ride height adjustment

[AA-ron]

Hello everyone,
I'm sure this topic has been covered many times before but I'm having a hard time finding threads on it. I was wondering if anyone could shed some light on a good approach for adjust ride height on a Roadster. I just finished paint, and its once again down on the wheels, and now I'm "attempting" to adjust the ride height. I've quickly come to the realization that adjusting each corner affects the other. Are there any approaches that seem to work better than others? Right now I feel a bit like that analogy of a monkey and a football.
Thanks

[Papa]

A couple of rounds and you'll get it dialed in. I don't know of any tricks to simplify it. I started on the right-rear then the left. Once the rear was dialed in, I moved to the front.

From my build thread: https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/show...l=1#post395070

[Mike.Bray]

This little tool makes it quick and easy to measure from the floor to the bottom of the main frame tubes.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[AA-ron]

Thanks Papa,
That makes me feel a bit better. I'll keep dialing it in until I figure out the patterns. I rigged up my own measuring device, but yours is much nicer looking
The fronts are tricky to make the adjustments-- not a lot of room in there to work.

[Jeff Kleiner]

You are correct, one corner affects the diagonal opposite corner. If you start chasing it front to rear and side to side you can really get the corner weights all wonky and have the car what I call "cross jacked" which will affect cornering and braking. I use the analogy of it teeter-tottering like a 4 legged stool with one short leg!

Set one end to the desired height and then the other. You may have to go front to rear a couple of times but in the end both collars on the front should be showing virtually the same number of threads on the sleeve left to right. The back should also show the same left to right...but understand that they won't be the same front to rear. Using this method you may find a minor variation in height side to side (we're talking <1/4") but I'd rather see that than making drastic changes to spring tension and winding up with the corner weights out of whack.

To adjust the collars if you raise the end of the car you're working on so that the springs are relaxed they can usually be moved by hand with no tool required.

One last thing...those setscrews to lock the collars down to the threaded sleeves...don't use them! Tightening them down is likely to booger up the threads on the sleeves making them difficult to move should you need to in the future. Once spring pressure is on them they don't move. I've never used them on any of the cars I've done and not a one has ever come out of adjustment.

Jeff

[Ted G]

Can this all be done with body off? Seems like it would be much easier to do with body off, but not sure if the weight of body and all the accessories will affect the height.

TIA

[rich grsc]

As is usual, Jeff is on the money. Both fronts the same collar measurement, both rears the same measurement.
Thanks for saving me a bunch of typing.
Yes you can do it with body off.

[AA-ron]

Thanks everyone! This has all been a huge help.

[egchewy79]

hopefully you haven't done your alignment yet. height will affect this. check height again after several hundred miles as shocks may settle a bit. instead of fancy tools, i cut 2 pieces of 2x4 to my desired front/rear ride height and slid this under the frame to ensure correct height at my corners.

[BEAR-AvHistory]

hopefully you haven't done your alignment yet. height will affect this. check height again after several hundred miles as shocks may settle a bit. instead of fancy tools, i cut 2 pieces of 2x4 to my desired front/rear ride height and slid this under the frame to ensure correct height at my corners.

Also used the stacked 2X4's in front. Added a shim piece to the 2X4's in the back to get the height I wanted. Good idea to roll the car back & forth between adjustments. Also recheck the height after you have a little time on the car as the springs will sag a bit from their first setting.

[mikeinatlanta]

Easy way to get corner weights near perfect with no scales.
Raise the rear by dead center between the rear wheels, remove the rear wheels and drop the rear back down to near desired ride height. At this point the car is sitting on the front wheels and the single point in the rear center.

Adjust the front ride height to where you want with the frame level left to right. If it's gaps to fender you want to go by that's fine too. Just pick a single place to put the level for both the front and rear adjustments. Do not move the level. Raise the rear and put the wheels back on then set it down.

Raise the front by dead center between the front wheels (even with the spindle too) and remove the front wheels. Lower the front to ride height. The car is now sitting at ride height supported by the rear wheels and the single point in the front. Adjust the rears to desired height and the level EXACTY where it was for the front adjustment. Put the wheels back on the front and you are done.

You will have ride height where you want and corner weights will be very close to perfect.

[Ducky2009]

I did four corner balancing to achieve weight distribution, thus adjusted the ride height. Each wheel weight is now as shown in the pics. Prior to balancing, the car rear end wanted to drift to the left (DS) under hard acceleration (would start to break traction right before full throttle/red line). Now "if" it starts to get loose, it goes straight.

Car on Scales - 1.jpg Car Weight - 10.jpg