byrdman454

mrmerlin, I am going to go ahead and jack the car and pull of the wheels/tires and take some pics. Do I need to pull the whole brake system too? What measurements do you want to see?

Mrmerlin

Just pull the wheels off and take pictures of the shocks . We need to see the lower spring perches and the orientation of the threaded collars.
You also need to measure the threaded portion that slides onto the lower shock tube, and measure it from the bottom of the shock tube , this may give you a clue as to why there is so much deviation, It is very possible that something was put back incorrectly OR one or more threaded collars are not fully seated measurment will tell you this.
Also make sure that you have the correct colors on your respective axles The WSM has colors and the models they are for in the suspension section, Both sides of each axle MUST be the same color, but usually front and back wont be the same colors..
Ahh no need to mess with the brakes

Andre Hedrick

I wish Bill Ball and I videoed doing the adjustments on my OB with upgraded shock/struts installed. It got to the point of near 300 pounds of torque to turn the collars.

byrdman454

Here are the pics from each shock. Please let me know if anyone sees anything F'ed up. Thanks

Drivers front:

byrdman454

Passenger front:

byrdman454

Driver Rear:

byrdman454

Passenger Rear:

90 S-4

Mike,
We need pictures of the rear too, I think thats where the problem is hiding..

byrdman454

You will notice that the passenger rear adjuster is cranked way down..see post #17. All of that and it still only moved 3mm. This was done without jacking (weight on wheels). The rear sway bar still attached at that point. I have disconnected the sway bar, but I can move it by hand. It does stick a bit, but I can make the attach point vary, so I do not believe it is competely frozen.

90 S-4

Mike,
It would be helpful to get another measurement with the wheels on and it back on the ground, at that point could you or have you already, taken a measurement between the coil centerlines to confirm that they may or may not have the same amount of pressure on them from side to side.

Mrmerlin

Mike now what you need to do is take a strip of cardboard and stick it up the inside of the threaded adjuster.
This is to see where the threaded ring that rides on the shock tube is seated measure from the bottom edge of the internal ring to the bottom of each shock where the swaged end is.
Try to be accurate on where the lower measurment is taken . I am thinking that one or more of the internal threaded collars isnt fully seated onto the shock

byrdman454

mrmerlin, you post only applies to the front shocks. Right? Do you want me to just take a measurement with a ruler on the rears?

byrdman454

Joe,
I will take the measurements on the spring after I get all of these other measurements taken.

Thanks

byrdman454

I took a long zip tie and held it onto the shock body. I was able to shove it under the front adjuster nut to get to the adjuster ring. The measurements from those rings to the bottom of the shock where the lug starts is the same between the driver and passenger shocks. Is there anything else I can check?

mark kibort

that is very normal for the rear adjusters to be off that much, especially if the car is cornerbalanced.
the seats on the bottom of the front springs look different, but that could be the camera angle.