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Triumph TR6 - Front End Ride Height

After putting close to 200+ miles on my '71 garage resto project I've come to notice that one side of the front end sits a bit higher than the other side. In other words, there is more room between the top of the tire and the fender well on the drivers and less on the passenger's side.
It's got a definite lean to it.

I don't remember this being so noticeable when I first re-assembled everything.

A 'major suspension kit' was used during rebuild and new shocks were installed.
Old springs were re-used (no, I never meausred them tho).

Any idea where I would start to look for the differences?
Thanx,
DS
Dennis Silance

Any chance you put 1 rear spring in? did you reverse the upper fulcrums?
DON KELLY

Don,
negative....negative
Dennis Silance

Dennis- I know there is a cause I just can't recall.
DON KELLY

Dennis,
Was your restoration, body off and if so did you shim the frame on the low side? The body mounting kit comes with a set of rubber or rubber-like strips that lay on the frame member between it and the body. Just a thought.
db
Doug Baker

Doug,
Yes, it was a body off and I did use all the appropriate shims and rubber strips.

This is bit more than a 'shim width' of an off set. It's more like 'inches'

Actually, the more I look at it, the passengers side isn't all that low, it's the drivers side that's sits too high, me thinks....hmmmmm

check out the uploaded pic


Dennis Silance

Dennis,

Did you measure the frame corners to the ground to verify it's the suspension sag or lift and not body tweaked? Looking at your pic it's very noticable and a measurement of the frame points to the ground would confirm suspension or not. That's just my thinking anyway.

Good luck

Henry

HP Henry Patterson

Dennis,
From your photo, I agree...your driver's side is too high. Pump up the passenger side tire:-)
db
Doug Baker

This may be a stretch but, I know that the thicker gauge sport suspension spring makes the car sit lower than the thinner stock springs. Do you by any chance have miss match springs on the front?
benji

Henry,
I did measure frame from floor distance...same on both sides

benji,
springs are original to the front suspension. they were not mixed with the rear, but could have been changed from their original side to side placement.

Something is causing the drivers side spring to be stretched more than the passenger side. It's about an inch longer as I take kinda of a crude measurement with a tape.
Dennis Silance

Looks to me like the cross bar for the grille is not on the same plane as the bumper. Could be the passenger side that is not correct, or a little bit of both. Looks like a tweak in the body.
Joe
Joe S

Dennis,sounds like the suspension is tweaked on that side. Something isn't right. Time to undo and then redo.
Sorry
DON KELLY

The bumber is attached to the frame so it and the frame appear to be parallel to the plane of the ground so it has to be in the body attachment. There are fiber washers used in attachingthe front of the wings to the frame. Might you have put one or more of those UNDER the body, that is between the body and the frame on one side and not the other? Also check the mounting point at the very front of the frame. It sets up somewhat from the rest of the frame and may have become distorted in all the changes.
db
Doug Baker

Doug, I did have a look at all the mounting pads when I first noticed this.
they are correct and in place.

I think it's time for the 'Don Kelly' route....undo then redo.

a close up pic



Dennis Silance

I have taken Dennis's image and did a little editing. If you loook close, the line at the bumper shows it not level but the line down at the front sway bar is parallel with the sway bar.
It also appears that the left turn signal is higher up from the bumper than the right one.

This might help one of you chaps to come up with the answer. I do not think it is suspension but instead how the body is mounted to the frame. But Doug has a point in that the bumper is mounted to the frame???

Rick


Rick Crawford

Dennis,

If you look at the rear of the car is one side a little higher than the other.. particularly the right side. I had to deal with slight body twist and adjusting the rear up and down did affect the front some.

Sounds like loosening everything is the right thing to do. Be sure to loosen the bumper and the bumper brackets that run to the frame rails.

Henry
HP Henry Patterson

Henry,
I was waiting to see if anyone mentioned the rear of the car.
Looking at the car from behind and using the end of the frame rails as a reference point, the right rear sits less than a half inch higher than the left side.
This is exactly the way the rear body looked prior to removing it from frame at start of resto, but the front did not appear as it does now prior to removal
(see new image pic).

A fellow on another website offered this opinion...."It could actually be a REAR spring problem. Do you know if you put all the springs back on the same side from which they came? There is a diagonal effect from front to rear and rear to front with regard to springs. You might find that swapping the rear springs side for side solves this problem. It could be the fronts, of course, but I've often found front leaning to be caused by back inequality. Either way, it sounds like you have some work ahead. I'd start with the rears just because they're easier to do..."
Motorbill

The more I look at pics I have during the resto process, the more I tend to see this front left side lift starting to appear. Not at all noticeable with body off, but more once body was on. Just not as pronounced as now.
(is there a way to upload multiple pics on one post?)

DS








Dennis Silance

Dennis,

Can you take a pic of the rear of the car as it is now? Get nice and low like you did with the pic's of the front. It would be interesting to see how square it all looks from the rear..both body and frame.

Henry
HP Henry Patterson


Another thing you could try is to put the car on jack stands or blocks of equal height. Take all the wheels off if necessary. Doing this would take the suspension out of the picture and you should see if the problem is all with the body or a combination of body and suspension.


Henry
HP Henry Patterson

Henry,
pic from rear view

I will have a closer look this weekend when I have time to spend in the garage...


Dennis Silance

Dennis,

At first it looked as though the rear was lower on the right side but then I looked at the rear wall of your garage and can see that you had the camera tilted slightly. Given that it appears to look okay.

Good luck and be sure to let us know what you find.

Henry
HP Henry Patterson

Update:
After pulling front wheels and inspecting the suspension (everything in order), I turned my attention to body mounting points.
Upon closer examination, there was more space between frame and body on drivers side than passengers side. I loosened front body mounting bolts at three different spots and removed one metal shim from drivers side at the number two mounting point.
Re-tightened all bolts and nuts and took meaurements on level floor. Drivers side remains a little less than a quarter inch higher but hardly noticeable now.
Thanx for all the input.
DS

Henry....I'm holding out for the penquins in 7


Dennis Silance


Dennis,

Great news! Huge improvement!

I thought you might be in it for the Penquins. If the Pens win I'll buy you a beer.. If the Wings win you can be me one.. Collecting on the wager may be difficult.

Henry
HP Henry Patterson

This thread was discussed between 20/05/2008 and 25/05/2008

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