help needed with uneven rear suspension

[BP90]

i tried searching through the nav forum to try find any info about this but have had no luck.

ok so i have a 05 d22, about 3months ago i bought a 2" dobinson lift kit (minus the rear shocks i kept the maxi trac shocks that where already in there, and hd torsion bars), but i got medium duty rear leaf springs, new u bolts, bushes, front shocks and greaseable shackles. i kept the rear shocks as i was hoping they were already lifted shocks, and the bloke who fitted my lift kit said that we could try to get away without replacing the rear shocks and then see how that goes and if it is rough in the rear end then i would have to get some upgraded ones (which recently my brother said to me that they were a lil rough in the rear end like he could feel it was a bit stiff when sitting in the back seat, so i plan on getting the dobinson rear shocks to replace the current ones).

now just this weekend while cleaning the nav, i noticed that the back was sitting uneven. so i measured from the inside of the wheel arches to the bottom of the wheels on all 4 corners, and on the back the driverside was 10mm lower than the passengerside, and on the front the passengerside was 10mm lower than the driverside,

the front might be out due to the tyre place where i got the wheel alignment done said they had to lower it a bit do the wheel alignment so they more than likely never did it properly the second time after stuffing it up on their first attempt.

although what has me confused as to why the back is sitting unevenly, so if anyone else has ever heard of something like this happen or has had this happen to them, could the current shocks that if they have worn out cause the uneven rear suspension? or if anyone else might have another possible cause for this.

so if anyone can help that would be great, i will get in contact with the bloke that installed the lift to see if he has any idea why, just thought i would see if any other nav owners have had the same thing happen to them.

 

[joshman]

Leaf spring sag more than likely. I know my drivers side sits a bit lower than the passenger side, but I blame that on constantly having a 35+kg second battery and a 20kg fridge permanently mounted on the drivers side.

It's not something I would be super stressed about.

 

[BP90]

hmm ok, would that only be caused by having constant load like the 2nd battery and the fridge etc?

 

[BP90]

only asking as i rarely have anything more than a toolbox in the tray which only has a basic recovery kit, a recovery hitch, wheel brace and a few ratchet straps (which weighs bugger all), so never really had anything of a great weight on the drivers side that i thought would cause uneven sag.

 

[joshman]

yeah, possibly the constant load and when you stress the springs (by going off road/bumpy ground) that small load might cause enough for it to slowly sag. and don't forget as well that all the heavy stuff in the nav is down the drivers side - engine block, driver, fuel tank. that's gotta have some effect on the suspension down that side.

 

[Dion]

A couple of points -

First, if you can notice 10mm of difference from one side of your car to the other, you must have a hell of an eye. Was the ground definitely totally level?

Second, shock absorbers will never affect ride height on any car ever, so you can rule that out straight off the bat.

Third, was your fuel tank full?

Fourth, sometimes front ride height is set up to account for a driver, so get a mate to sit in the drivers seat, drive two metres forward, and measure again.

Fifth, if the front and rear angles are different, the ground must be uneven OR the tyres must have very different pressures OR the panels aren't in exactly the same place on each side, which is normal, OR the chassis is twisting to absorb the difference (also normal) and therefore it's not a big enough discrepancy to be worrying about.

 

[Al]

My money is uneven ground, get your dumpy or level out. theres no way a 3 mth old quality kit like that would sag from a fridge and battery. my dobinson HD kit is nearly 70K old nowo and i always cart sand and ceent, tools and other heavy shit around daily. not a mm of sag. for your info i have marked a dead level spot on my garage floor to do measurement, even 0.5m either side of that it throws out the measurements by 5-10mm allround

 

[scooba_285]

mine has also sagged in the rear but mine is the passenger side that has sagged

 

[BP90]

Cheers for all the help guys, i think Al and Dion are right though, i got onto the bloke who installed the lift and he backed up what Al said about if the ground is not dead level then is an put out the measurements by a few mm, where my car was isnt perfectly level or as even as i though it was. I also didnt think that the suspension could articulate that much on slightly unlevel ground, like that even just a slight difference in the level of the ground could affect suspension flex. Cheers for the help lads, its relieving to know its just the uneven ground not something thats gone wrong that need some more coin spent on it