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What you really need is Miller tool #3895
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-------- Original message --------
From: 'James Douglas' via Chrysler 300 Club International <chrysler-300-club-international@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: 9/12/24 10:34 AM (GMT-05:00)
To: Henry Schleimer <henry.schleimer@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: chrysler-300-club-international@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: {Chrysler 300} Front Suspension FYI - Torsion Bar Height
Henry,
When I was a kid that is more or less the way I did it…until…I took it in for an alignment. An old timer then, c.1978, told me and showed me that unless the torsion bars are at the correct specified height that it can toss off the camber and caster. It also effects the rate of springs.
That is why ever since I try to get that 2-inch book spec correct.
James
From: chrysler-300-club-international@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <chrysler-300-club-international@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
On Behalf Of Henry Schleimer
In my younger days I would lower the front, but with A body, lower control arm bumper has very little travel before hitting giving bad reactions on hard cornering and bumps. Now I set torsion bars to have the car level front to rear when empty. Lets the suspension do its job. I check side to side measuring from centre of front wheel to wheel arch above and can get that even within a few mms. I don’t worry about height of torsion bar anchors etc anymore. Too much room for error. Just my experience.
Henry
From: 'James Douglas' via Chrysler 300 Club International [mailto:chrysler-300-club-international@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
I wanted to drop a note while it is still in my head. When I did the front suspension some months ago, I did the standard height measurements as described in the Service Manual.
I noted when done the front of the car looked a little down in the front.
This past week I had the car on the rack and did a double check of the measurement and it was off by a ½ inch. WTF, I thought that is a lot on a torsion bar system. I had triple checked the height when I put the bars back in.
I made a thick steel box bar to go across my 4-post lift so that I could get real good measurements at the lower ball joint and the inner lower control arm.
Then I did a measurement, then I bounced the front end. Then I did another measurement. It was off by a lot! I went through this for about 45 minutes. I would set the height and measure it and then I would bounce it and it would be off.
After scratching my head, I figured out what was going on. The modern GAS shocks. It is very difficult to get them to stop at the same place when one bounces the front end like one is supposed to after each change on the torsion bar anchor. You must pull the shocks out to properly set the ride height. If you set it to two inches and then cycle the front end and then measure it every time it will be different with the Gas Shocks.
The other thing I noted, and this is for the group on 300J and 300K. The manual tells you to measure from the bottom the lower outer ball joint and then measure the bottom of the housing of the lower inner bushing. You subtract the two and should get 2 inches.
The problem is that the replacement ball joints have VERY different head heights than the factory units. I went into my shed and pulled the factory lower control arms with the joints still in them and they measured 7/8 inch from the bottom of the control arm to the lower edge of the ball joint. My new joints were a 1/4 inch less than these. So, what I did is use the bottom of the control arm, next to the ball joint and I subtract 7/8 of an inch from that measurement. This way when I do the math, no matter which ball joint is in the lower control arm, I am doing the measurement as if the factory joints are still in the arm.
A ¼ inch of heigh difference can be a few inches at the body. Now the car stance looks correct and not nose down.
For me I ended up with 8-3/8 on the left side and 8-1/4 on the right side. So, I ended up using 7-1/2 on the left and 7-3/8 on the right. Then add 2 inches to the above and adjust the torsion bars until I go to that number.
Interesting in that the left and right side lower outer control arm is off by 1/8 of an inch. NOS control arms and NOS spindles. Possibly the wheels or tires are off a little.
My two cents worth. James
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