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what is the stock height of a 69 charger?

Started by skippychad, April 01, 2019, 02:53:38 PM

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skippychad

Trying to find out what the stock height of a 1969 charger base with a 383 is.  front and rear height.  Im measuring center of the wheels from the ground to the top of the wheel well cutout.  after replacing my rear suspension, leafs and shocks, the car leaned right.  I managed to level the front sides and the back sides with torsion bar adjustments.  I was able to even up the 1" difference I had from right to left.  The right was one inch lower originally.  I did have to crank the RH torsion all of the way tight, and loosen the left torsion.  right now there are twice as many threads showing against the stop on the right versus the left......but the car sits even.   the front measures 25" at each side.  The rear is at 27" each side. the car definitely looks like its in a nose dive from what I was used to seeing.  What numbers are good?  The car drives straight and stays straight when accelerating.  also side note.  I installed mopar performance leaf springs

BLK 68 R/T

Something is wrong somewhere. The torsion bars should be within a few threads of each other - maybe you have a bad torsion bar?. The rear leaf springs - the one with 6 full leaves should go on the left (drivers side) the one with 5 leaves + 2 half leaves goes on the right (passenger) side with the half leaves towards the front of the car. This is assuming you bought the current repro mopar springs which are the heavy duty versions I do believe.

From the FSM.

skippychad

Leafs are correctly installed.  My days off I plan to crank down the right and crank up the left the same amount o turns until they match.  Then I'll remeasure.   Just seeing what the height of the front and rear should be.   I'm sure people have their own preference.     

b5blue

You really need to bounce the front end a few times for each adjustment. I actually ran mine around the block and got everything settled in, rechecked and adjusted again, repeat so on.

Mike DC

                      
:Twocents:

Don't take any measurements from the ground.  It's tempting but it never turns out to be very accurate.  I know, I've tried it.  The variations in tires & inflations alone will screw it up, never mind the irregularities in the ground surface.  

The only usable height reference is from the center hub points of the wheels.  It rules out all that stuff.  


b5blue

I have always used 4 matching rim/tire sets and followed the FSM. Tire pressure matched, sitting level on a fairly stock chassis (No "rake") it's been pretty close.

BLK 68 R/T

I still think there is either an issue with the torsion bar or the body itself. I would check the following if it were me. In order below:
1. Rear spring hangers and shackles are the same side to side?
2. Is the torsion bar pivot mount broke/cracked in the k-frame - which is why one has to be adjusted so far to make any difference. Might need to loosen the nut to check real good.
3. Are both torsion bars the same? meaning do you have 2 rights or 2 lefts installed, which would cause one side to sag. Might get lucky and you can see where they go into the crossmember from the backside.  what letters/numbers are there, if any? if none you would have to pull them to see the other end.
4. Do the body measurements as outlined in the FSM.

skippychad

thanks    will try to tackle it this week.   

skippychad

Replaced torsion bars and all seems well. Thanks everybody!