raising an adjustable suspension

[zen]

so i am trying to raise up the adjustable beam that the PO had put in. this is so i can towbar the car and start from scratch when i put my dropped spindles on.

when i released the nuts, the top was loose and the bottom popped down. ??? i expected the bolts to go up so the suspension would go down. true? the tires were supported when it popped. so the end result is that both bolts are pegged to the bottom and the suspension is still not releasing. it is as tight as it was.

thoughts?

[Rob]

Same thing I had. Those Adjusters are a PITA.

Best thing to do: jack up the car, leave the wheels on.
Put a socket with an extention over the 2 loosened nuts of the
adjuster.

Now, you can either push the socket up with the extension, or put a jack with a piece of wood under the socket and jack it up, and then fasten it. Repeat for the other one.

Like I said.....PITA

Rob.

[zen]

i heard. that is why i am going to dropped spindles. so do i understand the mechnics wrong on this then? or are my torsion bars in backwards?

i thought the suspension would release to normal height when loosening the adjusters with the weight of the wheels pulling the suspension down or me pushing on them. mine seems to have load compressing the suspension. i just thought the idea of adjusters was to twist the torsion bars and compress the suspension to drop the body.

[bugsoup]

Check to see if the shocks are at full extension. If I understand you correctly, you are try to make room for a towbar but the adjustment is too low. I had the same problem, but I removed the top shock nut, let the spindles fall to the desired height, put the front back on the ground, and reattached the shock nut. I hope this helps.

[Rob]

Zen, I don't think there is anything wrong with your setup.
I had the exact same thought pattern.

I think the reason why it does not work as we think is that the torsion bars need so much preload that even if the adjusters are loosened up, there is still tension on them, causing the adjusters to pop down.

Rob.

[zen]

thanks rob. i tried your trick, but can't get it to budge. i don't have a deep well socket in that size which makes it a bit challenging.

bugsoup, i thought of that and forgot to try it. thanks. can i remove the nut with the car already in the air or does it need to be on the ground...or does it matter?

[bugsoup]

I would try it with the car on the ground in case the shock is actually preventing proper adjustment. The shock doesn't hold any weight while it is on the ground, but it may while the car is on jacks. If you have the fenders out of the way, it should be pretty easy to access the shock. I think you could also unbolt the bottom nut and it would do the same thing (and might be easier to reach anyway).

[zen]

i supported the spindle with a jack and released the top shock bolt (had to remove the fenders) on each side. one side came right down and the other needed a little pushing. tightened the adjuster back up, dropped the car, ran to the store and bought some high-quality Gabriel Road-Ryder shocks (only temp in order to tow the car, needed today) and slapped them on. looks like a monster truck now compared to the seeing it slammed for 10 years. fenders are back on and wiring up the towing wires.

thanks for the help guys. hope this saves the next guy some time.

still thought the adjusters would go up and not down. ????

[zen]

after all of that, i still couldn't get the car high enough for the tow bar to fit over the tow ball on the truck. tow bar for sale!!!

[bugsoup]

When I bought my tow bar, it was used. The guy I bought it from (at a VW show swap meet) had welded in extensions to the two side tubes. This effectively, along with a lower reciever for the ball, allowed a lower angle for the tow bar. These two changes easily allowed me to tow my very low bug with my Chevy Silverado. If the problem is either the tow bar hitting the fenders on the bug or the bar not engaging the ball correctly, extending it could solve your problem.

[zen]

yea, it is both. it hits the apron underneath and is still too low. that is the right fix, i just ran out of time. had to get the car out of here this weekend. cut a deal with the rental place though considering i will be towing it 4 times in a month. $35 a pop. and at least it is not catching all of the rocks the truck throws up.