Car lower on the passenger side

Discussion in 'Pro-Touring' started by James66Skylark, Sep 21, 2017.

  1. James66Skylark

    James66Skylark Well-Known Member

    The car sits about an inch lower on the passenger side in the front and about 1.5 inches lower on the passenger side on the back. I just replaced the rear shocks and springs.

    I was looking around and the front body passenger side body mount located right at the front of the car is almost gone. Not much left to it where the drivers side mount looks almost new.

    I wonder if its the body mounts causing this issue. Is there anything else I should look for?

    Thanks.
     
  2. wkillgs

    wkillgs Gold Level Contributor

    Measure the height of the frame to the ground. That will tell you if the body mount is the problem.
    I know you just put new rear springs in. Sometimes they aren't matched perfectly. You can try swapping them left-right, or shim the low side (shim between the spring and the spring seat on the rear axle). But you might have a problem with the front which affects the rear. Check to ensure the front springs are in the proper position and not bowed off to one side. It's possible to put a spring in wrong. The very end of the spring should be in a recess in the frame. Or it could be out of the frame seat by an inch and really throw off the height. Bad/wrong shocks or something in the suspension binding up can cause it to not sit right. Bounce the car at each corner and observe if it seems to move freely.
    I'll guess you don't have different size tires side-to side!
    A cheap band-aid for a front spring problem is to put some of those screw-in spring spacers to raise the low side.

    Try putting the front of the car up on jack stands at the front frame horns, and see if the car sits level. Then try the same at the back. This will eliminate the individual spring and tell you if the problem is elsewhere.
     
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  3. James66Skylark

    James66Skylark Well-Known Member

    Ok I'll try to measure from the floor to the frame and the. Jack up the front end.

    I looked again tonight at those front body mounts and the passenger side looks crushed. Not much left to it while the drivers side looks solid.

    The back springs look to be seated proper as I looked those over as well.
     
  4. 64 skylark mike

    64 skylark mike Well-Known Member

    I had similar problem. Rear springs helped. I also found one of the front control arm bushings worn real bad. No doubt, bad body mounts would contribute to the problem too. Once I rebuilt the front suspension, including all the bushings and coil springs, the car leveled out pretty close. I have some partially collapsed body mounts, and I imagine that is the reason for the remainder of differences.

    You have to remember, if the front passenger corner goes down, the rear driver's corner is coming up some too. So that makes the difference add up in the rear too.
     
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  5. James66Skylark

    James66Skylark Well-Known Member

    Ok I will take a look at the front suspension as well. Its a little greasy under there lol I'll just need to clean it off.
     
  6. 64 skylark mike

    64 skylark mike Well-Known Member

    101_3132.JPG 101_3133.JPG 101_3134.JPG I couldn't see how bad that bushing was until I started tearing it apart.
     
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  7. Smokey15

    Smokey15 So old that I use AARP bolts.

    I'd replace all the body/frame bushings. Lube them well for a few days prior. And use a bit of heat to remove them. The captured washers in the floor pan are notorious for becoming "uncaptured". I had to cut the floor from the interior on my '67 Skylark. Just welded pieces back in. New mounts made a lot of difference. Worth the effort.
     
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  8. James66Skylark

    James66Skylark Well-Known Member

    Looking at it the other night I believe the body mounts by the doors on both sides are rotted. So it looks like I might have to have someone professional fix that. The passenger side does look worse.
     
    Richie likes this.
  9. James66Skylark

    James66Skylark Well-Known Member

    Measured both sides of the frame in different locations from the ground up and both sides measure up pretty much the same. The front of the frame by the rad had a slight difference 1/4 of an inch. I looked at the passenger side body mounts and the one in the middle is toast. Problem is I believe the area the mount sits on is rotted out.
     
  10. James66Skylark

    James66Skylark Well-Known Member

    One other thing. My car has been caked with undercoating on the floors. No holes and the floor throughout is solid. I decided to take a wire brush on my drill and clean the frame rails as I noticed they were rusty and some of that undercoating had been flaking off. I noticed the the outside of the frame rails were painted the same colour of my car. Was this something that was done as they built these cars? It has to be orginal to the car as I took a few layers of crap off run noticed the paint.
     
  11. wkillgs

    wkillgs Gold Level Contributor

    The car must have been repainted or touched up at some point in it's history. The body was originally painted before it was attached to the frame, there should be no body color on the frame.
     
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