Ride Height Adjustment Questions
 

I replaced the springs and shocks on my 79 with a set of springs and shocks from an S4 so I could adjust the ride height. At the same time I did this I also replaced the brakes to bigger units as well as tie rods, lower ball joints and new larger 18" wheels. I adjusted the alignment as best I could via the "eyeball" teqhnique. The ride height was very high. We're talking 4X4 high. I drove the car around for a few miles and did alot of "panic stops" in order to try to settle the suspension. The suspension really didn't settle much. Heres my dilema.

Today I took out my brand new spanner wrench to lower the ride height. I turned the adjustment nut a few turns and then it got very loose. I was able to lower it the rest of the way with my fingers. The spring perch was not coming down with the adjusting nut. I though that this may be normal so I continued and adjusted the other side. I then took the car for a drive around the neighborhood and did alot more quick stops to try to get the perch to drop. It never did. Upon returning home I found that the adjusting nut is still able to be turned by hand and the perch is still in the same place it was before. Am I missing something here? Is there a trick to getting it to drop? Everything I've read says to not lift the car during this process to avoid having to settle the suspension again.

Another question I have in regards to the adjusting nut. How many threads should it engage at minimum and still be safe? I adjusted one side fine but when I tried to adjust the opposite sides adjustment nut to the same level, the adjusting nut fell off and slid down the shock before I got to that point. It seems that this little nut has quite a bit of load on it during driving so I don't want to make a mistake and have too few threads engaged.

Your help is greatly appreciated. :thumbup:

the front spring perches will rest on the shock body, but you should have the adjust collars atleast 2 full turns of load on the perches.
What size are the front tires? they may have a larger sidewall and thus will add height to the front end.
you could try installing the old 16in. wheels and see where that get the car level.
You might also try loosening the lower control arm bolts and bounce the car or roll it F to B a few times then retighten the bolts.
Also if this doesnt do any good you could always opt to cut a turn off the springs then you will be jacking the shock collars up a bit more

Are these Boge or bilstiens? Your really dang lucky that lower coil plate didn't drop when you where threading the collar down, that spring could have done some serious damage. Do you know... will the lower spring perch ID fit over the OD of the threaded collar? it could be that it is already at minimum designed height and that the lower coil plate will set on the threaded collar as a safely feature to keep from amputation limbs if the adjuster is backed off to far. I would put both the collars on and thread them up until the contact the lower spring perch then try to get a measurement inside the collar to the bottom of the threaded collar to see of the contact at the same height. You could just slide a thin strip of paper up in to the collar till it stop and mark it with a pencil and compare L and R sides. You also may need to put a few more miles on it to get every thing to fully settle.

also if the fronts are Boge shocks it is quite possible to install the threaded ruing upside down. The correct way is to have internal beveled edge facing the bottom of the shock

They are Boges. I have 4" between the fender and the tire. It's not right. It's not even close.

Heres a couple of pics. They came to me assembled but I suppose the PO could have had them installed upside down.

I'm wrong on this. So I deleted my post below so not to misinform.

(that adjustment nut is NOT upside down)

Seriously? :banghead: Dan, I appreciate your help but I'm really hoping your wrong on this one. :D I just got this thing back together. :crying:

So why wont the spring perch drop down. Does it have something that it rests upon at it's lowest setting?

I believe that the nut is install the correct way for a Boge.

I think the lower spring perch is setting on the top of the threaded collar that is located on the shock body. if you look at the id of the spring prech where is fits around the shock ther is probably only a small gap between it and the shock body itself this small gap is not enough for it to pass over the threaded collar; therefore, when you back off the adjusting nut beyond the upper surface of the threaded collar the perch will rest on the collar and the adjustment nut will nolonger control the position of the spring perch.

I hope your right

IHow do I lower the threaded collar? Theres no way its supposed to have 4" of fender gap. I'm looking at a set of S4 shocks that I have in the garage and they dont have any threaded collars on them. How do the collars attache to the shock?

I see another thing the top of the spring isnt fully seated you might try tapping it to turn the perch .
The collar nut is installed correctly but since the top spring isnt seated its possible that the threaded collar is upside down this would only result in the collar sitting about 2 threads higher, so its not a major reason for the difference, to inspect the threaded collar on the shock simply unscrew the nut and see if you inspect the bottom of the threaded ring it should have a bevel facing down

Mmerlin. I can unscrew the threaded adjustment nut but all that talk above about amputated limbs has me a little gunshy since I don't know how this goes together. What stops the threaded collar from sliding off of the shock? What does the lower spring perch rest upon? Is it safe to completely unscrew the threaded adjuster nut?

hundreds of pounds of preload pressure when the coilover is assembled. even fully extended, there is a lot of preload. the threaded sleeve has nowhere to go.

youre right, I was wrong

he already said it came off in the beginning, which i have found to not be possible with my old bilstien, eibach set up. the threads would just hit the body and then stop.

this is interesting.

mk