Technical 34 dropped axle

I don't post very often I usually just read post

Looking for a bit of help and advice on my 34

The setup i'm running is a dropped axle with cross steering and f100 brakes

My question is I recently had a speed shop install the axle, spindles and vaga box

Both the axle and the spindles were purchased and dropped by a shop that I located via this forum

The problem is The passenger tire is fairly straight vertically However it sits about an inch from the outside of the fender

In turn, the driver tire sits about three inches from the outside of fender and has a very prominent
Lean at the top, as it's leaning towards the engine

The shop that installed this put in a vagabox as well as the axle and spindles at the same time

The shop insists the problem with the tires is the frame is one inch out of square also the axle was not bent properly

Just a note, the axle that was removed from the car was the original axle and the tires were even and centered


I did reach out to the gentleman that did the drop and he said, Please send the axle and spindle's back if they are wrong
He would correct them at no charge

He has a great reputation for quality work

I just can't make sense of it

Could anyone think of anything that would cause this problem other than the axle

I apologize in advance for not taking a picture of the car but attached a drawing

 

I had a similar though opposite issue with a dropped Ford axle not having the camber correct. The answer is to bend the axle. Below is the set up I used to correct the issue I had.

 

Pics needed,
On driver side spindle up side down? (From drawing) causing cambering in at the top of tire.,
but not explain off center ! Unless not clamped in crossmember centered...
In how I read ,shop that installed , Not to confident on the insulation/ work performed

 

I hear what you are saying, but if the spindles were dropped by the axle guy - which implies they still have the arms attached - it would be hard to mix them and mount them on the wrong side.

Still, it sound wierd and yes, pictures.

 

Since those axles dont have a front/back....take your front end a part.Turn the axle around,and re-install. If the opposite side now has the problem its the axle. If the fender clearance is still the same then the frame has problems.

 

If I were to take a guess of who might have dropped your axle, I might suspect that is where the issue lies. This wouldn’t be the first time that I had heard issue and happen to know the guy fairly well if it is who I am guessing.

 

Need pictures, could be a bunch of things.

 

Sounds to me like once the axle is corrected everything will be fine .

 

The picture to me, if I’m looking at it, right, looks like the tow in/out is way off! You can get a general idea of the camber angle by simply laying a level across the tire vertically. It should be just about straight up and down

 

His drawing? That's front-on.

 

I had issues with the same drop shop many years ago never again.

 

Since the original axle had none of these issues, that narrows it down to the axle drop work. Sounds like time to either send it back, and hope he does it right, or find another source for dropped axle.

 

The good news is that the person who droped the axle is fixing it for nothing and hopefully pays for shipping each way if it is indeed his screwup.

 

I would set the car on 2 equal size blocks in the exact same place , maybe under the spring perch pins, and then set a carpenters square on the floor, and up against the face of the brake drum. Both side should look the same. May have to get creative with another straight edge against the drum, or what ever you can come up with to figure out if the camber is the same without taking it all apart. If the primitive test fails, then it needs to come apart.

 

I'm thinking my issue could be the shop and the axle. I just got my car home from the shop today

I was not exactly blown away

Here is a picture of the coilovers they installed

Oh and by the way he wants to get paid for doing this


Needless to say this has just turned into a nightmare

You waste your hard earned money on getting things done only to deal with crap

 

You need to find a shop that knows what they are doing

 

You say that the shop worked on the front end of the car and you show us a rear coilover that is broken and not installed properly. Did they work on the rear suspenion also or was it like this.? I'd take the car to a collision/frame shop and have them check out the frame and they can tell you exacly what the problem is.
The weld on the rear shock hangar is a real beauty.

 

Holy cow, what the heck?

 

Yes the same shop did both the front axle and rear coil overs

It's unbelievable

 

Yea, that is some pretty sorry work. Sucks that people try to get away with that sort of stuff. I would be ashamed of that kind of work if I had done it and sure couldn’t charge anyone.

 

I cannot believe what I am seeing.

I'll ignore the rust for now. And the broken coilover.

They've shit welded a bracket to a rusty diff tube, then hacked away the frame cross member and bolted a shock absorber stud to the remaining thin wall. The nut isn't even fully engaged . Then they've used that as the upper coilover mount... to support the car?????? Deathtrap!

Is the brake line squashed at all?

Slap a bit of black paint over some of the rust. What the hell?

Are you sure grown ups did that?

I wouldn't trust them to dig a hole.

Seek an alternative workshop that has experience in this kind of thing. Look at their other work first.

Good luck.

 

That's Re-donk-u-lus! WTF! He should pay the bill for someone else to fix ALL OF IT!

 

Per their website this is how they describe their work

 

Did Stevie Wonder write their blurb? You need to name the shop as a warning to others

 

I don't know what you have to enter to find it, but can't.

And thhere are a lot of shops around Chicago. Including Roadster Shop in Elgin (which I've been to.)

 

Those are shock mounts not coilover mounts which should have support sleeves.

 

Putting work like that out is flat out irresponsible. If that shit fails and someone gets hurt or worse. it's going to be a bad deal, and the old car hobby and the reputation of hot rods is going to suffer even more as a result. I wonder how many other cars out of that shop are out there driving around.

Maybe the owner doesn't know what going out the door? In any case regular shop rates are way more than $50/hr. Does that web page show any examples of his work? What did his shop look like? Sorry you had to go through this. Too many shysters out there. The good news is your car can still be fixed.

 

That's some of the crappiest fab work I've ever seen. And having seen the pictures, I'm not sure the front axle isn't likely their crap work's fault also? Hate to jump to conclusions on what's wrong up front, but I'd love to see what the front setup looks like too, before you send the front axle back, and maybe it's not the issue either.

 

If I owned that car I would put It on jack stands under the body and take out every bit of front and rear suspension and start fresh. Just putting band aids on thing will just make your butt hole pucker up every time you hit a bump or pot hole, When it's on stands with no suspension on it measure from the frame horns to the ground , that's a good starting point

 

Wtf.
Please guys let us know the fab shop.
For safety sake we can’t have this kind of work on the road.
Someone is going to be hurt or killed.