new shocks changed heights

[Fleetwood]

Added new Bilstein HD shocks to my 79SC and 3 wheel arches went up about 1/4" but the left rear is up 1" higher than before the shocks'

Alignment, corner balance etc done by the best prior to the new shocks. Heights before were 24-5/8" for the fronts and 24.5 for the rear. Now I have 24-5/8 left front, 24-3/4 right front, 24-3/4 right rear and a whopping 25.5 left rear. Measurements taken with 180lbs in drivers seat

I removed the left rear shock to see if something was jammed in there but all was clear. Some second thoughts that I got the rubber bumpers in there wrong but all seemed right with the thick part of the rubber donuts meeting in the middle where the shock goes thru the body

Any ideas or do I just need to redo the whole process. Thanks

[Fleetwood]

I misread the original heights for the front end which should be 24-3/8" to the fender lip on both sides rather than the 24-5/8 listed. So bottom line is 3 fenders went up a 1/4" and the left rear 1"??

[tobluforu]

How about swapping the rears to see if its shock related if everything else checks out?

[Arne2]

1/4" increase is normal. 1" is not. Something is amiss on that corner.

[KTL]

When I put new Bilstein HD shocks on the rear of my '87 back in the early 2000s, same thing happened. Rear ride height went WAY up compared to what it was before the new shocks.

[porschenut]

Originally Posted by Fleetwood

Alignment, corner balance etc done by the best prior to the new shocks.

Not good. Shocks should have been installed before the suspension adjustments.

I would suggest you drive the car for a couple hundred miles to allow the new shocks to settle. Then reassess and, if necessary, do another alignment/corner balance.

[michael lang]

fleetwood, based on what you described I suspect that your car's ride height was probably like that previously the whole time. Let me explain, you had the car aligned and corner balanced by "the best" and being "the best" he most likely did whatever adjustments needed to be done in order to get the car to align and corner balance. That would include adjusting ride height to make the car level even though the left rear shock was probably completely worn out or blown which was causing the l/r to sag uneven. I bet that when he was originally measuring your car, it was probably already out on the left rear corner and he did what he needed to in order for the car to sit level. You then drove around in the car happy as a clam for however long it was until you decided now was a good time to install new shocks. Now that you installed new, even length, firm shocks and the whole car raised a bit and because the left rear was tweaked previously, it is now too high. My suggestion would be to take simply have "the best" realign and corner balance your car for you and all will be back to normal. I don't think I would give it too much worry about your car being twisted or bent or anything like that. Please let us know what you find out is wrong.

[Fleetwood]

Thanks for the input. This is helping. I'm away from the car for a while but plan to swap the rear shocks side to side n check levels. Excellent idea. Followed by a trip to the alignment shop I expect

Also appreciate the explanation of how I might have got to this point. Additional info includes original shocks swapped out at about 200K following a very graceful spin on the carousel. Alignment corner balance etc completed before the DE

[schoward]

What Michael Lang said. When replacing my hd blisteins they did need a few weeks / Few hundred miles to settle so perhaps give it a littlle time for new shocks to settle before getting alignment and corner balance all reset as Porschenut said above.