Frame Sag?

[BenPutnam]

I had someone install a set of the Gbodyparts.com top tubular control a-arms on my car that I bought from Mike Wolf and they are too short. Not by much but they pull the tops of the wheels in on both sides, I called Gbodyparts and they said my frame is sagging in the middle and it's pulling the top of the wheels in, they also said it was a common problem with these cars. Has anyone heard of this?

 

[IrvJr]

Did you compare the new control arms to the old? I would think if they didnt lean inward with the old ones they shouldnt if the new ones were of the same specs. And i never heard of frame sag on these cars.

 

[DailyDrifter]

At least the car will handle better with the negative camber You should be able to put some alignment shims in there to make it a little more positive, I would have it alined at a shop though so you dont wear the hell out of those front tires

 

[jdpolzin]

If the frame was sagged, your stock arms would have done the same. You probably just need to re-add the shims that were in the stock arms. Probably just not a proper install. Take it to an alignment shop and they will install the shims as needed.

 

[BenPutnam]

If I add shims it will only pull the top of the wheel in further.

 

[RegalX2]

Seen alot of A bodies with this, adding shims will only add more neg camber, are offset upper shafts avail for these cars ?

Jim

 

[jdpolzin]

Oh I see I was thinking the uppers were to short. I imagine you have no shims in the uppers then? I would measure the lengths of the stockers and the GBody tubulars. The frame is not going to sag.

 

[Chuck Leeper]

Yes, it WILL sag..BTDT, and had to use offset shafts to correct it.
Wheelstands, wrecks, pot holes, all contribute to the phenom...

 

[jdpolzin]

Well, I suppose the application is going to make a difference but on a normal car the chances of having enough frame sag to be that drastic is a little hard to believe. I have done a ton of suspension work to these cars, some have low mileage, some have high mileage and I have never seen anything drastic like that. Now on a car that is pulling wheelies, bouncing off the concrete, and ripping 1.30 60ft's, definately will contribute!

 

[BenPutnam]

Mine has pretty low miles and I doubt it's done much bouncing off the concrete but not much else can explain this problem, I'm stumped. I guess I'll be doing an alignment with a hydralic ram.

 

[jdpolzin]

Id send those back, the length has to be off. It's the only explination I can give you. How many degrees are you off roughly?

 

[xcessiv6]

MAke sure you don't have them installed backwards.

 

[turbofish38]

I forgot to ask you. Are you using the stock spindles and brakes? I've seen that problem with the B-Body brake swap and with some drop spindles.

 

[Under Pressure]

MAke sure you don't have them installed backwards.

+1

 

[1Badelky]

+1

+2

 

[BenPutnam]

I'll try it myself in a few weeks, I don't know how bad it was off, I never saw it.

 

[charlief1]

Check your ride height. Your springs may be the problem. You can tweek the center of the frame but it is unusual. Either you have the wrong control arms or something else is going on. And yes, steering and suspension is my specialty. I'm master certified.

 

[BenPutnam]

Ride height is a bit high if anything which I think would pull the bottom of the wheels inward.

 

[zeus87gn]

Make sure your ball joints are installed correctly.

When I had my stockers rebuilt, the shop put one on top of the Aframe and one on the bottom. The alignment shop couldn't align it without relocating one of them. It's been so long that I don't remember which one was wrong. But I do remember that the tire had a stupid lean to it. I think it was leaning out.

 

[DR BOOST]

swap em left to right...i had a similar problem