rear suspension question - Camaro5 Chevy Camaro Forum / Camaro ZL1, SS and V6 Forums

gunchamp · 03-30-2020, 12:16 PM

Hey guys. So bring me up to speed here if possible. I just did my poly rear cradle bushings and swapped out the rear diff. I have the entire rear suspension still loose. Im going to load it by either putting a block of wood and jack under the lower control arm or just throw the tires back on. That way I can torque everything down. Any input or advice here? Thanks

'10CamaroDude · 03-30-2020, 12:59 PM

If you mean all the control arms, they get torqued at ride height. The cradle, if you
can, center it, block it, and tighten the bolts. That does not necessarily have to
be done at ride height. Anything with a bushing pivot point, gets torqued at
ride height.

gunchamp · 03-30-2020, 01:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by '10CamaroDude

If you mean all the control arms, they get torqued at ride height. The cradle, if you
can, center it, block it, and tighten the bolts. That does not necessarily have to
be done at ride height. Anything with a bushing pivot point, gets torqued at
ride height.

Thanks for the response. Got the cradle torqued and figured all the other rear suspension needs done fully loaded.

GRNFLSH · 03-30-2020, 08:23 PM

Unless the car is on a lift it’s impossible to torque suspension with the tires on (challenge me if I’m missing something). I used a jack to raise the suspension until the car was starting to lift off the jackstand and then torqued.

KillboyPowerhead · 03-31-2020, 10:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GRNFLSH

Unless the car is on a lift it’s impossible to torque suspension with the tires on (challenge me if I’m missing something). I used a jack to raise the suspension until the car was starting to lift off the jackstand and then torqued.

You'd definitely need some extra height. If you don't have a lift you can use wood, jacking up the car and placing a board under the tires, going side-to-side one board at a time, or something. Would need a lot of wood though, perhaps.

I wonder if jacking up the suspension until the car lifts like you did might be too much, because the car won't start lifting until the spring is fully compressed, while when the car is sitting on the ground like normal the springs aren't fully compressed, ya know?

Personally what I did was because I had coil-overs and knew what ride height I wanted I just jacked up the suspension to that height (using the centre of the hub/axle as reference), then tightened it all down - it may not be exact, but in my experience when asking a tech to "reset the bushings" (or some variant of that) I usually get a rather confused look, so I felt more comfortable doing it myself.

gunchamp · 03-31-2020, 03:04 PM

I was considering both ways. I do have the car up on some fairly large blocks of wood. So I may just throw the tires back on and torque it that way. I was also considering the jack method as well. Curious myself if that puts more load on to the suspension than just resting on the tires.

KillboyPowerhead · 04-01-2020, 06:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gunchamp

I was considering both ways. I do have the car up on some fairly large blocks of wood. So I may just throw the tires back on and torque it that way. I was also considering the jack method as well. Curious myself if that puts more load on to the suspension than just resting on the tires.

It's not about the load/weight but rather the angle of the suspension arms. If you have the suspension hanging down all the way, for example, and crank everything down, when the car sits on the ground the suspension will raise, and all of the rubber bushings will get torqued/twisted. If the bolts/bushings are all torqued down with the suspension arms at normal ride height, all is good. Ideally you'd have the car on the ground so that there's no guessing, but if it's too difficult then taking a guess based on the advertised drop (or whatever ride height you want if you have coil-overs) will be pretty close.

gunchamp · 04-03-2020, 01:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KillboyPowerhead

It's not about the load/weight but rather the angle of the suspension arms. If you have the suspension hanging down all the way, for example, and crank everything down, when the car sits on the ground the suspension will raise, and all of the rubber bushings will get torqued/twisted. If the bolts/bushings are all torqued down with the suspension arms at normal ride height, all is good. Ideally you'd have the car on the ground so that there's no guessing, but if it's too difficult then taking a guess based on the advertised drop (or whatever ride height you want if you have coil-overs) will be pretty close.

Good point here. I'll just throw the tires back on and torque it that way. I have the car up on some big beefy wood blocks, so access shouldnt be too much of an issue.

Greenhornet2 · 04-07-2020, 09:03 PM

Also depends, parts with poly bushings now in them wouldn't need to be loaded as the sleeve will spin, so just the parts with the bonded rubber bushings would need to be loaded. I just used a jack under the lca by the knuckle to load the suspension and torque what was needed

03-30-2020, 12:16 PM	#1
gunchamp Drives: 15 Camaro SS Join Date: Oct 2018 Location: Mountains of central PA Posts: 1,442	rear suspension question Hey guys. So bring me up to speed here if possible. I just did my poly rear cradle bushings and swapped out the rear diff. I have the entire rear suspension still loose. Im going to load it by either putting a block of wood and jack under the lower control arm or just throw the tires back on. That way I can torque everything down. Any input or advice here? Thanks

03-30-2020, 08:23 PM	#4
GRNFLSH Drives: 2015 Camaro 2SS Green Flash Edition Join Date: Dec 2015 Location: NW Arkansas Posts: 200	Unless the car is on a lift it’s impossible to torque suspension with the tires on (challenge me if I’m missing something). I used a jack to raise the suspension until the car was starting to lift off the jackstand and then torqued. __________________ Kooks stepped headers & Solo XL Cat-back ADM CAI w/race scoop & Rotofab w/w relo GPI VVT SS1 cam and CNC ported heads milled .30 BTR .660 springs, Straub solid bushing trunions GPI rod-mod intake with I-M heat sheild Circle D 258mm Pro single disc 3700 rpm stall converter 169F thermostat & manual fan switch Tuned by Ryno at GPI - 455 RWHP / 416 lb-ft

04-07-2020, 09:03 PM	#9
Greenhornet2 Drives: 2011 Camaro 2SS LS3 Whipple Join Date: May 2019 Location: Connecticut Posts: 1,925	Also depends, parts with poly bushings now in them wouldn't need to be loaded as the sleeve will spin, so just the parts with the bonded rubber bushings would need to be loaded. I just used a jack under the lca by the knuckle to load the suspension and torque what was needed __________________ Whipple 2.9 CAI ID1050x injectors ZL1 Pump JRE FPCM JMS Voltage booster JRE Rough Idle blower cam BTR .660 springs CHE trunnion kit 1 7/8 Speed Engineering Borla Atak JRE scoop 1.5" lowering springs BMR trailing arms and toe links Cradle inserts 704WHP 603WTQ 93 octane

03-30-2020, 12:59 PM	#2
'10CamaroDude Account Suspended Drives: 2010 Camaro LS Join Date: Nov 2019 Location: Pgh Posts: 739 View My Garage	If you mean all the control arms, they get torqued at ride height. The cradle, if you can, center it, block it, and tighten the bolts. That does not necessarily have to be done at ride height. Anything with a bushing pivot point, gets torqued at ride height.

03-31-2020, 03:04 PM	#6
gunchamp Drives: 15 Camaro SS Join Date: Oct 2018 Location: Mountains of central PA Posts: 1,442	I was considering both ways. I do have the car up on some fairly large blocks of wood. So I may just throw the tires back on and torque it that way. I was also considering the jack method as well. Curious myself if that puts more load on to the suspension than just resting on the tires.