front suspension question

[john mcniff]

Hi guys, I'm not sure if I have a problem or not. I just put new ball joints and control arm bushings in my 59 deville. The nose is off the car. and the engine and trans are in. minus the intake and exhaust manifolds. The springs had been replaced recently so I re used them. Now that the suspension is back in I don't have enough room for the rubber bump stops under the the upper control arms. I know the nose of the car is heavy but it seems as if the frame would have to drop about 2 inches for the stops to fit. Everything seems seated and in its proper place.  the upper control arms almost touch the frame rails and i don't know if this is just because the nose and engine parts are off. I figure the missing parts weigh about 700 lbs.any idea's......John

[Sweede64]

Its to light, had he same expirience on my -61, once the front and bumper came on it was easier but the easyist way to do it would have been to mount them before the controlarms came on the car...........

[Otto Skorzeny]

Sweede is right on both counts. I would have installed them first. Now you will have to wait until the whole car is back together.

[Brett Cottel]

I think the manual talks about jumping up and down on the front bumper to seat the springs......not a chance on my commercial chassis though....way to stiff to even budge the front down....waiting for full reassembly and driving it over a few bumps.
Brett

[john mcniff]

Thanks all that's what I thought...John

[dadscad]

You are probably aware of this but I'll mention it anyway, just for grins.

Don't tighten the control arm bushing pivot bolts until the suspension is sitting at the correct standing height. If you tighten them up now, before all the weight is on the suspension and it is properly settled, you risk damaging the pivot bushings on the control arms when the weight of the front clip is added back to the car.

David

[Sweede64]

You are probably aware of this but I'll mention it anyway, just for grins.

Don't tighten the control arm bushing pivot bolts until the suspension is sitting at the correct standing height. If you tighten them up now, before all the weight is on the suspension and it is properly settled, you risk damaging the pivot bushings on the control arms when the weight of the front clip is added back to the car.

David

Your right David, you can even adjust the hight of the car from side to side by tightening the low side first and then press down the high side before tightening the bolts.