Mid Year Ride Height

[John M.]

Is there any way to adjust ride height on a mid year? I have "heard" that you can make some adjustment (in the rear) using the castle nut on the bolt that links the spring to the trailing arm. Any truth to this or is there another means to adjust ride height?
Thanks!
JM

[Edward J.]

Re: Mid Year Ride Height

John, Sometimes the rubber bushings on the leaf spring ends are compressed and will cause the car to be lower in rear. and if so just replace them first and re-check the ride height. they make longer bolts that will adjust the ride height but I would not install them.

[Gary B.]

Re: Mid Year Ride Height

John,

Are you trying to raise the rear? Or lower it?

Gary

[Duke W.]

Re: Mid Year Ride Height

Not just sometimes - MOST of the time. Compressed spring link cushions are the number one cause of "rear sag". It's usually blamed on the spring, but this is rarely the case unless the spring is seriously corroded, which can cause a leaf to eventually break.

Compressed and hardened rear spring link cushions also cause high rear ride harshness, and a new set will usually dramatically reduce rear ride harshness. The set costs about ten bucks and an hour or less to replace.

They should be replaced every 5-10 years regardless of mileage.

Duke

[John M.]

Re: Mid Year Ride Height

Gary, (and all), I am really pretty close (just a 1/4 of an inch off on either side, but 1/2 inch from side to side) Have bebuilt trailing arms and new rubber bushings in spring ends and was merely trying to tweak one side (drivers) down and one side (passenger) up a tad. Guess I could play with the bushings but probably should call the whole thing "happy". Just wanted to make sure there wasn't something out there that I was unaware of that might offer and easy adjustment. Thanks to all of you for your help!
John

[Gary B.]

Re: Mid Year Ride Height

John,

Have you ever had your spring out to check the free arch, and given your observation about one side being up and the other down, the arch symmetry? If it's not symmetric, you could flip some leaves end to end and tweak it that way.

Gary

[Gene M.]

Re: Mid Year Ride Height

John,

Have you ever had your spring out to check the free arch, and given your observation about one side being up and the other down, the arch symmetry? If it's not symmetric, you could flip some leaves end to end and tweak it that way.

Gary

I've done Gary's suggestion with good results. But if it fails to give the results your looking for bring the spring to a shop to get the leaf ends"balanced". Be sure to tell the guy what the differences are side to side. He should be able to set the force of each leaf to yield a balanced ride. The front coils should be matched sets. The shop should be able to get them fairly identical.

[Duke W.]

Re: Mid Year Ride Height

The rear ride height - the D-dimension as outlined in the shop manual and AIM - is what you should be measuring. I have the sense that you are measuring from the ground to the top of the fender or something similar.

Due to tolerance of body panels and tire diameters, this is not a reliable measure of ride height. The spring link bolts can be used to make minor adjustements - probably not more than one-eighth inch because the castle nut has to be positioned such that it's prevented from rotating by the cotter pin.

Duke

[Roger P.]

Re: Mid Year Ride Height

Hi John,
I had a similar issue and was able to tweak the ride height to very close to even on both sides by using longer leaf spring bolts. The extra length & threads will allow you to lower one side a little and raise the other side. A few of the vendors sell the longer bolts which come with nylon lock nuts (not castle nuts & cotter pins). It may not be as "correct" as adjusting the spring, but it is a lot easier to do and an inexpensive fix. If you don't like the results, you can always go back to the stock bolts and work on the spring. By the way, your side-to-side ride height delta is within factory tolerance, so you are being a perfectionist like me

Roger

[Gary P.]

Re: Mid Year Ride Height

Put a small spacer under one of the front coil springs.That will even it out.