Ride Height

[bellingson]

Does anyone know how low the 33 suspension can be set? I'm talking about getting minimal ground clearance.

[erlihemi]

It can go quite low, but other issues will arise with geometry, trigonometry, and butt scuffing. So with "normal" low profile tires on the front the base measurement is about 4.5" ground clearance to the frame. You probably have 2" drop available in front and an inch in the rear before real trouble starts. It gets sketchy though. If you plan on changing it back and forth you will run into toe in and bump steer issues. You also want the stiff springs if you go that low or you will bottom out the coil over assembly.

[DaveS53]

Ride height normally has very little adjustment. If it's set as designed, you should have 50-60% of the shock travel in compression. With a 4-5 inch travel, that's less than a half inch of adjustment.

[NAZ]

If not concerned about handling and hitting the bump stops you can drop it into the weeds and scrape on things you never noticed before. These cars ride very low at full bump. And that aluminum grill is right there waiting to crash into something laying in the road.

However, like Dave said above, ride height is designed into the chassis from the factory. Beside shock travel and bump steer mentioned above, if it's a solid axle rear you also have UCA and LCA angles to maintain at optimal settings too. Varying these control arm settings by lifting or lowering ride height will change the instant center and can lead to undesirable handling issues like rear wheel hop on hard braking and roll steer. And don't forget you'll also be affecting the roll center. If you're not familiar with these terms Google them and find a site with graphics and a good explanation so you have clear picture of how ride height changes can affect the handling. If you can find a tutorial online that gives you the formulas you can run the calculations for these changes before you make them to see what you'll end up with and how that might affect handling. There are also programs you can buy that will do the calculations for you but these are a bit pricy.

The suspension is a system and changes to one part affect other areas. I've made considerable modifications to my 33HR that allow me to lift the rear for bigger tires and still maintain handling.