Re: {Chrysler 300} Front Suspension FYI

Going all the way back to 1963 and 1970 Plymouths that my dad bought new and drove for over 10 years and >125K miles each (which was thought to be quite a feat back in the day), he would write on the wall of the garage the height measured from the top of the fender well on all 4 wheels down to the garage floor with his tape measure. He did this within the first few days of bringing the cars home from the dealership, and then measured periodically to make sure no leaf springs or torsion bars were 'sagging'. He also did this after checking tire pressures all around. He would recheck the measurements to establish a new baseline after getting new tires as well. I don't think he was looking for a specific number as much as making sure things weren't 'changing' too drastically from front to back or side to side.

The other day I did this in my own garage with my now-54 year old Hurst with 77K original miles on it, since it looked a little 'crooked' when I was following my daughter and son-in-law to a cruise night in my G. Sure enough, both driver's side measurements were close to 1/2 inch lower in both the front and rear compared to the passenger side. I haven't touched the adjustments on the torsion bar yet, since as far as I know they've never been adjusted and the alignment of the front end seems to be spot on. Do I dare, or just live with it?

Do today's alignment shops even check this anymore? I know they did in the 70's when I took my 73 Duster in for new tires and a 'free alignment' that was included if you bought four tires. Front end guy was muttering about me under his breath because I had Monroe Load-Levelers on the rear and Monroe Super 500s on the front and he had to climb out of the pit to jounce the car after making each adjustment because the suspension was too stiff for him to do so from underneath. He wound up breaking an upper control arm bolt in the process and had to go to the parts store to get a new one. It was probably the most expensive 'free' alignment they ever did for a customer. ;-)

It was the first car I ever splurged on getting new Michelin radials for. The little Duster handled like it was on rails, as probably 80% of the suspension was in the sidewalls of those radials. I also got 75K miles on those tires, which I think was also almost unheard of back in the late 70's on American cars.

On Thu, Sep 12, 2024 at 9:34 AM 'James Douglas' via Chrysler 300 Club International <chrysler-300-club-international@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Henry,

When I was a kid that is more or less the way I did it…until…I took it in for an alignment. An old timer then, c.1978, told me and showed me that unless the torsion bars are at the correct specified height that it can toss off the camber and caster. It also effects the rate of springs.

That is why ever since I try to get that 2-inch book spec correct.

James

From: chrysler-300-club-international@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <chrysler-300-club-international@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Henry Schleimer
Sent: Wednesday, September 11, 2024 9:12 PM
To: James Douglas <jdd@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: chrysler-300-club-international@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: {Chrysler 300} Front Suspension FYI - Torsion Bar Height

In my younger days I would lower the front, but with A body, lower control arm bumper has very little travel before hitting giving bad reactions on hard cornering and bumps. Now I set torsion bars to have the car level front to rear when empty. Lets the suspension do its job. I check side to side measuring from centre of front wheel to wheel arch above and can get that even within a few mms. I don’t worry about height of torsion bar anchors etc anymore. Too much room for error. Just my experience.

Henry

From: 'James Douglas' via Chrysler 300 Club International [mailto:chrysler-300-club-international@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Thursday, 12 September 2024 11:27 AM
To: chrysler-300-club-international@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: {Chrysler 300} Front Suspension FYI - Torsion Bar Height

I wanted to drop a note while it is still in my head. When I did the front suspension some months ago, I did the standard height measurements as described in the Service Manual.

I noted when done the front of the car looked a little down in the front.

This past week I had the car on the rack and did a double check of the measurement and it was off by a ½ inch. WTF, I thought that is a lot on a torsion bar system. I had triple checked the height when I put the bars back in.

I made a thick steel box bar to go across my 4-post lift so that I could get real good measurements at the lower ball joint and the inner lower control arm.

Then I did a measurement, then I bounced the front end. Then I did another measurement. It was off by a lot! I went through this for about 45 minutes. I would set the height and measure it and then I would bounce it and it would be off.

After scratching my head, I figured out what was going on. The modern GAS shocks. It is very difficult to get them to stop at the same place when one bounces the front end like one is supposed to after each change on the torsion bar anchor. You must pull the shocks out to properly set the ride height. If you set it to two inches and then cycle the front end and then measure it every time it will be different with the Gas Shocks.

The other thing I noted, and this is for the group on 300J and 300K. The manual tells you to measure from the bottom the lower outer ball joint and then measure the bottom of the housing of the lower inner bushing. You subtract the two and should get 2 inches.

The problem is that the replacement ball joints have VERY different head heights than the factory units. I went into my shed and pulled the factory lower control arms with the joints still in them and they measured 7/8 inch from the bottom of the control arm to the lower edge of the ball joint. My new joints were a 1/4 inch less than these. So, what I did is use the bottom of the control arm, next to the ball joint and I subtract 7/8 of an inch from that measurement. This way when I do the math, no matter which ball joint is in the lower control arm, I am doing the measurement as if the factory joints are still in the arm.

A ¼ inch of heigh difference can be a few inches at the body. Now the car stance looks correct and not nose down.

For me I ended up with 8-3/8 on the left side and 8-1/4 on the right side. So, I ended up using 7-1/2 on the left and 7-3/8 on the right. Then add 2 inches to the above and adjust the torsion bars until I go to that number.

Interesting in that the left and right side lower outer control arm is off by 1/8 of an inch. NOS control arms and NOS spindles. Possibly the wheels or tires are off a little.

My two cents worth. James

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Re: {Chrysler 300} Front Suspension FYI - Torsion Bar Height