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What makes a body lean to one side? What to check/fix?

Started by 73Charger, September 20, 2005, 10:56:11 PM

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73Charger

I think my 73 has a bit of a lean to the driver side.  My guess is it has come from years of just having a driver in the car, and maybe bushings being worn ?   What else could cause this lean?  I haven't tried to actually measure it, but where the car sits (in a portable garage, the ground leans that way as well, and I dont know if that would add to the condition as well sitting 3 years like this now in this position - although i do drive it. it sits all winter in this garage as well. I'm just seeing it eyeballing it now since I thought it was just the ground, but now I'm driving it daily and notice it on pavement as well. I'm not a very heavy guy either. New items when I bought it 4 years ago: All shocks (new), Bearings(new), Leaf springs and U bolts(new). Ideas?
1973 Charger SE 318 060 over, edel 1405, added elec choke, Mallory CD Ignition, Hdrs, to Dual Ravin Exhaust, Go-Wing
Restoring for cruising. I drive her during the summer.

8WHEELER

Torsion bars, one may be weak or just needs an adjustment on the low side, There is a bolt in the
middle of the lower control arm that adjusts your bars up or down, You can adjust the low side bar
up and if it needs a lot of adjustment you may need a front end alignment depending on how much
you need to raise the car.

Invest in a service manual they get well used, and welcome to the site  :patriot:

Dan
74 Dart Sport 360, just for added fun.

73Charger

Thanks for the advice.  I've been looking through my Haynes manual and see the procedure to ck the ride height and they talk about turning a bolt to adjust it but they dont mention which direction goes which way, but I'm sure once I'm under it, staring at it I can figure it out. Ofcourse, I'll probably 50 other bushings etc that I still should replace.  I dont think they check much when they do inspections or old cars anymore and it did just pass inspection.  ;) :icon_smile:
1973 Charger SE 318 060 over, edel 1405, added elec choke, Mallory CD Ignition, Hdrs, to Dual Ravin Exhaust, Go-Wing
Restoring for cruising. I drive her during the summer.

Plumcrazy


It's not a midlife crisis, it's my second adolescence.

Chryco Psycho


73Charger

Thanks again for the help guys.  I could budge the bolt on my driver side to raise it even with it jacked up under the frame. maybe I should have supported something else. Anyhow, I noticed that the bolts were uneven on the sides, so I just dropped 3 rounds out of the passenger side. Now that bolt may be out a tad more than the driver side, but I think the car looks level atleast.  I didnt do the measurements since I'd have to move cars around to get to my cement garage floor, but atleast it looks good.

Now onto the next thing - noticed my center headlights went out. I'm assuming they are just for high beams. I'll be trying to find replacements for them tomorrow.  Last time I needed a part (windshield wiper arm bushings) - I had to go to a local dealer. Ugh. Expensive.
1973 Charger SE 318 060 over, edel 1405, added elec choke, Mallory CD Ignition, Hdrs, to Dual Ravin Exhaust, Go-Wing
Restoring for cruising. I drive her during the summer.

bull


73Charger

the leaf springs, shocks and u bolts were all new when I got it. I was able to fix it with a couple turns of the torsion bar. So cool.  :icon_smile_cool: 
Then I found nice new halogen replacments for my high beams and replaced those the next day. They seem like a better type of light than my old ones and am half considering replacing my original low beams now but they will be a bit harder to do being off under the fenders plus my plastic/foam parts in front of the lights are quite warped which made it tricky to get screw drivers into the bezel screws as it was.
1973 Charger SE 318 060 over, edel 1405, added elec choke, Mallory CD Ignition, Hdrs, to Dual Ravin Exhaust, Go-Wing
Restoring for cruising. I drive her during the summer.