1966 fury ..What would happen if I backed out the ride height adjuster bolt all the way to get the front end as low as possible ????
- Thread starter rl000999
- Start date
Then it would be sitting on the rebound bumper. It would have no spring action so it would ride rough as hell. Fine if it will sit still, not good for driving at all.
Dangerous to drive for you and anyone in your path.
What is your goal with this question?
Dangerous to drive for you and anyone in your path.
What is your goal with this question?
bronze turbine
Active Member
If it's the original suspension it's probably already sagging some. Reducing the ride height more would really limit suspension travel and you'd keep hitting the rubber bumpers which would make the ride very uncomfortable. I'm not positive, but you might have alignment problems as well.
67_300_Convertible
Member
Not to mention that you may have new issues with the front tires rubbing on something when you turn the wheel, that you didn't have when the ride height was closer to stock. Ask me how I know.
One thing would be that you realize how undulating "smooth looking" roads really might be.
With the full weight of about 60% of the car's weight (in that nose-down orientation) being tolerated by the two lower control arm bumpers ONLY, the rubber would soon fail and then it would be the metal platform to which each bumper is bonded touching the stub frame itself. Metal ON Metal. Think you've got road noise now??? No matter how insignificant the elevation change might look, it would sound like the biggest pothole you just drove over. IF YOU think it sounds bad, how do you think the car feels after doing that?
Even at factory ride height, there is about 2.5-3.0 finger-widths between the top of the LCA bumper and its contact point on the stub frame, on my '67 Newport factory a/c car. FWIW.
I know it might look and feel neat to "bounce" down the road, a smooth road. One night in the later 1990s, I was driving down a 4-lane city street a posted speed, when I had to nail the brakes as a small Asian sedan was in front of me, dang near stopped, to drive over a double train track crossing. The owner had cut the coils on the suspension struts to lower it, so it was bouncing off the bump stops all the time. To them, it was neat.
When I get in situations like that, at the first chance, I also look in the rear view mirror to see who might be behind me and how close they are. Yep, saw the hood emblem on a '72 Chevy pickup truck in the rear view mirror. Had to modulate what I was doing to not hit the small sedan and keep in front of the pickup, too. We all got slowed down, plus those behind the Chevy pickup, who had no knowledge of why people in front of them were stopped, with no red lights within at least 1/2 mile ahead of us! After they crept over the train tracks, they continued their progress down the street, oblivious to what had almost happened to them and others. IF somebody had not been paying full attention, some bent sheet metal would have resulted. Possibly some injuries, too. Although the small Asian sedan would have been the cause of the situation, driving too slow for posted speed/conditions, because TX is not a "contributing factor" state, the first car (me) would have gotten the ticket, then those that hit my vehicle after that. NOT GOOD!
After the small sedan had made it across the tracks, it did move to the rh side of the road as the rest of us drove past shaking our heads . . . as the three guys went on enjoying bouncing down the road on the bump stops.
Just my experiences,
CBODY67
With the full weight of about 60% of the car's weight (in that nose-down orientation) being tolerated by the two lower control arm bumpers ONLY, the rubber would soon fail and then it would be the metal platform to which each bumper is bonded touching the stub frame itself. Metal ON Metal. Think you've got road noise now??? No matter how insignificant the elevation change might look, it would sound like the biggest pothole you just drove over. IF YOU think it sounds bad, how do you think the car feels after doing that?
Even at factory ride height, there is about 2.5-3.0 finger-widths between the top of the LCA bumper and its contact point on the stub frame, on my '67 Newport factory a/c car. FWIW.
I know it might look and feel neat to "bounce" down the road, a smooth road. One night in the later 1990s, I was driving down a 4-lane city street a posted speed, when I had to nail the brakes as a small Asian sedan was in front of me, dang near stopped, to drive over a double train track crossing. The owner had cut the coils on the suspension struts to lower it, so it was bouncing off the bump stops all the time. To them, it was neat.
When I get in situations like that, at the first chance, I also look in the rear view mirror to see who might be behind me and how close they are. Yep, saw the hood emblem on a '72 Chevy pickup truck in the rear view mirror. Had to modulate what I was doing to not hit the small sedan and keep in front of the pickup, too. We all got slowed down, plus those behind the Chevy pickup, who had no knowledge of why people in front of them were stopped, with no red lights within at least 1/2 mile ahead of us! After they crept over the train tracks, they continued their progress down the street, oblivious to what had almost happened to them and others. IF somebody had not been paying full attention, some bent sheet metal would have resulted. Possibly some injuries, too. Although the small Asian sedan would have been the cause of the situation, driving too slow for posted speed/conditions, because TX is not a "contributing factor" state, the first car (me) would have gotten the ticket, then those that hit my vehicle after that. NOT GOOD!
After the small sedan had made it across the tracks, it did move to the rh side of the road as the rest of us drove past shaking our heads . . . as the three guys went on enjoying bouncing down the road on the bump stops.
Just my experiences,
CBODY67
livininharrow
Senior Member
lower it a little bit at a time until you feel uncomfortable with it than raise it .
When I bought the Max in 1985 he had a low speed shimmy. In 2017 when I was getting him ready to go back on the road I decided to level the car a little. When I got underneath I discovered the left front torsion bar bolt was backed all the way off! I am guessing with the battery on the right side of the trunk the idea was to unload the left front for a better launch! While it isn't level front to back it is level left to right and it doesn't shimmy anymore!
If you think about it, the t-bar, when it's under tension, does a lot to help locate and brace the lower control arm. The front pivot being mounted in a rubber bushing can only do just so much.
So yea, a shimmy could be from the LCA flexing back and forth.
I was at the drags one day and a friend is the tech inspector, he calls me over, "you gotta look at this man's car it is really cool. So I knew there was a catch here. It an A body the guy swapped to a 440. He tells the man to show me the cool car. We walk around looking then he opens the hood. The master cylinder was even to the front of the cylinder head on an extended bracket! My friend told him to pump the brake pedal, the master cylinder was moving around!
The torsion bars were just cut out with a torch, so no suspension. This thing was cobbled together. He didn't get to race that day.
The torsion bars were just cut out with a torch, so no suspension. This thing was cobbled together. He didn't get to race that day.
Last edited:
commando1
Old Man with a Hat
Time to drag this back out.
Retired auto tech
New Member
The ride height setting of the torsion bars has nothing to do with how cool it looks but everything to do with car being safe to drive. The factory ride height is the first step to be done in a wheel alighnment. If incorrect none of the other adjustments work properly. As mentioned above ride quality goes out the window. Going around corners is compromised as well as quick emergency moves causing loss of control. Panic braking will have the rear wheels losing contact with the road as the front bumber tries to stop you as all the weight shifts forward onto the front tires. Ability to steer in a straight line going down the highway gone. You will get very tired arms trying to stay in your lane and will probably find the next cop you see asking for a sobriety test.
The torsion bar suspension in our cars works very, very well but you have to respect what the engineers at Chrysler provided us with. Unlike the cars with coil front ends which need to replace the springs as they go soft, we have those little adjusters to crank up to restore the ride and handling back to what it was meant to be.
When I see extreme modifications done to a car I just pray that no one dies because of it. One of the latest fashions seems to be installing really wide tires on a car and then trying to make them fit by adjusting camber so negative that only the inside edge and sidewall take all the load instead of the total tread width. This is like driving on four hand grenades as the amount of flexing and heat developed will shred that tire art speed. I shake my head at the truck sitting in the ditch because of the extereme offset wheels and wide tires pushing axles and spindles way beyond any angular forces they ever designed for resulting them snapping off when encountering a decent pot hole. How about the super do it yourself body lifts that put the driveshafts at such exteme angels that the owner is happy to replace the u-joints every few weeks as they break never mind having to be ultra carefull not to roll over due to the center of gravity being up in the sky somewhere. But boy does it ever look cool!
Having spent 50 years working on thousands of cars and trucks of every make, size and description I could write an entire book on the many, many unsafe modifications and all of the ramifications' that could result from them being performed. Unfortunately being retired still doesn't seem to give enough time in a day to get everything done that needs doing.
The torsion bar suspension in our cars works very, very well but you have to respect what the engineers at Chrysler provided us with. Unlike the cars with coil front ends which need to replace the springs as they go soft, we have those little adjusters to crank up to restore the ride and handling back to what it was meant to be.
When I see extreme modifications done to a car I just pray that no one dies because of it. One of the latest fashions seems to be installing really wide tires on a car and then trying to make them fit by adjusting camber so negative that only the inside edge and sidewall take all the load instead of the total tread width. This is like driving on four hand grenades as the amount of flexing and heat developed will shred that tire art speed. I shake my head at the truck sitting in the ditch because of the extereme offset wheels and wide tires pushing axles and spindles way beyond any angular forces they ever designed for resulting them snapping off when encountering a decent pot hole. How about the super do it yourself body lifts that put the driveshafts at such exteme angels that the owner is happy to replace the u-joints every few weeks as they break never mind having to be ultra carefull not to roll over due to the center of gravity being up in the sky somewhere. But boy does it ever look cool!
Having spent 50 years working on thousands of cars and trucks of every make, size and description I could write an entire book on the many, many unsafe modifications and all of the ramifications' that could result from them being performed. Unfortunately being retired still doesn't seem to give enough time in a day to get everything done that needs doing.
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