lower my aspen front end

77kickinaspen

77kickinaspen

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the po has it way jacked up i kinda wanna lower it give it more muscle stance do i loosen those nuts on the threaded shaft on either sides of the engine looks like they go thru the k member. i know how to on my a-body but this is a lil more advanced and high tech compared to my 63 if anyone is somewhere where its not wet and cold and raining if they could get a pick of where i go to do this


as seen here its high up there makes the ride feel more boatish then if it was lowerd in my opion is this true?
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thanks guys

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It is much easier if you take the weight off the car. You can use the bumper jack or floor jack on the frame (not the lower control arm). The bolt head is pointing down angled toward the bumper. Bolt on the driver side adjusts the pass height and vice versa. You can do both at the same time just use 2 jacks and count the number of turns. I did my 79 f body one side at a time and I'm lower on the pass side to account for me and the battery. If you open the hood and stare down at the frame rail just behind the radiatoe you may see the threaded tail of the other end of the adjusting bolt (pointing up angled back at firewall)
 
Think this is an M but it's gotta be dang close.
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Close up
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Counter clockwise is lower and passenger lowers drivers.
Found that out the hard way.

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It's a little more involved according to the service manual. It says to loosen the upper and lower control arm bush. nuts so the shafts will rotate. Make adjustment then get an alignment. Most align. shops won't even adjust ride ht. cause it's too much trouble to do it right.
 
jasperjacko said:
It's a little more involved according to the service manual. It says to loosen the upper and lower control arm bush. nuts so the shafts will rotate. Make adjustment then get an alignment. Most align. shops won't even adjust ride ht. cause it's too much trouble to do it right.
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And then you have other, more sleazy alignment shops that will adjust the ride height to set camber because they don't want to deal with the upper control arms.
 
jasperjacko said:
It's a little more involved according to the service manual. It says to loosen the upper and lower control arm bush. nuts so the shafts will rotate. Make adjustment then get an alignment. Most align. shops won't even adjust ride ht. cause it's too much trouble to do it right.
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Not sure,
When I lowered the front end on my Caravelle
All I did was back off those bolts.
Mind you, I didn't drop it more than like an inch or two.
 
If you have stock type bushings, the rubber is captive and must twist as the suspension travels. That's why you're supposed to loosen them. It's diff. with urethane as they become a bearing surface , so they don't hinder susp. travel as much. I would guess for small adjustments it may not be so critical. Just remember, there's only so much "twist" a stock bushing can do before it tears. When the ride ht. is set, there should be zero twist in the bushing, that way it's free to move either way
 
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Reading my '84 shop manual for my 5th Ave, it says nothing about loosening the upper control arm bushings. Or the bottem for that matter. It does say to make sure car is on a level surface, no weight in the trunk or passenger compartment and a full tank of gas. Bounce the front end to settle the suspension, then do your adjustments. Bounce after every adjustment. The ride height on my M is measured from the forward K frame isolator bolt, 12 to 13 inch range. This may be different from an F body, which came with 14" wheels. Your allowed 1/4" difference side to side. Again, do any ride height adjustment with the weight of the car resting on the suspension.
 
I'll have to check, but I read that in detail. I'll tell you what, I did it on Modoba and it was a total pain to do all that with the wheels on. Like yousaid E, car has to be resting on the suspension
 
I have done it on my M's many times, and my Aspen. Like Eric, I have never seen anything in my FSM about loosening anything else, and never had a problem making adjustments.

I have lowered mine several times without taking the weight off the front (jacking vehicle). To raise it is a different story. Helps to take the weight off for sure. I have made adjustments around 1/2" to 1" and not had an alignment, and have not experienced a problem. Any more than that and you would probably want to. I usually just use the top of the front wheel wells as a reference point to get them even. My cars always around 28.5 inches.
 
MiradaMegacab said:
U guys should call Chrsler or go to collage to get the right info. ROTFLMAO
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OMG! IS SHE BACK???!!!

I can vouch for what LSM is saying about taking the weight off the wheels up raise the height....
A lesson learned the hard way.
I needed to lower the passenger side on the Caravelle
Somebody had it out of whack.
What I didn't know at the time was the passenger side is lowered by the drivers side bolt.
At first I figured I was raising it instead, till I walked around to the drivers side
DOH!!!!!
Being a tard I raised it back up with the full weight on the wheels
Never again.
But yes, I did go to Crysler collage and I've never heard anything about loosening anything else.
 
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Partial correction. Your right about the fsm not mentioning it in the torsion bar section. I guess my point of reference came from the upper and lower control arm bushing segment. It says to adjust ride before you tighten them up. When I first put mine together, it was low.
 
so what im hearing is its ok to jack the body weight off the wheels some and then i can lower those down if anything i could walways spray a lil lube on those bushings so they wont break.

if they break they needed to be replaced anyways
 
77kickinaspen said:
so what im hearing is its ok to jack the body weight off the wheels some and then i can lower those down if anything i could walways spray a lil lube on those bushings so they wont break.

if they break they needed to be replaced anyways
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I'm not an expert but I would say yes.
When I lowered my Caravelle I pretty much did exactly what Erics5th posted.
 
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