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Author: Subject: How to adjust ride height
speedyxjs

posted on 13/3/08 at 09:51 AM Reply With Quote
How to adjust ride height

Im using my donors rear axle but when i mount it im a bit worried the back of the car may be too low.
Can i just increase the length of the shocks to adjust the ride height?





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Mr Whippy

posted on 13/3/08 at 09:57 AM Reply With Quote
would this not wear out the drive shaft joints? having to flex so much, usually you would try to keep them as level as possible.

no pictures of the set up? how about moving the mounts lower on the chassis.

[Edited on 13/3/08 by Mr Whippy]





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speedyxjs

posted on 13/3/08 at 10:12 AM Reply With Quote
Sorry no pics im at work. The mounts are on the diff so i cant lower it or the diff will be too low to the ground. It is about 2 inches higher than the book





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Mr Whippy

posted on 13/3/08 at 10:41 AM Reply With Quote
Really you have only three options

1) Relocate the suspension assembly in the chassis, more welding?

or

2) Jack up the coilovers, but increase the joint wear

or

3) Smaller diameter wheels





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speedyxjs

posted on 13/3/08 at 10:45 AM Reply With Quote
Option 3 looks good but not quite sure what you mean. Do you mean 15" fron and 16" back or smaller all round?
Any idea's how much extra wear would occur with option 2?





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RazMan

posted on 13/3/08 at 10:59 AM Reply With Quote
Are the driveshafts level when the car is on the ground? In theory this is your ideal ride height and if you need to go lower then you might have to go for smaller wheels or lower profile tyres.





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Mr Whippy

posted on 13/3/08 at 11:12 AM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by speedyxjs
Option 3 looks good but not quite sure what you mean. Do you mean 15" fron and 16" back or smaller all round?
Any idea's how much extra wear would occur with option 2?


I thought you needed to go higher? what do you mean smaller all round? 17" rims on this beasty is what you want, it's a bigger car than normal anyway and small rims will look mega small on it. With that torque your poor like joints will wear out in no time, rather like doing city driving in a FWD car blasts through joints.





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Fred W B

posted on 13/3/08 at 11:14 AM Reply With Quote
Ive read somewhere that the typical car CV joint will live quite happily as long as you keep under 10 degrees deflection at ride height

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Fred W B





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speedyxjs

posted on 13/3/08 at 11:22 AM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Mr Whippy
quote:
Originally posted by speedyxjs
Option 3 looks good but not quite sure what you mean. Do you mean 15" fron and 16" back or smaller all round?
Any idea's how much extra wear would occur with option 2?


it's a bigger car than normal anyway and small rims will look mega small on it. With that torque your poor like joints will wear out in no time, rather like doing city driving in a FWD car blasts through joints.


Good point. I was going to go with the 16's i took of my tintop but surly just getting highter profile tyres would do the same?





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RazMan

posted on 13/3/08 at 11:24 AM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Fred W B
Ive read somewhere that the typical car CV joint will live quite happily as long as you keep under 10 degrees deflection at ride height



Sounds about right Fred, but watch the CV boots as they can distort and burst at extreme (15 degrees max) angles. I lost a few CV boots until I discovered the high speed ones from GKN.





Cheers,
Raz

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Mr Whippy

posted on 13/3/08 at 11:40 AM Reply With Quote
Yeah you could change the profile, that's what I'm doing with my bluebird due to the noise and harshness of the ride. The low profiles suck anyway on normal bad roads; keep expecting the wheels to shatter either that or my bones . Another thing that that you see is the tyres are too narrow for the rims, how many times do you see cars with the wheel rim actually wider than the tyre! No wonder they get damaged.





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Delinquent

posted on 13/3/08 at 11:55 AM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by RazMan
quote:
Originally posted by Fred W B
Ive read somewhere that the typical car CV joint will live quite happily as long as you keep under 10 degrees deflection at ride height



Sounds about right Fred, but watch the CV boots as they can distort and burst at extreme (15 degrees max) angles. I lost a few CV boots until I discovered the high speed ones from GKN.


I've been told the same, but interestingly I've also been told that they shouldn't be run exactly parallel at ride height as it can create odd wear characteristics. Not sure on that one though!

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