Lower trailing arms

[tcrist]

DV,
Have you ever made adjustable lower trailing arms for the CR? I know that you can buy adjustable ones for the uppers off the shelf but as the lowers are custom for the CR they need to be made. I did notice that when I took my CR for its first ride, taking off normally and just driving everything was ok but when I hit the throttle a bit I got a vibration. I think that I might need to adjust the pinion angle a little but how can I do that when the upper and lower trailing arms are solid?

Thanks, Terry

[Double Venom]

Terry,
CR's upper and lower trailing arms are of course in a fixed posistion, this should give you a standard correct " -3(+/-) deg. pinion angle. I would think it is more likely that you may need a little more "toe" in - on the front end? When you really put it under a load do you hear any small, but noticeable clunk coming from the rear end? With the car in 1st gear sitting on level ground and you physically rock the car back and forth again are you hearing or even feeling a clunk? A lttle is normal but using the undersized bolts in the rear end to fit the frame mounts and not the bushings in the arms can give you a "shudder" or a loose feeling. Lets start there and see what you get?
DV

[tcrist]

DV,

The vibration almost feels like wheel hop but I did not even break the tires loose. The front end has not been aligned yet. It is real close by eye. If it is off a little, will that cause an instant shutter/ vibration when you burp the throttle?

Thanks, Terry

[Double Venom]

Terry,
Absolutely!, the wheels not being correct will try to find neutral ground. My guess is you can feel it in the steering wheel, or the seat of your pants first?
DVs

[tcrist]

DV,
Seat of my pants, not in the steering wheel.

Terry

[wetdog]

Just give it more throttle , that always seems to help ! Terry there are adjustable lower arms you can buy but they would be easy to make if that is your problem , just look on a 5.0 site . WD

[Double Venom]

Terry,
Before you spend more exspensive money- unless that is your thing first thing you want to check are the bolts holding in the lower control arms.
The situation is the bolts will be tight going into the frame backets, BUT they are to small for the bushings! Not much, maybe a full 1/16th all the way around but this has caused more than one vibration. Think about it, goes under load, the slop in the undersized bolts to the bushings are now taken up and wont wobble/vibrate until enough pressure is released, then the whole thing can start all over again.
I haven't seen a CR without this problem!

Solution is drill out the frame attaching brackets to the same size as your ID of the bushings, one bolt larger- now that at least is fixed! Still got the vibration time to go om to the next step.
DV

[tcrist]

WD,

More power, AAAH yes.

DV,

Will check.