Cregg,
I had replaced the ball joints during my rebuild and I still have a 3/4"
depression of my left side. But with advice from the list I inspected the
trainling arm brackets and discovered the left hand side brackets are put in
differently than the right, lowering the left hand rear side by .2" relative to
the right. But keep in mind that the frame is rigid and lowering the left rear
raises the front right and raising the right rear lowers the front left.
Long story short, I will swap the trailing arms brackets as soon as I receive
some new bolts. Also, noteworthy is that gas usage will change things over
time. I had measured the car with a 1/4 tank , drove it a bit and filled the
tank and remeasured. That weight was worth 3/8" change on the rear
measurements.
---- Cregg Cowan <cregg.cowan@sri.com> wrote:
> Fellow Enthusiasts,
>
> I've made progress on fixing the condition where my car sat lower (3/4" or
> so) on the left side.
> After replacing the usual suspects (all bushings and springs on all four
> corners) I discovered the ball-joint tapers were different.
>
> I installed matching ball joints and am glad to report that the left side
> height is much better! I want to let the suspension components (e.g.,
> spring pads) settle for a few days before I re-evaluate, but my simple
> where-on-the-leg-does-the wheel-arch-hit comparison shows no difference
> from left to right side. This is definite improvement.
>
> The long-tapered ball joint increased the distance between the ball joint
> and the lower spring pan on that side. (Recall that the upper end of the
> front spring fits in a tower rigidly attached to the frame.) It then makes
> sense that the side with longer distance would sit lower, because more
> distance must be taken up to reach balance (I'm struggling for the right
> words here --- a picture would help). The distance I measured between the
> upper ball joint and lower wishbone-trunnion thru-bolt only differed by 1/4
> inch (left/right) with the
> mis-matched ball joints. It seems a little puzzling that such a small
> difference could make 3/4 inch difference at the wheel arch. However, it
> only takes a few pounds pushing down on a fender to move it down a
> noticeable amount, and the wheel arch is much further from the centerline
> of the car, so the effect would be greater there. In any case, replacing
> the ball joints was helpful.
>
> I would be interested to know if others out there with puzzling
> one-side-low problems also have a similar difference between the ball-joint
> and trunnion/wishbone.
>
> Regards,
> Cregg
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