Ok guys how come my roadster sits crooked in the front ? Its got a 4 inch dropped super bell I beam and I believe its a super slide spring and it wants to lean to the drivers side? I can see the passenger side shackle is higher off the axle than the driver side? Ive never had one do this. Its a normal set up and has a panhard rod on it and ive checked and its not in a bind or anything so nothing indicates that it should sit weird like it does.. It seems to ride ok .. This is a new one on me and has me stumped .... Dave
dunno exactly, but I know I've got an original 1940 ford rear spring that does that. I figure the spring was in some sort of accident and got tweaked
This is all brand new stuff ??? One thing I did notice when i assembled it was the fact that it didnt take a lot of work to get the shackles in the spring and the perches but still it should all level out when weight is applied.. Dave
did you try it without the panhard bar hooked up?? if the panhard bar is not centered left to right it will make the car lean.
I dont believe so because it starts at the spring and works its way up meaning its all off the same amount. Also the way these springs set in the front cross member something would have to be a mile off before you would see it... As far as the panhard rod goes its not in a bind as it sits but thats a possibiliy.. I guess ill unhook the thing and rock the car round and see if i can get it level and ive done that before then ill re adjust the thing making damn sure its all level in the front.. Thinking back that just may be the problem if its not in any kind of a bind sitting crooked then quite possibly it could be when the car is leveled out. Maybe I just answered my own question But then then is a reason they call me lucky The other option is pulling the spring . Dave
Flipping the spring is probably a better and more direct answer than mine...I was going to say after deleting the sway bar, measure everything then remove shackles and measure spring again. Then study crossmember pocket AND be sure center bolt seats in its hole right... I'd measure spring from center bolt to shackle hole both relaved and with weight, measuring both straight line distance and over the curve. I think I'd want to know exactly what is screwed up so I could watch for it in the future...
You can double check the frame for square with a 4' digital level. Doesn't matter whether the ground the car is sitting on is level or not. Shoot a level at the front wherever you can get the digi-level across. Note the reading - down to the second of arc which is the nice part about a digi-level. Pay attention to which way the "off-ness" is. Set the level under the frame and read again. Compare. Paying attention that the off-ness (I love to invent words) is on the same side. More than likely you'll be off by a few seconds of arc, but a small amount is ok. If there's stuff in the way when shooting the level at either end use equal sized blocks taped to frame or level to allow the level a straight shot across the car. Some good advice here, but don't forget that the rear suspension can make the car sit crooked. Coilover springs matched weight? Same pre-load? Lotta weight on one side - battery, fuel tank, tool box etc.? Panhard on the rear misadjusted? One quick way to check here is to get the rear of the frame up on jackstands and see if the front still looks crooked. Got a sway bar? Even with coilovers on the rear the car rocks pretty easy with the sway bar disconnected. You can take out some of the lean with the sway bar if it comes to that. The ease with which you installed your front spring makes me think it's not the right spring or the heat-treat has one side softer than the other. Looking from here I'd say your axle is straight, but if you're pulling the front spring do a little measuring on the axle to see if it really is straight. And . . . as dumb as this sounds, both sides have matching spring perch bolts height-wise? Do your radius rods have three adjustment points? If mis-adjusted they could be putting torque into the frame. I hesitate to ask this, but . . . are your kingpin bearings assembled the same on both sides? How much of a lean are we talking about?
Its a 4 bar Jay.. Ill have to measure the lean. Even if the spring is a little long making the shackles easier to install than im used to with weight it still should level out unless its a bad spring i guess then ill just have replace it.. The rear of the car is trangulated 4 bar and its damn near level but i expect it to be off a bit with the front leaning.. King pins are ok perches are the same its definitely a spring or panhard rod issue.. Im on it and ill report back and I may even snap some pics tonite if i have time.. One thing id like to add here .. What if you use a dead perch on one side. Then how the hell does the car sit level? How does it know? The way mine is set up the bottom line is the panhard wont let it settle back level or one side of the spring is weak . I say that cause of the different heights of the shackles..... its noticeable.. Dave
Make sure the center bolt of the spring is in the hole in the cross member. Tighten the u-bolt nuts evenly. I snug them up then rotate around, taking half a turn on each one. Sort of like torquing a head down.
had the same problem with a 40--turned out panhard bar was in a bind when car was on the ground--still had a slight lean to driver's side-but I was using an orig. spring with 3 leaves removed--swapped it around--after many years of use the drivers side was about 1/2" lower tha pass side-also as someone mentioned, if the rear spring or suspension in uneven it will throw the front way off.
I was going to suggest checking the ubolt nuts too... see if the nuts on the low side will tighten any more to straighten the spring out. I think it would also be a good idea to double check that the front crossmember is level across the rad mount pads. The frame can be dead level but the crossmember could still be out.
I had a similar issue with my roadster not sitting level in front. Turned out that the chinsy Speedway shackles I was using were over tightened. I backed off the nuts and it returned to level. It doesn't take much of a bind to hold the car on an angle. Driving you would never notice it.
Ok but lets look at this a different way .. if the cross member was out and it would have to be a bunch that wouldnt have any effect on how the shackles set on the spring... The car would just be crooked . This problem can be seen in the spring shackles.. Right now I really dont give a shit about the frame cause of the different shackle height(from the shackle to the axle). Not trying to piss anyone off here but read a little closer as ive already explained this ... Its a spring to axle problem and its visible and it it could be caused by the panhard rod and ill be investigating that tonite.. Same way as the spring mount... If the spring wasnt in right the car can sit crooked but it wouldnt have any effect on the spring shackle to axle distance.. Sorry if i wasnt clear enuff but then I wonder if everyone reads all the thread before they post. Im gonna make sure i get pics tonite too Oh ya no u bolts either i have the new style plate that bolts under the spring .... dave
Install the panhard with the car on the ground and level. You should be able to get the bolt in with no probs once the panhard is adjusted to length. Any chance you have overly long shackles and they're hitting the axle when the weight of the car is on the spring? Saw a 34 pickup at the muffler shop that was like that. Owner thought it was ok and saw no reason to change. And . . . the truck sat off-level, but that could have been due to other things set up in error during the build.
No Jay and this isnt my first rodeo .. Id have caught that .. Heres what I did and sorry but i left that god damn camera in the house I pulled the panhard rod and got the car near to level as it would sit .. Its 1/4 inch off or was.. The spring shackles to axle measurements are pass side 1 inch driver side 3/4 inch... So If you can do math 1/4 is the difference.. BUT... Now we can get into the frame stuff.. From what ive measuerd and looked at the passenger side frame horn is about 1/4 inch higher than the drivers side and that adds the 1/4 bringing the grand total to 1/2 inch.. Yep im a perfectionist and this bugs me.. But.. Ya another but.. The car looked way off to the drivers side the other day when i got home from a good flogging and it acted like it didnt want to settle back in where it was even if it was off 1/2 inch ? ... So.. tomorrow its gonna be 60 here and im gonna go for a hot rod ride and flog the bitch again then ill pull back in the garage and measure it again (by the way my floor is damn near level..) First ill do the visual then ill get out the tape ... I do have to take time to ride the harley cause it needs it ...... Sunday im going to the midget races. I need a methanol and race track steak fix... Dave
Steaks at the race track? Dogs and C-burgers at ours. Geez, I knew there was something about Michigan I was missing.... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I know you've been cowboying before. Sometimes it's surprising what we miss. You know, where the hell is my horse...?
Your also missing the joke Jay.. Yup race track steaks.. Hot dogs.. Oh ya and every track has their own version of world famous nachos .. Dave
Yep, sure did. We call em tube steaks here and in Sunny California. Since this isn't a real drag strip - airport - they have some great food. Same folks who show up at the larger town functions hit the yearly airshow/drag race. The Hog Heaven 18 wheeler BBQ setup is the best. I'll pop a pic of it at the early May Route 66 Fun Run - a three day event with a little over 200 miles of cruising and a car show in old downtown. Some pics of the drags: Daughter waiting her turn. Ten second SBF powered Ranchero. Top eliminator.