Why won't it go down???

[novajess1972]

Over the weekend I installed Hotchkis 2" lowering springs on my 1971 Nova. However, the front end doesn't seem to have gone down at all. It looks to me as it did before I installed the springs. Is the front going to go down or did I do something wrong? Do I need to change shocks? Please help... :eek:

[sinned]

This keeps coming up....the 2" drop is based on a brand new car ride height, not one with 30 year old worn out springs and sagging frames. The springs are a 2" drop, the problem is you already 2" of wear on your chassis.

[MarkM66]

Shocks have no effect on ride height. Springs wont go down. Gonna have to cut them or get different springs if you want it lower.

[69MyWay]

Are you sure the suspension isn't just hung up right now?

You might want to go back and loosen all the A-arm bolts and roll the car around and bounce on it. After it has fully settled, then properly torque the A-arm suspension bushing and sway bar bolts.

It is common to tighten it all up while on the jack stands. Once you lower it down it is bound up at the bushing. I see guys do this with Corvettes all the time right after major suspension work.

[907rs]

If you find that the suspension isn't binding, it would be a good idea to drive the car a couple hundred miles before you start cutting coils, as the springs will "settle" a little bit.

[sinned]

Yeah, what he said. "Good springs" won't settle but Hotchkis springs may.

[Damn True]

Dude, it says right on the prescription that if it stays up for more than four hours you are supposed to see a doctor. :wow:




Oh, you mean your car......sorry. :rofl:

You ought to drive the thing for a month or so before you break out the cutoff wheel. I've yet to install a spring that didn't settle a bit after installation.

[novajess1972]

Dude, it says right on the prescription that if it stays up for more than four hours you are supposed to see a doctor. :wow:




Oh, you mean your car......sorry. :rofl:

You ought to drive the thing for a month or so before you break out the cutoff wheel. I've yet to install a spring that didn't settle a bit after installation.


Damn True, you are a True Nut! :willy:

It turns out the springs were not installed in the indentions in the lower control arms, so it took a while for them to finally settle into place. I can't tell you how relieved I was (and frightened at the same time) when I was driving and heard the passenger side spring pop into place.

Thanks for all your feedback.

Holla! :yes:

[kp.touring]

Just my 2 cents,
Lowering spring numbers are based on a car with new stock springs.
Shocks do effect ride height, as high pressure gas shocks, like KYB's, can raise a car about 0.5-1", as they work a little like air shocks.
Also some shock fitments are very generic and the shock could be bottomed out.
Kevin

[sinned]

Shocks do effect ride height, as high pressure gas shocks, like KYB's, can raise a car about 0.5-1", as they work a little like air shocks.
Kevin
Ummm, no. I have never seen a conventional shock in my entire life that could actually support 600lbs (average weight per wheel that a shock would have to support in order to affect ride height), I can compress most shocks with my bare hands....or maybe I am just way more badass than I previously thought. If the shock makes an impact on ride height, something is terribly wrong. They also work nothing like air shocks which have a separate air bag for supporting weight.

[kp.touring]

Dennis,
I don't know what you suspension expertise is, but I have been building cars for over 30 years and I have seem more than one car set higher when a set of high pressure gas shocks have been install. You can see this more when they are installed in a car that had hyd. shocks. Also in older Bilstien catalogs they stated that their shocks could raise the car about 1/2".
I am saying that a gas can have the same effect as an air shock, because of the high pressure gas chamber the fluid/gas inside the shock tube is pushing the piston up the tube thus raising the car. The effect is that shock does not have to lift 1000 lbs the spring is supporting that weight, the only has to lift 100-200 lbs. This would be like you lifting a corner of your car by the wheel openning.
Oh by the way some gas shocks use a gas bag built inside the shock body, you know a separte chamber ( like an air shock )


Kevin

[sinned]

My experience is 15+ years (6 days a week/10-12 hours a day) specializing in suspension and brakes. After serving my apprenticeship in a Firestone store where I was designated to spend 10 hours a day in the alignment pit doing nothing but alignments, bushings and ball joints for 5 years I went to Goodyear for a little while than to Dodge to fix the more 3 dozen trucks waiting for buy back due to brake pull and chassis dynamics issues. I stayed another decade or so before moving on. Now I’m ort of on my own managing a fleet for a heavy construction firm working on my own suspension "consulting" business.

No gas charged shock absorber has the ability to raise chassis ride height. It may be that after installing them than lowering the car down it sat higher as the suspension was still unloaded but I think if you measured after a road test you would find no change. Gas charged shock absorbers all work under the same principle; although many have "gimmicks" like precision drilled holes in the upper piston or differently sized slots in the bore depending on how far up the bore the piston travels to change the dampening affect. There are no "bags" inside the shock body, some run twin pistons or different viscosities of oil, some have the ability to adjust to different road conditions via built in limiters or external adjustments but they are all the same fundamentally.

KYB gas-a-just are some of the stiffest shocks on the market (certainly not the best, but stiff) and I can compress them in my hands easily. How are they going to "lift" a chassis (even a light one)?

[kp.touring]

Dennis,
So my Pontiac Grand Am that is .4" higher in the front and 1.0" higher rear after installing KYB's with no other changes and have driven for over a year isn't really any higher?

Well one suspension "expert" to another I guess we will have to agree to disagree.

Kevin

[MarkM66]

I obviously agree with Dennis. I've use junk KYB's, and many other types of shocks, and I've never had them raise the car at all.

If I can compress them manually, all of which I could, (they're stiff, but not with an opposite force, just resistance) they're not going to raise the car.

But a disagreement is fine with me. :thumbsup:

[G-Body]

make sure these springs are seated well into the lower a-arms sometimes something as simple as this is overlooked!!!