TheSamba.com :: View topic - 67 adjustable front end. Can't adjust up to stock?

Wed Nov 26, 2014 6:28 pm

hi all,
just put a new adjustable front end w/adjusters with the splines and 2 inch dropped spindals. got everything together up to the brake drums. i look under to check the adjustment and realize it's adjusted down as far as it will go and will not adjust up towards stock height at all cause the tie rods are extended the opposite way as to not let the arms down any more, like if it was bottoming out.
?question do i need to set the adjusters the whole way up and then try and jack the arms up to get the spindals on or do i have the springs in wrong?
i don't get what I'm missing here. everything is brand new.

i know this one's been beat to death but i can't find any threads with same trouble content. Frustrating it is.
any help is appreciated. and happy T giving.

Wed Nov 26, 2014 8:07 pm

I don't understand your situation. Can you describe it more clearly, or perhaps post a picture of the problem?

Thu Nov 27, 2014 10:11 am

Im not sure what you are saying exactly, either.

King pin and ball joint beams are slightly different in the way the arms bolt to the spring packs. They seem odd at first if you are used to working on one versus the other. BOTH setups (adjustable) require the adjusters to be as high toward (upward) they will go, to give the best ride. You usually have to loosen both adjusters and push down on the torsion arms to get this. Sometimes I just put the wheels on and jack front up, which then gravity pulls them arms down and adjusters up. Some beams have a lot of slop and need the adjusters preloaded (fighting eachother slightly) to tighten it up and give better shock resistance. Sometimes you have to put a jack under the bottom torsion arms to free up the bottom adjuster, or even remove bottom arm from spindle and do it that way.

Shoot us some pics!

Thu Nov 27, 2014 12:20 pm

i'm gonna get some pics up today and clarify it better.

Thu Nov 27, 2014 1:10 pm

here you can see the adjusters are all the way down. which is lowered if I'm not mistaken. i want to raise it.

here you can see the ball joints seem to be at max, so the spindal will not go any lower to raise the front.

here's how the front is sitting off the ground.

now did i put the springs in a quarter off or ?.
hopefully this will clarify things better.

Thu Nov 27, 2014 1:30 pm

with the car in the stands there's no weight on the front suspension,

don't you need put some weight on the suspension to have a start point

and then set height?

I don't know much about it tho.

Thu Nov 27, 2014 2:17 pm

I think you have the same problem I have. Previous owner did the same thing and I want it a little higher. Can't do it because of the dropped spindles. I think if I had regular spindles, the adjustments would be fine, and I could still lower it some. Right now, I think it'll be too low for me when I finish it.

Thu Nov 27, 2014 3:55 pm

so when you move adjusters up, the ball joints bind? Move them up, then put the weight of the vehicle on it. Sure they are down and at bind now, but can't they come up?

Thu Nov 27, 2014 5:34 pm

With the ball joints and spindles on, the arms are not going to drop anymore the way you show it because yes the ball joints are limiting their movement. No way to get them 1/4 turn off either.

So, you need to move the adjusters all the way up to raise it. But, because there is pre-load in the springs, and even with the lock nuts backed off, it may be hard to force the adjusters up all the way with the arms/spindles in place because you're only using a small set screw in the middle to twist the entire spring pack.

It's easiest on you and the adjusters if you simply remove the upper ball joint from the spindle first. This way takes the "limits" off the springs so you can move the adjusters up without any spring tension on them. Take the nut off the upper BJ and use a long pry bar to lift the arm up and over to clear the BJ stud, then let the spindle hang there on the lower arm/spindle/BJ and tie rod.
Loosen the lock nuts but be very careful now because the extra weight of the lower arm assembly will make them move readily ie fall down so support under one side with a jack would be a good idea.
Re-tighten them in the full up or desired position and reassemble in reverse. Dis-regard where or how much the arms droop now, they will be back in the same position once the BJ's are back on.

When you re-install the arms, you'll have to use that long pry bar again with some extra force to lift the upper arm enough to get the ball joints back in, and that's how it should be.
If you don't have a long pry bar you can also use the handle out of the floor jack, piece of heavy pipe, long 2"x4" or such.

Note that once all assembled and on the ground, on a BJ front end it's the shocks that are supposed to limit the upward and downward travel, not the ball joints.

By all means take notes like how many teeth are there in the adjusters, which one are you on, make hash marks with paint etc as well as take pictures, measurements before and after and finally reference them to the end result.

Thu Nov 27, 2014 7:07 pm

thanks 61snrf and everyone for their input, i thought it might be something like this, i have another front end on a 66 pan that did the same thing and it bottoms out but i think it's the same deal with it, only stock spindles on it.