spohn uppers and lowers

[big john 02]

ok guys Im about to purchase a set of the spohn uppers and lowers and track bar for that matter, my question is they seem to be easy enough to install but what about the adjusting part, is it something semi simple i could do in my garage or do you recommend i have my local alignment shop do it?

 

[R/T_Fire]

ok guys Im about to purchase a set of the spohn uppers and lowers and track bar for that matter, my question is they seem to be easy enough to install but what about the adjusting part, is it something semi simple i could do in my garage or do you recommend i have my local alignment shop do it?

It's pretty simple, I haven't done my control arms yet but the Panhard and swaybar links took me about and hour to swap in taking my time. Adjustment was simple with the turn of one "bolt" till I got it center .

When doing the control arms it will be the same just need to take driveline angle into account so just need a angle finder gauge that can be had at your local hardware store for $15.

If you know how to turn a wrench you can install them easy

 

[charonblk07]

Angle gauge and a tape measure are all you need to install these but getting an alignment afterwards isn't a bad idea, just make sure you tell the shop you want the wheel base length, line of thrust, and lateral offset corrected. It's more involved but you'll have a better alignment afterwards if you do it this way.

 

[razor1]

unless you have a real good compressor, your never getting the bolts loose. Take it to a shop with a drive on lift, much easier. I found that after replacing the upper and lower arms, the lower arm after adjustment was only .25 " off of stock. May want to install the uppers first and then check the center in the wheel well.

 

[Dubstep Shep]

It's tough finding an alignment shop that will touch non stock components. They aren't trained well enough for that. You have to find a custom shop most times.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

 

[big john 02]

ok so where would I be able to find all the stock specs so i could adjust the uppers and lowers to fit stock specs?

 

[DavidRam]

More or less, what I did was measure how much the axle needed to move back (without changing the pinion angle) to be centered and then adjusted the Spohns to be that much longer than the stock bars... Then took it straight to an alignment shop that does a lot of custom cars and had them align it and check the pinion angle. It aligned fine and pinion angle did not need any adjustment.

Fyi, the torque specs on some of the bolts are 200 ft lbs, so you will need some powa for that.

 

[Dubstep Shep]

More or less, what I did was measure how much the axle needed to move back (without changing the pinion angle) to be centered and then adjusted the Spohns to be that much longer than the stock bars... Then took it straight to an alignment shop that does a lot of custom cars and had them align it and check the pinion angle. It aligned fine and pinion angle did not need any adjustment.

Fyi, the torque specs on some of the bolts are 200 ft lbs, so you will need some powa for that.

For 200? That's not that much.... I weigh 250, so I can hang off less than a foot long wrench and get that much torque. Most of the 1/2 electric impacts that you can get these days have that much or more torque.

Here's what I use: Craftsman.com

It didn't quite have enough juice to get the bolts loose on its own, but a breaker bar solved that issue.

 

[R/T_Fire]

Here's what I use: Craftsman.com

Have you ever double checked the actual torq on one of them, especially the battery operated ones? Put a stick on a nut after you torq it to get a base line.. Mine gets about 30lbs less than advertised and even less on a weak or half charged battery.

I still usually double check my torq afterwords.. I'm pretty sure you do too... just saying.

 

[Dubstep Shep]

Have you ever double checked the actual torq on one of them, especially the battery operated ones? Put a stick on a nut after you torq it to get a base line.. Mine gets about 30lbs less than advertised and even less on a weak or half charged battery.

I still usually double check my torq afterwords.. I'm pretty sure you do too... just saying.

I actually don't bother using a torque wrench with something like suspension bolts. It's pretty easy to estimate something like 200 ft-lb torque when you know what you weigh. And you won't break one of those monstrous bolts until WELL above that.

I promise you almost all shops will torque those same bolts to well over 300 ft-lb without a second thought.