"I'll just head home over lunch and add a half inch to those shocks..."
You ever hear us stupid weekend warriors say things like that and just laaaaaaugh and laaaaugh and laugh?
Christ. Why do I do these things to myself? Yeah they're hard to turn, dipshit, you're cranking them against 450lb springs and praying your tiny little spanner wrench doesn't pop loose and break your knuckles.
Fortunately I have bar clamps in the wood shop and those make real nice little extension bars.
Short little drive afterward. Definitely helped. Visually the tires are no longer seated up in the well, they're right at the lip, but I hate fender rub so damn much. Just makes the drive more nerve wracking than it oughta be. The stance still looks good and that's what I was after.
I may try to add another quarter inch over the next week or two but damn, my arms were just shot trying to get the right angle on that wrench to get the spanner to bite and then get the necessary leverage while trying to work from my back underneath the car. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut:
Short little drive afterward. Definitely helped. Visually the tires are no longer seated up in the well, they're right at the lip, but I hate fender rub so damn much. Just makes the drive more nerve wracking than it oughta be. The stance still looks good and that's what I was after.
I may try to add another quarter inch over the next week or two but damn, my arms were just shot trying to get the right angle on that wrench to get the spanner to bite and then get the necessary leverage while trying to work from my back underneath the car.
Pro - tip. Use a floor jack to take the weight off the shocks when adjusting them. Especially going up. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Marcellus:
Pro - tip. Use a floor jack to take the weight off the shocks when adjusting them. Especially going up.
I did.
Had it on the floor jack up front and jack stands on the frame (I fucking hate being under a car; I take zero chances). Like you, I expected it to take all the weight off the springs.
It did not. They were still under load. The drivers side was definitely easier than the passenger side so it's obvious they're under different amounts of it, but they're not spinning free in there by any means.
Must just be tight fits. Old cars are goofy.
There's a reason I swore off suspension work about 10 years ago. I've just NEVER had it go easy on me. And I'll be damned if I'm dropping my lower control arm like I did last time.
Mean strength and anger will get the job done more often than not... [Reply]
Had it on the floor jack up front and jack stands on the frame (I ****ing hate being under a car; I take zero chances). Like you, I expected it to take all the weight off the springs.
It did not. They were still under load. The drivers side was definitely easier than the passenger side so it's obvious they're under different amounts of it, but they're not spinning free in there by any means.
Must just be tight fits. Old cars are goofy.
There's a reason I swore off suspension work about 10 years ago. I've just NEVER had it go easy on me. And I'll be damned if I'm dropping my lower control arm like I did last time.
Mean strength and anger will get the job done more often than not...
Interesting, mine adjust pretty damn easy with the spanner wrench once you lift the weight off them.
Do the adjustment rings have Allen head lock screws to tighten up after you adjust them? [Reply]
Originally Posted by Marcellus:
Interesting, mine adjust pretty damn easy with the spanner wrench once you lift the weight off them.
Do the adjustment rings have Allen head lock screws to tighten up after you adjust them?
Nope. It has a secondary locking collar that tightens up to the bottom -- the same as when you double nut the end of a bolt to keep the first nut from sliding off.
And it has those little thrust bearings between the bottom ring and the spring so my understanding was that it was supposed to move pretty smooth. It don't.
Do you custom cut your springs to fit or anything? I wonder if my springs are just longer and within that coilover 'structure' they stay a little compressed.
Because there's just no other reason that putting the thing up on a floor jack shouldn't have taken the weight off them UNLESS they lower control arm gets to the bottom of its range and the spring is still under load. [Reply]
Because I was always a little bit scared of it. Too much roll, too much rattle, it felt like an old car that wanted to fall apart if I threw the heat to it.
But new suspension, new steering box, a tire with actual sidewalls, the EFI -- it's just starting to feel like a car that I can trust.
Which means I will absolutely do something stupid in it.
You kinda want a vehicle like this to remind you that it's actively trying to kill you. This one really doesn't. [Reply]