Rear Suspension Mess Sorted Out

[kitesurf_phil]

I managed to sort out my problem with the rear axle being out of alignment. If you are changing your springs without a spring compressor, whatever you do, don't undo the horizontal(ish) arms that go from the front of the rear axle to the body. The RH one was undone on mine yesterday and th RHS of the rear axle moved back about 1.5".
I had a flash of inspiration and put the bottle jack horizontally between the back of the wheel arch and the hub, with a couple of bits of wood for protection. I wound the jack until the bolt holes were aligned and did it all up. After a test drive everythings settled nicely and a check with the ruler shows that the back axle is back in position.
She drives lake a new truck now but I think I will leave the steering idler bushes until next weekend.
The moral of the story is don't do a job after a night shift and when you have only had a couple of hours sleep. The caffiene only makes you do stupid things even faster!!

[europa88]

I managed to sort out my problem with the rear axle being out of alignment. If you are changing your springs without a spring compressor, whatever you do, don't undo the horizontal(ish) arms that go from the front of the rear axle to the body. The RH one was undone on mine yesterday and th RHS of the rear axle moved back about 1.5".
I had a flash of inspiration and put the bottle jack horizontally between the back of the wheel arch and the hub, with a couple of bits of wood for protection. I wound the jack until the bolt holes were aligned and did it all up. After a test drive everythings settled nicely and a check with the ruler shows that the back axle is back in position.
She drives lake a new truck now but I think I will leave the steering idler bushes until next weekend.
The moral of the story is don't do a job after a night shift and when you have only had a couple of hours sleep. The caffiene only makes you do stupid things even faster!!

Did you change your springs for lifted ones? I have just done this for some OME901 springs and they give a huge lift over the old saggy rear i had!

Problem is though they will always throw the axle over to the drivers side as the location of the panhard rod bracket is now too high and shortens the effective range of the rod!

The answer is to lenghten the panhard rod or buy a drop bracket(currently impossible to locate in the UK!) I have a drawing of the bracket and am going to try and get it fabricated!

It doesn't sound like it was the panhard rod you had trouble aligning,this is normal with any spring change as i believe there is a slight axle deviation to the drivers side as standard from the factory!
my lift has thrown the axle over to the drivers side so the wheel and tyre stick out about 3cm compared to the otherside!!! It still drives ok but looks like a wacky racer untill I adjust the torsion bars and or fit balljoint spacers!

Sorry to hijack thread but I thought you had same prob as me when I first read your post!

[laser_jock99]

How I pulled the panhard rod back into line........

....yes a drop down bracket would have been easier!

[kitesurf_phil]

How I pulled the panhard rod back into line........

....yes a drop down bracket would have been easier!

Thanks for the info. No I had no probs with the panhard rod as the springs I put on were normal length. I disconnected the axle end of the trailing arm(?).

Elvz has a nice solution for the panhard rod prob in the earlier post New Springs Fitted But I Have A Problem. I would do a link but I am not at my brightest after a nightshift.

[FlySurfer - Edy.]

this is most interesting as i've got a couple of lifted springs in the back waiting to be fitted.

Whats the deal with avoiding panhardrod problems then ? use spring compressors instead ?

Cheers.

Ron.