The Dodge Challenger Message Board

Dave I took some advice on my 70 and replaced my repro Hemi springs with 1" over stock ESPO springs. The Hemi springs from Year One were at least 2" longer. Thats why they were hitting on the bumperette bracket on the rear bumper! Nontheless the car sits a bit uneven. One side is 3/4" lower. I've adjusted the opposite front torsion bar to balance the car out but it corrected it a small amount. Is their any way to get the rear exact or do all cars with new springs settle with some differences?

I am not the best person to ask as I have never been able to get mine straight!

Which side is lower? It should be the drivers side if anything because R/T springs were biased that way for drag racing.

Mine is a fraction of an inch lower on the passenger side which is annoying. Swapping springs over from side-to-side made no difference.

I would complain to Year One about the springs being too long. That is unacceptable.

Drivers side is too high by 3/4". I figure if they sit level its by chance given the error factor in bending metal and then putting them under load. Maybe resetting them in the bushings when the car is on the ground somewhat vs. tightening everything with no load may correct this. Thx, but it is annoying.

alright; answer me this one...

i have had my car aligned SEVERAL times for the sole purpose of my front ride height. just before the nats i had it done again.

i had a thought that when i kept raising the front end to work on it and relaxing the suspension it was doing something to it.

when i get back from the nats i need to change my oil. so i decide to measure my ride height before and after. i think it was at 24 inches exactly on each side. the inches dont matter but i know they were exactly the same and even on an inch mark.

when i lower it down it is 1/2 inch off on each side. 24 1/2 or something.

i then decided to stand on my front bumber and jump. i jumped and jumped and jumped. i measured... no difference. i then drive it... no difference.

the end result is by raising my car in the air on the jack stands rexaxing the suspension it raisedmy ride height 1/2 inch. why?

When you raised the front all the junk on your dash fell off and rolled under the rear seat thus changing the centre of gravity of your car.

Sorry Von!

I guess it must be to do with the shocks. It may not have been at the correct ride height when you made the first measurement. Did you jump up and down on it BEFORE you made the first (smaller) measurement?

As far as i know the only accurate way of measuring front end height is to take the measurement from the floor to the bottom of the lowest point on the steering knuckel arm (the ball joint bit) and take that number away from the distance from the floor to the inner end of the LCA (the round bit that holds the end of the torsion bar). This second measurement should always be bigger than the first. The number left over is the ride height.

So the inner LCA height minus the outer LCA height = the ride height.

Do the same each side. You can make small adjustments yourself without upsetting anything. If you want it a little lower just turn each adjusting screw out a little. Just make sure you turn it the same each side. As long as you do not go daft and make huge changes it will not make any difference to the handling of the car.

first off, i have no junk on my dash! it is a newly recovered dash from just dashes. second there is never any junk in my car. that is my petpeve. my room can be messy and my shop, but not either of my vehicles. Ok, now that we have that settled...

no i didn't jump on it before. i drove it into the shop after driving it around. i figured since it had been at that height for the trip that it was the height. i measured from the floor up to the center of the fender keeping my tape measure centered up and down by way of the center cap of my rim. i did that with both sides.

with me unscrewing it myself, im afraid i will mess something up

rephraise the "steering knuckle arm" bit. i get the second part but not that one.

The first measurement is from the floor to the lowest part of the bottom ball joint attached to the steering knuckle (sometimes called the spindle)

As long as you move the height adjusters the same each side you will be ok.