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Leans to the left

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Jim_Gruber

Jim_Gruber

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Bugsy, my '68 Sprite has leaned to the left for a long time but it wasn't really apparent to me until I backed Bugsy into the garage and he is staring at me every time the garage door goes up. I did add a lowering kit in the front, springs were replaced with new about 7-8 years ago, but DS sits a good 1" to 1.5" lower than the PS sitting in the level garage minus a driver.

Now I'm planning on pulling front end apart yet this winter to rebuild the A Arms wondering if anyone has reassembled with a lowering kit just on PS to correct for the body lean. Any thoughts on this from the group.
 
Think I would start with a measuring tape and determine what is causing the lowering on the one side. How about a week spring. ie unmatched. Might try changeing them from side to side just for fun.
 
springs replaced 7-8 years ago.......which ones?
Fronts as part of the lowering, or rears?

7-8 actual years is more like 53 in Spridget years, isn't it?

Fix we used to do was jack it up and swap springs left and right.

You have passengers often?
And just how big a boy are ya?
 
175 lbs on a good day. Front Springs were from MOSS, and we don't want to reopen the thread about mismarked Springs and looking like a Off Road Spridget Setup. 7-8 years ago and probably < 5,000 miles so relatively not a lot of wear and tear. Car has 1" Front lowering kit on it.
 
Oh and 98% ofthe time I drive by myself, wife is afraid to ride in Bugsy.
 
Yep- I agree, swap left to right (both front and rear).
I have done it several times (in different cars).
BillM
(PS- Jim, bug my brother to start working on his car!!)
 
I have done exactly what you're contemplating. It works like a champ. I used 3/8" cut washers, each 1/8" thick, adding three to the PS under the spring pans. You'll need of course longer bolts and it can be done without a complete dis-assembly.

I measured the difference in height from the top of the tire to the front fender lip to get an idea of how much lean I had. I figured half this amount should be how much to lower the spring pan from the A arm. I figured wrongly, as it wasn't enough, BUT dropping the opposite front corner from rear sag corner does correct the stance, (and helps the steering geometry i've been told)
 
A bad rear spring will make a big difference on the front. If the right rear is sagging, it will cause the left front to raise up a little while making the right front drop. Measure all four corners and find out where the bad spring is before swapping anything around. Unless you just like tearing things apart for the thrill of putting them back together.
 
Going to be tearing the front end apart soon anyway to rebuild DS A -Arm which Clunks and shimmies on hitting sewer lids. I'll measure spring height when I get it apart and likely swap them. Rear Springs were re-arched by spring shop many years ago when I had the rear end apart. Not sure it really did anything though.
 
The idea is to measure before you tear everything apart. On level ground, measure from a point, like fender openings to ground. Both rear should be the same, and both front should be the same. Being front or rear, whatever has the most difference in measurement side to side, will be the bad spring. Its not rocket science.
 
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