I'm building this 55 Chevy truck for a guy here in town. Somebody else put the Mustang 2 under it. I dis***embled it, painted everything, and started to put it back together. The front coils weren't in it when I got it. The front coils have 1 coil cut off, and it has 2" dropped spindles. Look how high it sits, the top A arms touch the coil springs. I thought the engine and ****** would make it sit a little lower, but it didn't. A friend of mine that weighs 270 LBS. stood on the front frame horns and it didn't drop any. We can jump on it and it will go down, but comes right back up. I hope the weight of the cab, fenders, bed, ect. will make it sit lower. To me it should sit at least 3 to 4 inches lower when it's done. I'd like it to sit like this Black one, but the owner doesn't want it that low. He does want it to sit low though.
not sure whose crossmember that is..(manufacturer) but on c/E cross members the springs must be cut to 12 inches in height.. ( if I remember correctly) if you know who MADE the cross member maybe they can tell you what height the springs should be cut at..
when m 2 suspensions are at correct ride height the lower control arms should be parrallel to the crossmember.
That's very typical of MII front ends... especially if the springs are new. You'll be thinking all along the way that it sits too high until you get EVERYTHING on the truck (sheet metal, gl***, interior, fluids, etc.)... it will finally start hunkering down. Then it will settle yet another 3/4" or 1" in the first 18 miles or so of driving. There's no one thing (cab, engine, etc.) that you'll install that will make it drop down to where you think you want it. But when it all adds up together, it will look better.
I had the same exact situation with my '53 Chevy 210. I contacted the company I got my crossmember from and they said the same thing: get the whole thing together and you'll be surprised how much it will settle. They were right - once I had it all together the lower control arms were perfectly level.
One thing I forgot to mention is to leave the nuts on the pivots of the upper- and lower arms a bit loose until just before you do your first test-drive. Tightening them now will add a bit of pre-load so the arms have to work that much harder to settle. Just don't forget to snug them up before you drive!!!!
If you tightened up all of the nuts and bolts on the control arm bushings that may be whats holding it up. You need to leave them all loose so that the bushings can rotate as the front end settles. After it settles then tighten them up. If you dont you risk ripping the rubber out of the bushings.
The 55 Chevy pick up I'm building sits just like yours in the photo. I'm glad to hear that that is normal, I thought that they gave me the wrong coils...I was ready to start cutting to get it to drop.. the cab and doors are on the frame and it it hasn't dropped an inch.
My '35 sedan ch***is sat just like that, it did settle down once everything was hung on it. I still needed to shorten the spring one inch...they were 13.6" new so I went to 12". The car sits fine right now. My frame is from Fatman.
Your 270 pound friend is a few cheeseburgers away from the 1500-1800 pounds you're missing from that bare frame.
That's funny. I know it won't be at ride height with just the engine and ******, but I thought it should have settled some. I'm not going to worry about it. Thanks, Dean
brownsmetal is correct on the a arm being level. there are at least 3 spring rates avail for must 11,mike the coil dia to see what you have for springs, the v/8 springs are probably to heavy for your application and mike out around .600, i always use threaded rod to set the ride height while under const and install the springs last.
Well to be totally correct for "factory" correct ride height the lower arms should not be level. The ball joint pivot should be an inch and a half lower than the control arm pivot. This will put the tie rod at about 3 degrees down to the steering arm. Eh, but what do I know, right?
That's what I was taught Elpolacko.....that's how I set mine up, not a level lower arm. My car rides like a Cadillac.
That's my truck to the left. It has a 83 Mercedes turbodiesel in it with a five speed manual. The engine weighs about 585# fully dressed. It has all that in it and the cab and ac compressor, alternator starter etc. missing the bumper, ac hoses, gl***, interior & exhaust. with all that the springs fatman sent me are fully extended and the lower arms are extended down all the way....about 15 degrees I'd estimate. We cannot get any of it to move with two of us jumping on the front of the frame. The guy from fatman says just start cutting the spring until it sits right. Easy for him to say and I'm paying my fabricator by the hour to pull springs cut a little then install them again and see how it sits? Just loosening the bolts will allow it to move? Makes me nervous pulling springs and cutting a little off then re***embling it. If it takes 12" springs why didn't they send 12" springs?
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