Hi just finished my luego locost and think somethings wrong on my rear set up.

My Axle sits just 10mm above the 2 chassis rails and the section going diagonal across.

I called luego who said it should be about 3inches above and it might be the fact that i have wrong shocks or that the ride height isnt adjusted right.

So i tried winding up the springs and i may be wrong but im sure this has cause the gap to decrease so its even closer and if i wind it down the spring i would be at the very bottom of the thread on the shock and even then i wouldn't achieve a 3 inch gap.

What have i done wrong .

Sounds like the shocks are too long............

are you using a live axle??,

if so are your trailing arms horizontal??

Ray

I believe the Luego locost is basically a book chassis. In which case you'll not get anywhere near 3 inches clearance.
The trailing arms should be parallel to the ground when the ride height is set, which on my book chassis gives about 1 inch clearance underneath the axle.
Other book cars I've looked at have been pretty much the same.

David

Front shocks are normally longer than the rear, you havent got them mixed up front to rear?
J

Winding up the spring seats will put them under more tension and raise the body, so the gap will close. It does sound like the shocks are too long on the rear. They should be 12"ish between eyes when open for a book setup

Yes its a live axle escort/english axle just like in the chapman book.

I think but couldn't be 100% that the shocks were the same length but springs were different.

Trailing arms dont look completely parrallel they angle down very slightly from the axle to the chassis point .

Should the arms be parrallel to the floor when on flat ground or parrallel to the bottom of the chassis. And this may sound stupid but would this normally be acheived by adjusting the ride height.

We've have a Luego locost chassis with Cortina axle, not fully set up yet, but the clearance between the axle a chassis rail is 50mm.

Right,

1st:

Jack the car up (jack under the chassis with a block of wood on it).

Does the axle casing itself hit the chassis and rest on it on both sides when the wheels are in the air?

Pat...

I will take a look tonight and test this but im sure it does.

I was planning on taking a rear shock out and measuring so i know what were talking about in shock length.

How do i measure the length is it when it is completly open?

Don't take the shock out yet.

See if the axle hits the chassis on both sides.

If it does, your'e shocks are 1" too long.

Take them off and buy another set.

You want the live axle to sit just above the chassis tubes when the shocks are fully extended - which they will be if the car is jacked up, regardless of what spring is on them or how tight the spring is.

Pat...

Well jacked her up and yep dropped onto the chassis rails so got them out and they are about 14 inches and im embarrassed to say that they are even slightly different lengths so now im gonna have to take the fronts out and see what they are !!!

Anyone any idea how long the fronts should be ?

Here's a couple of pics, the 1st on the ground, axle 50mm from chassis rail
Rescued attachment Dscn0992A.jpg

and here's the 2nd at full droop, axle 15mm from the chassis rail. The shock eyes at full droop are 350mm (14" approx apart.

Avo shocks & springs form Luego

[Edited on 30/10/05 by wicket]
Rescued attachment Dscn0994a.jpg

In the last pic, the axle isn't resting on the chassis, so I say the rear shocks are fine.

Pat...

After speaking with Grant at Luego who was very helpful and swapped my shocks and springs no problem, but he was still confused and was adament they should be 14 inch shocks as per the book. Anyway he gave my some 13's and a smaller spring 8 inch to try.

I have just fitted them and yet my axle still drops onto the chassis rail, If i measure the distance between the top suspension bracket hole and the axle suspension bracket hole it comes to just under 13 inches .

Anyway i put the wheels on and dropped it to see if my gap had increased and at first it hadn't so i jump up and down on the car to settle things and then the gap increased slightly to about 20mm.

I then started to set up the suspension by adjusting the ride height so that the trailing arms were about parralel to the chassis.

Now i am back were i started with about 10mm gap between the axle and bottom chassis rail.

I must be doing something wrong here!