv Man = 11 +/- .5")
Right inner pivot shaft to ground: 9.625"

Rake Measurement:
Left Front: 8.125" Right Front 7.5" (Serv Man 6.7")
Left Rear: 10" Right Rear 9.625" (Serv Man 8.2")

Middle Headlights to ground:
Left Side: 27.5" Right Side: 26.5" (Noland Adams 28.4")

Yes I know it is a lot of numbers for a Sunday morning. I plan on working on her after church and doing the following:

1) Release/realign the stabilizer links and bar
2) Remove shocks and determine if bad (I'm assuming if they are simple to compress they are bad??)
3) Try to determine if the spring is seated correctly in housing without taking car apart.
4) Take additional measurements on frame components (suggestions)?
5) Check body mounts to see if something is wrong here. Quick question, is it possible to replace body mounts with the body still on? I would think you can loosen them all and work them in but I'm not sure if this is possible.

Thanks you all. This car has been running good for a few years with thanks to this forum.

Jim

5thvet

I think I would try your number 3 first. That seems to be a commom problem. How often have you used the car since you installed the new springs?

62RDSTR

In April 08 (coil springs, stabilizer bushing/links) = 87,700
In Sept 09 (rear leaf, new stabilizer bar) = 88,500
Today = 88,853

Front Springs have 1,153 miles on them
Rear springs have 333 miles on them

jim

62Jeff

The shock mount bracket should be firmly bolted to the lower control arm regardless of spring condition.

The shock as it mounts to that bracket, can get loose however, if the mount bushings wear out.

When I got my 62 back on the road more regularly about a year ago after a long time in hibernation, the lower shock mount bushings slowly started to degrade as I put miles on those hold hard things. I ended up with a knocking noise every time I hit a bump, which proved to originate at the bushings. New shocks was the solution for me.

As for how to tell if a shock is good or bad:
1) Traditional shocks (oil-filled like the original Delco shocks your car was delivered with when new) - If they compress easily, they are bad.

2) Gas-charged shocks (like a Monroe Sens-a-track) - If they don't automatically expand to full length when you remove them from the car, they are bad.

Jeff

62RDSTR

Thanks Jeff,

I'm pulling the shocks off first thing and checking them out. When I did the coil springs I did replace the bushings on the shock so they should be pretty fresh.

Jim

62Jeff

When I removed my oil-filled Delco "spiral" shocks last year, which I'd originally installed new in 1982 - I found it took one finger to fully compress them. They were definitely shot even though they had just a few hundred miles on them over all that time.

62RDSTR

Found two problems so far.

When removing the front left tire I noticed it wiggled. All the lug nuts where tight and torqued but the drum assembly and tire were loose on the spindle.

You could hand-loosen the castle nut until it spun against the cotter pin. I think one bearing (the outside most) was installed backwards. The problem is when you tighten the castle nut to 33lbs and back it off just enough to insert the cotter, the hole in the spindle is too far away allowing the assembly to get real loose.

I added an additional washer and was able to tighten and back off and then insert the cotter pin. The wheel moves freely but the castle nut cannot spin like before.

Once that was done, I removed the shock, compressed the shaft, and there it stayed. It didn't even attempt to expand. In addition the shock mount was broken where the nut attaches it to the A arm.

I'll post more as I take more on. While all of this is jacked, I don't think it would make a difference on height.

jim

JohnZ

You DO NOT want to torque that nut to 33 ft-lbs. and install the cotter pin; you'll destroy the bearings with that much preload. Read the wheel bearing adjustment instructions in the ST-12.

jmschmit

Check the body mounts...had that problem with my 58. Rear was lower took some time before I got the answer, springs ,shocks, tires.Bill.

62RDSTR

Hi John,

I'm using the AIM, B97, which specifically calls for 400 inch lbs (33 ft lbs) and then to back off slightly until the holes align (no mention of additional re-torque specs).

I did look at the ST-12 which says to torque to 33, then to back off, and then to re-torque to 12lbs.

My torque wrench starts at 20 so I'm estimating the second torque measurement but in both cases they call for 33 lbs of initial torque and then to back off.

The drum spins freely at this point. Seems too loose in my opinion but I did it as close to those documents as possible.

Jim

62RDSTR

I'm kind of leaning towards that as well. I was thinking it was a front suspension issue but in all cases my measurements from various parts to the ground are nearly identical.

Jim