Suspension Geometry - fell apart!!

[Buick Beginner]

Gentlemen: In January of this year, I rebuilt my front suspension. Everything is new. I noticed as I took it apart that the left front upper control arm had quite a few shims between the upper control arm shaft and the frame. When I took the front end apart, of course, all the shims fell out. I then reassembled the front end with all new parts, took the car up to the local alignment shop to have it aligned, and low and behold, it was returned to me aligned properly, but with the same huge number of shims on the left upper control arm. Anyway, driving home today, four months after my alignment, I noticed the car started pulling hard to the left. I suspected a brake problem, but noticed that the pulling was accompanied by a loud clunking sound. After I got home I looked underneath the car as I rolled along slowly and stabbed the brake. To my horror, I saw one of the shims fall out right before my very eyes. After I looked under the hood, I found that they were all gone. We are talking over one inch of shims on the left hand side of the car and virtually none on the right side. Is that normal? Is there a way to correct this without 150 shims on one side of the car? Any help is much appreciated.
- B.B.

 

[Buick Beginner]

Come on now

Alright suspension experts - speak out! A good reply here will put you in the raffle for my Aunt Edna's "48" Kaiser Dragon 4 door. It has to be retreived out of the Everglades though. - BB

 

[MeanBuicks]

Re: Come on now

Originally posted by Buick Beginner
A good reply here will put you in the raffle for my Aunt Edna's "48" Kaiser Dragon 4 door.

How many shims are on that Kaiser?

Seriously, though, perhaps you have a bent control arm that is having to be compensated for.

 

[John Larkin]

Not to cause alarm, but has the car ever been in an accident?

 

[Buick Beginner]

The Kaiser Suspension is Much Worse Than the Buick

As far as I know, the car hasn't been wrecked and I really didn't see anything crushed or malformed on the upper control arms. Maybe if you guys get time tomorrow, go count your shims and tell me what you find. Thanks - B.B.

 

[BJM]

Not to worry, my car was just aligned and needed almost an inch of shims on the driver rear bolt. I was trying to get to the high end of the caster range and one side of the car always determines the limit. You are just witnessing 80's frame tolerance buildup. I had an old A-Body that had the exact same issue. It does sound like the guy didn't tighten the bolt enough (~75 lb.ft). The loads on those bolts are not terribly large so I figure the nut was loose. Double check that the nut is stiff to turn its one of those crushed style nuts that self lock.

 

[dgreene]

I have lined up hundreds of cars that use shims and that is relativly normal. I had a 87 MC SS that needed lots of shims on both sides and it had never been wrecked and had only 34000 miles when I did the line up(way back in 93). Nothing to worry about really. Just get it lined up again and tighten the hell out uppers where it bolts on and the shims should stay. It also seems to help if you between every large shim you put a thin one that way it has some "crush" and compresses to make it stay better.

To be honest, I think alot of cars from GM came that way during the 80's. Some did, some didn't I guess. It's according to who(or what) welded the quarter frames together that day. Maybe different batches of a-frames were a little different lengths(we're talking fraction of an inch).

Hope this helps.

 

[John Larkin]

left side - one thick, one thin front; one thick rear
right side, 2 thicks front; 3 thicks rear

thick = ~1/8"
thin = ~1/16"

HTH

 

[BuickTom]

One other thing you might want to check, is the bolt where the shims fell out. When that happened on mine the little nurls that keep the bolt from turning in the frame had somehow wore off the bolt, and it kept loosening up even after restacking the shims and tightening it. Luckily it was the bolt and not the hole in the frame getting enlarged. I seem to remember it being like an $8 bolt from GM though

HTH,
Tom

 

[Steve Wood]

It's very common for the fricking bolt to do that...only thing that helps is to tighten it very tightly...or better try a new bolt with better teeth in the knurl.

Also, these cars are notorious for needing more shims with edge as the frame rails droop or bend...I think someone sells offset control arm bars to make up for some of this.

 

[Buick Beginner]

THANKS !!

Gentlemen,
Thank you all for the info. That helps alot, Sorry though, My Aunt Edna won't part with the Kaiser. - BB

 

[BLACK6PACK]

I just had my suspension rebuilt about a month ago. My car has over 200,000 miles on it. Several of the parts were just worn out or bent from the miles. I ended up having to get new control arms as well as several other pieces.