Metal on metal grinding after suspension rebuild

[tmaull]

So I'm buttoning up a rebuild of the suspension on my SC. My front spindles were raised 30mm by Chuck at ER. Went to back the car out to go around the block to settle the suspension down after reindexing the rear, about to start on the front. Make it about 10 feet before I hear the metal grinding. Get the car back on the lift and the a-arm has ground into the 16" front wheels (approved by ER for a 30mm spindle lift).

So my question is the following. What distance a good measurement of the spindle on a stock car? Perhaps mine was raised too far. Second: I had not torqued the lower ball joint beyond hand tight or installed the wedge bolts. How much will that raise the a-arms off the wheels? It looks like I need another 5mm of clearance but I'm not sure I'll get it there. Thus the first question.

Thanks!
-t

[Jim2]

Originally Posted by tmaull

So I'm buttoning up a rebuild of the suspension on my SC. My front spindles were raised 30mm by Chuck at ER. Went to back the car out to go around the block to settle the suspension down after reindexing the rear, about to start on the front. Make it about 10 feet before I hear the metal grinding. Get the car back on the lift and the a-arm has ground into the 16" front wheels (approved by ER for a 30mm spindle lift).

So my question is the following. What distance a good measurement of the spindle on a stock car? Perhaps mine was raised too far. Second: I had not torqued the lower ball joint beyond hand tight or installed the wedge bolts. How much will that raise the a-arms off the wheels? It looks like I need another 5mm of clearance but I'm not sure I'll get it there. Thus the first question.

Thanks!
-t

Really didn't install the wedge bolts? They are a critical load bearing link in your front suspension required To be in place before you even set the car on the ground not to mention move it.

[juanbenae]

30mm sound like a lot. as I recall about 19mm was as much as you could do with a 16" wheel.

[Arlo911]

Hi Tmaull,

First off, everything should be torqued to spec before taking the car out for testing or even for checking heights. It's very easy to forget you still need to tighten bolts or nuts. Recipe for disaster.
Do you have a picture of where the metal on metal contact happened? Did you tighten your front wheel bearings correctly? Did your struts have the bearing races installed? Because some new struts do not have them installed.
Below is a pic of how to (roughly) measure spindle height. The strut is a 934 strut so the spindle is at 64mm.

[tmaull]

Yeah so got the wedge bolts in and there’s a good bit of clearance. The ball joint pins must have backed out as the car went over the lift plates. Moral of the story, put your wedge bolts in early and often.

[Mothy]

That's a relief for you - a solution with what you had just needing to be fully installed and tightened up.

Chuck would know what works so it was more likely to be something else like you found - a simple oversight.