here's what i have:

- yellow konis with threaded collars and adjustable perches ...

here's the problem:

- while i had the car on scales today, i tried to finetune the rear height to corner balance the car.

ideally, i would like to do this with the car on the ground (scales) but the weight of the car prevents me from turning the perches.
i had to jack up the rear, turn the perch, lower the car, roll it off the scale, back on the scale, measure and start over.

what a royal pain in the ass!

and yes, i did use the "monkey wrench" that fits in the recess of the perch ...
there's no way that thing will turn the perch while it's loaded with the weight of the car!


this really sucks! anybody got any bright ideas on how to make this easier ???
Andy

Click to view attachment

A better nut setup that will allow you to use an impact wrench somehow...or a long pipe on a wrench...but the nut needs more meat to grab so you wont slip.

Seems the Nascar guys do this on the fly...
Look at those types of systems.
Rich

Can't you just jack the car up on the scales to where the weight is off enough to turn the nuts? You might try some silicon spray lubricant also.

Charliew

I think nascar uses spring rubbers to change stiffness (and height to a degree) although the car is on jacks. They have a ratchet access in the rear window for what I think is a track bar (sway bar).

deleted dumb idea

it's just that the front is so much easier ...

11 mm nut and ratchet and up and down she goes.

i lubed the threads, didn't help. problem is, with the car down and on the scales, there's barely any room to get the wrench on the perch anyways, let alone room for any sort of leverage.

and to make things even worse, the threaded part rotates on the shock!
Andy

problem is, once you unload the suspension, you have to roll the car to get it to settle again ...

Andy

yeah...it's a pisser. Same problem on my 911 and I have easily adjustable (Sway Away) torsion bars on the rear. I've never seen any shop NOT have to roll the car to settle it out.

I know a guy who tried doing it on a rolling smog dyno and he took just as long....MAYBE saved a few minutes....

those yellow swing arms would look good on my car!

could you use a spring compressor, and some sort of stop that would rest the weight of the car elsewhere while you adjust a little?

This would unload the tension on the height adjuster nut, the car would settle a little to find the stop, then when the tension was reapplied, it would go up, instead of having to settle...

I think black would look better. That way you'd have some contrast rather than blending all of the parts together with one color.
They really are a nice color of yellow, though. They match the Koni's quite well.


Andy, where'd you find the paint to match the shocks? I have the same shocks and want to paint stuff to match.

Humm.....No problem turning the perches with weight on the tire here.

I used grease on the threads tho. Just stick a drift in one of the holes & push/pull. Gotta back off the locking allen screw first, of course. There is a rubber bumper in the hole that actually sets up against the threads to protect them from the allen screw. My perches are a bit different than yours.

Ya'think?


tried the luby thing, didn't help ... maybe my car is just too heavy ...
Andy

Why don't you put jack stands under all 4 corners. Then you could adjust the suspension without having to roll the car off the scales. You have seen those niffty little wheel stands that bolt onto the studs at car shows.

They make wrenches for this sort of thing. They go onto the groove in the collar to move it. I haven't had a problem using them.

Andy, search around the net and I think you could find the large diameter needle bearing rollers that are out there. They go between the spring and the perch; you have a nice roller to remove the friction. I know they exist, but don't know where to specifically buy them or what size springs you have. McMaster-Carr probably has something too with the right ID to match your spring size.

Needle bearings can handle a lot of load without crushing. I bet you may need some sort of race (think hard steel shim) on the alum perch to keep from digging in.

nascar uses spring rubbers to change the effective spring rate, not ride hight, corner weight is effectively changed from the change in spring rate, and this is done on the front only.

the rear uses jack screws to alter the spring to body mount position.

and nascar does not use coil overs.

The bearings are a great idea. They're called Thrust bearings and McMaster has them in large sizes, but I'm not sure of the dimensions so you'll have to look at it yourself.

thanks Mark... it is 2:30AM here, I am about half crocked off pear flavored Vodka (yes I drink girlie drinks but am all man otherwise ) and could NOT remember what they were called Used 'em all the time is Chevies for thrust bearings, you'd think I would remember the name. You put a race between the block and bearing, then the bearing rode against a 2nd race against the cam drive. In this case, I suspect you would only need a race against the soft alum, but get a pair to be safe.

If that is the case (and the same thing happens to me, I just reach up & hold the "threaded part") friction at the spring/collar is not the problem.

Too much time at the key board and not enough time in the gym?

Get a longer wrench. More leverage = less effort.

I used mini furniture dollies from HF (on sale $9.99 @ 1000lbs rated) and then when the car came down off the lift it would settle w/o moving!...worked very well

Seeing as you will probably never use the bottom 1/2 inch of the threaded perch, why no machine that section to grab with a wrench.

What I am saying is either grind it down flat on two sides, or have someone weld up a bit o the two sides to give you some meat...then with two wrenches, you should be able to turn the adjuster and hold the perch.

I would suggest even going so fat as make a special little wrench that hits part of the suspension so you dont have to hold it...just wedge it in there and you can just turn the adjuster.

If you go for thrust bearings, read the weight and thrust properties...they arent made for sitting a suspension on there.
Hardened steel washers (two) would be better than a thrust bearing...a thrust bearing will get all dirty and nasty very fast with all the brake dust...
Thrust washers are hardened.
Rich

like i said in my original post, i *did* use the special wrench ... no luck, didn't turn ...
Andy

yes, tried holding the collar (sp?), still couldn't turn the perch ...


am i the only one having this problem ???
Andy

now there's an idea ...

you'd still need to raise it, but...are the scales flat to the floor? if they were on little platforms with casters on the corners, i think you could settle the car just by jouncing it up and down in place. the platforms would allow the natural resting camber to return by rolling outwards. heavy duty casters and a real smooth concrete surface would be required. weld up some rectangular tube stock with a support across the center to the tire line and a couple of thicknesses of 3/4" plywood.

k

Fricking simple,

All ya need to do is machine worm gear teeth around the edge of the collar and hook up a bi-directional motor with the worm gear to drive the collar around. Worm gears are very efficient so the motor shouldn't have to be the size of the starter....

And the motor will have to be attached to the sprung weight but think how way cool it would be to sit at the light and shake your booty.. er I mean your rear end up and down......

Heck, coupla limit switches and you could have a high stance for highway driving and a squat stance for racing.....

The possiblilitys are endless for a clever enterprising programmer with a laptop and a little script........

Shake yer car's booty in time to the music on the stereo,

An anti-rockin system when you and your significant other are busily engaged in rockin and don't come knockin fun...

and so on...

Glad I could help...

Ken

here's a pic of the scales (obviously not my car on them in that pic) ...

btw, if i just make a little slot in the bottom of the threaded collar and then use a large hoseclamp to secure it to the shock, the collar won't be able to rotate.

that'll leave me with an additional free hand to try to rotate the perch with that flimsy wrench tool thing ...
Andy

Not sure I'd do the slot/hoseclamp trick as described...

1. Yer hoseclamp will ride on the peaks of the threads so the loads will be high Judging from the color, it's aluminum which means the threads can gaul easier than steel. That might lead to rolling or flattening the peaks of the threads and we all hate taking something apart when the threads are screwed. Have a spare collar or nut of the same thread? Cut it in two, and you can place it on the shock collar and secure it with the hoseclamp. Then your load is across the entire thread, not the high point of the thread peaks.

2. Be careful so you don't permanantly distort the shock bore from round to oval, or, by squeezing a permanent dimple in the bore by overclamping. The wiper on the piston might be able to compensate, maybe not.

Have a big assed vice grip with padded jaws? Clamp on the threaded retaner and you might be able to jam or rotate the handle against a part of the body to prevent rotation. Harbor freight. and a little welding, and a jaw surface with 'give"..... Leather? hard rubber block? rubber or silicone hose slit up the side?

Looked at cap snafflers to help hold the threaded ? Those cap snaffler things are used by us old people to grab big assed jar tops that you just can't rotate with a bare hand... Sometimes a little more grip makes all the difference in the world. My wife has some thin rubber sheet round disks she likes.

Ken

nope, i'm thinking big hoseclamp tight around the shock. notch the threaded collar on the bottom so the bolt part of the hoseclamp fits into the notch.

that way, the collar is held into place by the bolt hump on the hoseclamp ...
Andy

Eibach has the needle rollers. Been suing them for yonks. They work well.

2 pairs of these are nice to have, then you can just bounce the car a little after you make changes instead of rolling it on and off of the scales.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/disp...temnumber=45742

Yeah I was thinking the same thing. There is a lot of pressure on the threads and they may have been designed for static operation under load, not for adjusting under load. If they were designed for adjusting under load then you're ok. Does the manufacturer mention adjusting under load?

Andy, this may save some work. When TRG corner balanced my car what they did before they raised/lowered the suspension on a side they pumped up/deflated the tire on that corner to simulate within reasonable limits raising lowering that corner. They did not need to bounce/roll at that point. When they got what they wanted they adjusted tire pressure back and made small suspension adjustments. Then bounce/roll and then rechecked scales.
Andy