Front suspension is outrageously stiff

[Howling Mad]

Need some help, change the suspension on my car front to back, but now the front is sitting high and is outrageously stiff. I don't mean a little stiff like a race car, I mean stiff like no give at all, the only give in the front is the tires flexing. It's got spohn upper and lower control arms, bilstein struts, and eibach spring. Got no idea what's going on. Any ideas?

 

[Chuck Leeper]

bilstein struts, and eibach spring.

Struts? You means shocks?
What is the spring rate?
Did you lube the ball joints really well?
Do the upper control arms have bolts/nuts on the cross shafts? If so did you leave them, and the thru bolts on the lowers loose, until the car was back on the ground?

 

[Eticket]

Did you grease the bushing mating surfaces and let the car on the ground when tightening the bolts and also not over tighten

 

[1952ray]

Like Chuck said, I have the exact same set-up and no issues

 

[charlief1]

Something's in a bind. Take the shocks out first and see if that changes things. If not, then you'll need to loosen the lower bolts to see if that changes things. If nothing changes then you'll need to take it all apart again to find out what's going on.

 

[Howling Mad]

Everything is properly greased, and properly torqued. I actually jacked the car up, loosened the lower control arms, sat it on blocks and retorqued the lowers to no avail. Will remove shocks and try loosening the ball joints next.

 

[87geeinn]

The upper control arm cross shaft bolts are an interference fit, IIRC. I tightened mine just a little too much after the initial install and had some slight binding that gave itself away by way of a bad squeak. Backed the nuts off a slight bit and had no problems after that. Also, did the front springs find their way back into their seat. I had a hell of a time with this but it was pretty obvious when they weren't seated properly.

 

[novaderrik]

did you roll or drive the car at all, or did you just set it down and try to bounce it? the suspension will be in one hell of a bind when you just set it down and may not give at all. you need to move the car to allow that binding to get released..

 

[Howling Mad]

I've put a few hundred miles on it. Tried breaking everything lose and then putting it under load and to re torque everything but still no change. The springs are in the pockets correctly

 

[T-CHRGD]

Did you get this issue fixed?

 

[Howling Mad]

Sorry guys, didn't have a chance to mess with the car until yesterday. I regressed everything, broken everything loose again and loosened the nuts on the side of the upper control arms one turn. Seemed to help a little. Should I just keep backing them out a turn at a time until I get some give? It might be a while before I can get out and test it, looks like my powermaster motor is spraying fluid...

 

[T-CHRGD]

What kind of bushings in the upper A-arms?
If poly or delrin, they do not get torqued. Just tighten them enough to eliminate any end play (but no more). Make sure they're greased up, and you should be good to go. Same would go for the lower A arms if poly or delrin.

 

[dynoman]

What kind of bushings in the upper A-arms?
If poly or delrin, they do not get torqued. Just tighten them enough to eliminate any end play (but no more). Make sure they're greased up, and you should be good to go. Same would go for the lower A arms if poly or delrin.

Thanks for that info . I just did my uppers and lowers, and my son had those cranked down pretty tight . Before I set it back down I went back and loosened them all up to where I could spin the washers . I set it down and raised it a few times, and when I went back to check them the washers were not loose any more. I gave them a little pinch and called it good. Suspension travels nice and smooth, and with no shocks it bounces nice.

 

[WIKEDV6]

I had a car that had very very stiff front end, it was unreal... after checking everything, I came to find out someone at the body shop installed the front sway bar backwards lol.

Prasad

 

[Mr.Spool]

Got no idea what's going on. Any ideas?

you tightened it up that's how they drive.i think these cars drive great with a few mods after that they start to feel like a race car.you can always cut a coil off to lower it.

 

[Howling Mad]

Sorry guys been meaning to update this. I fixed it. Somehow? I'm not really sure how to be honest. I took it all apart, didn't see anything out of the ordinary, put it back together and now it sits right. It drives awesome now. I have no idea what I did different but I did something I guess?

 

[1986 Buick GX1]

I'm glad you got it figured out. It would be nice to know what magical thing you did so it could be replicated in the future.

 

[Howling Mad]

I'm glad you got it figured out. It would be nice to know what magical thing you did so it could be replicated in the future.

I wish I knew. I was beyond annoyed with it. I guess part of it or all of it was binding? Hell idk.

 

[Chuck Leeper]

My 87 had the issue. I rebuilt it, had it aligned, and then noticed a stiff ride/squeek/pop.
At first, I thot the alignment guy had done something.
Went back, he "bounced it" a couple times, pulled it over the pit, looked it over, got the air powered grease gun, and hit the joints a couple times, bounced it, did the gun thing again. Problem solved. Evidently, my hand pump gun was too low on psi, to do the job. Never had that problem, before.