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Front lifts up when accelerating; drops back down when in reverse .


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So i just got done doing my balljoints and tie rods ends, rotors and pads on my 88 gl and i put everything back together make sure i tightened everything down right and put new cotter pins in . It was sitting in my garage for a couple days on jacks . Dropped it down today and the tires were sitting kinda toed in like this \ /

 

Went back & forth a couple times seemed to even out but my buddy noticed everytime i went to go forward the front end would lift up like 4 in and when I'd go to throw it in reverse and go it would drop back down . :confused:

And when id go to drive it just felt like it was all over the place . Very bad wobble . My tires need to be balanced but i dont think that could've caused it . Could i have messed the camber/castor up that bad when doing the suspension ?

 

I live like a 1/2 mile from a les schwab where i plan to go get an alignment in the morning but i almost dont even trust it to drive over there w/o messing something up, it feels that weird..

 

Any input would be appreciated , need to get this frickin thing done ! Thanks guys

 

Oh and it has a 2" lift

Edited by Skylar
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put it on the ground and loosen the control arm sway bar and end links then tighten it up on the ground if you tighten it when its in the air it will do something like that. it may also be necessary to remove the lift before the alignment.

 

also pics would be very helpful or a video. eitherway

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Les shwalbis will do an alignment with a lift but they will only give you factory specs and they don't do anything custom like you might need. I would try a tuner shop or 4wheel auto? or is it all wheel drive auto, I hear there is a great subaru tech there. Its a must to do most of your tightening on thr ground too, thats great advice, but, I would not remove the lift.

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From now on if I don't know something I'm asking on here instead of someone else .! Lol I asked one of my buddies and he said to tighten everything up while in the air ...

 

So after I'm done doing my buddies front end on his 80 wagon back to the garage I go !

 

And it's not a AWD auto , 5 sp manual . And Rob I'd love to come up there but I don't even feel comfortable driving out of my driveway ! :mad:

 

Im also running no sway bar .

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i have no sway bar on the front of mt 2" loyale wag. however i installed the rear susp from a gl10 turbo and now it has discs and a rear sb that it didnt have before. other than less understeer and a little body roll I think you should be ok even w/o the front sb. ive been thinking of taking the rear one off anyhow and im sure others run no sb's, just no track days now:-p

 

 

RV

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You should have an alignment done after replacing your tie-rods and stuff. I measured my old ones and put the spec on the new ones so that the tie-rods would be identical and not throw my camber/toe off much but I still went and got an alignment.

 

I have heard that people that do lifts get some awful alignment, the higher you go the worse it gets, but some people have a way of fixing that, but seems like some custom work :lol:

 

I agree that itll be hard to find a shop to do the custom work... Also, in my experience, Les Schwab and Americas Best will not work on a car with re-drilled wheels. They can take them off of your car and fix a flat but they wont put them back on (safety issue I guess :rolleyes:) so Id recommend putting on a different set of wheels if you do go to them.

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You should have an alignment done after replacing your tie-rods and stuff. I measured my old ones and put the spec on the new ones so that the tie-rods would be identical and not throw my camber/toe off much but I still went and got an alignment.

 

I have heard that people that do lifts get some awful alignment, the higher you go the worse it gets, but some people have a way of fixing that, but seems like some custom work :lol:

 

I agree that itll be hard to find a shop to do the custom work... Also, in my experience, Les Schwab and Americas Best will not work on a car with re-drilled wheels. They can take them off of your car and fix a flat but they wont put them back on (safety issue I guess :rolleyes:) so Id recommend putting on a different set of wheels if you do go to them.

 

I planned on going to get an alignment after i was done ...

 

My alignment got kinda bad after i lifted it but my wheels are also not balanced right . ( cheap a** tire shop threw on some "sticky" type weights on and not the ones that goes on the bead of the rims ) so they came off doing doughnuts in the previoius snow we had. And the bj and tie rod ends rubber was ripped .

 

and i dont have redrilled rims on right now. i have 15" pugs :headbang:

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My bad, I thought Id read you had some re-drilled wheels to put on, didnt know if you had them on yet...

 

For future reference then :banana: because its a pain in the rear. Les Schwab once removed my rear wheels, said the inside wear was too dangerous to put back on the car and made me buy two used tires @ 48 bucks a piece (plus installation). The wear was annoying yes, but I still had plenty of tread.

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Les shwalbis will do an alignment with a lift but they will only give you factory specs and they don't do anything custom like you might need. I would try a tuner shop or 4wheel auto? or is it all wheel drive auto' date=' I hear there is a great subaru tech there. Its a must to do most of your tightening on thr ground too, thats great advice, but, I would not remove the lift.[/quote']

 

You are correct. It is myself, that works at a shop in Kirkland called All Wheel Drive Auto and guess what..... I am also one of the most recommended alignment specialist on NASIOC NWIC. I also have been known to do some EA cars every once and awhile though......:banana:

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My bad, I thought Id read you had some re-drilled wheels to put on, didnt know if you had them on yet...

 

For future reference then :banana: because its a pain in the rear. Les Schwab once removed my rear wheels, said the inside wear was too dangerous to put back on the car and made me buy two used tires @ 48 bucks a piece (plus installation). The wear was annoying yes, but I still had plenty of tread.

 

No worries lol I have 215/75/15s that are drilled for my offload tires . Which I haven't even used yet :dead: and 205/60/15s with pugs for on road .

 

And that's lame I would not buy tires from them even if mine were bad

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if you do go to the les schwab in auburn and they turn you down come see me at the one in kent ill get you taken care of

 

Ok sweet ! I'll probably just go see you because I haven't had very good luck with the les Schwabs here .

 

I figured out my problem I think ! I have my tie rod ends tightened to far up on the thread causing the tires to toe in a lot . So tomorrow getting a pitman arm and readjusting the tie rods, loosening the Bj bolts and set it down then tighten everything to where they should be and hopefully that'll fix lol

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Well I got it all fixed but i have to live with cracks in my BRAND NEW tie rod ends lol no way of getting em out with popping them . You learn from your mistakes though, this was my first time doing Bj's or tie rods . So i shot some grease in there and loosened everything up a bit, put the tires on dropped it down and then retightened everything . Tires are straighter and not toed in but it still barely moves up and down but i think thats because of the lift .

 

Alignment tomorrow !

 

thanks for the input .

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