keith72

We lifted and reinstalled the body back on the 72 today. But, after installing mount bolts and rolling around, its still riding too high. I'm positive there's nothing between body and frame to hang up on.

I installed new spacers, 1 shim each mount and new bolts per the AIM. (I didnt bother counting shims on removal cause I know I have to reshim for the doors). I thought it may have been that the suspension needed to settle, but there was no change after a few times rolling up and down the driveway.

I saw a similar post a while back but couldn't find it in the archives. Any help or guidance would be appreciated. Pic should be below.

LemansBlue68

Just a couple thoughts...
Did you replace the springs when the body is off? New springs may have a different arch/spring rate/height than your old springs. Another is that if the trailing arm and control arms were replaced, the bolts that fasten the arms to the control arm shafts should not be tightened until the full weight of the car is on them, otherwise the bushings may be supporting part of the weight of the body/chassis which they weren't designed to do and keeping the body from settling to the proper height.

If nothing else you could look into cutting the front springs a bit and adjusting the bolts on the rear spring but I would check out all other possibilities first.

What work did you do on the chassis when the body was off?

keith72

Good call on the trailing arm bolts. There not torqued, just snugged, but I will check em to make sure.

The front is the real mystery. I know I can adjust the rear with the spring bolts as it looks like I have some adjustment left. But all I did was reinstall the stock front springs in doing the suspension work, and I've been real careful to reinstall everthing right. The front body height was about 2 inches lower than now. Most of the other suspension components I rebuilt with poly bushings, etc., but that shouldn't make a difference in the height.

Thanks for the reply, I'll keep at it.

bruced267

Im having the same problem! I did not take the body off the frame though, or touch the rear suspension. I intstalled 460 front spings incorectly, reinstalled corectly and the car still sat to high front and rear, i then tried the stock springs and still to high!! any thoughts? doors and a hood couldn 't make any difference? Im stuck on this one

keith72

ttt

Maybe someone can help.

stpman

When you replaced the front with poly did you torque the bolts before the body was back on? The car is supposed to be on the ground before torqueing the front suspension bolts.

just a thought

Steve :steering:

keith72

Thanks for the reply. No, I didn't torque em, just snug. I even went back and loosened them a little more and rolled it some and jumped up and down on it. Didn't matter.

any4xx

:lurk:

Gordonm

Is the body to high on the frame or just the car sits to high. You do not have any weight back into the car to settle the springs. Once everything is back in the car and bounced a few times to settle it then see how it sits. Mine looked like a 4x4 until I got everything back in and settled.

keith72

Thanks for the reply. The car just sits too high. I've checked all the mount points, and the body is sitting correctly on the frame. I think I'm gonna do some adjusting on the rear spring, put everything back in and rock on. Except for the radiator, doesn't seem like what's left is a lot of weight, though.

Thanks again for the help.

bruced267

Thats what i was thinking do you really think the doors and the hood seats and bumpers will make the difference? also i got rid off the cast iron heads and intake do you think i will still have to cut the springs? i know this has been on here alot, what springs would you use stock or 460 lb? the 460lb springs seemed to really bounce the front end ?

gr8t73

Looking at the pic it would appear the headlights, radiator, radiator support, bumper, & bumper braces and the hood have yet to be installed. Individually these components do not weigh much but the total weight is considerable and most of this weight is at the very front of the car. Could make a difference. I would reinstall everything and drive it for a while before I started cutting spring coils. Just a thought.

sray454

Hard to tell from the pic how HIGH the body is sitting, but I wouldn't cut anything untill it its completely reassembled. The weight of all the things youv'e yet to reattach will add up. Even paint adds more weight than you'd think.

Remember, spring ratings are the measure of how much force it takes to compress you springs 1 inch. Add up all the weight youv'e got to reinstall and you'll get an idea of how much the car will settle.



[Modified by sray454, 9:26 AM 5/3/2004]

BB68Vett

I had a similar problem when i changed my front springs. The body was way too high and I realized that the front springs were not fully seated and were resting on the shock tower "shoulders". It may be worth a check.

LemansBlue68

Replacing the iron heads and intake with aluminum will definitely take some pounds off the front. I'd wait untill you've got the car back together and then if you decide to trim some off the springs, take just a little off at a time. Remember that if you want to drop the body a certain amount that you must take a smaller amount off of the springs because the control arm works like a lever on the spring. One of the other forum members sent me a spreadsheet that he made up that calculates the amount you need to trim from the spring based on the amount that you want to lower the body. If you're interested e-mail me and I'll forward it to you.

bruced267

I would like to see that spread sheet, I would also like some opioin on witch springs to cut? 460 lb after market or stock. I do know that the stock spring will have more spring rate after it is cut so, Im leaning to cutting the stock spings. I also agree the spring is the last thing I will do, Im a pro at now I had them in and out 4 times this weekend!!!

noskillz

You should not torque the frant either. The end caps for the c-arm bushings should be torqued with full weight on the suspension. Mine rode high after putting the body back on. Also, retorque the rear spring now that you have weight on it. I hear it will settle with some use - I will have to see how it goes.