Adjusting the ride height

[Alex'n'Ane]

Is it possible to adjust the ride height without dismantling the whole front suspension, eg tie bar front wishbone etc if i want to move the suspension down a whole spline on just one side of the car?

[Alex'n'Ane]

If not how long should the whole process take, considering it has all be recently dismantled and cleaned. Is it the rear wishbone arm that is moved 1 spline, or the torsion bar leaver. Could anyone give me a proper guide as i know haynes can often be longwinded and not logical. Thanks,

[Alex'n'Ane]

Having just refitted the overhauled suspension she is sitting far to high on the drivers side, we marked one of the torsion bars upon removal and matched the other one but she is sitting very uneven. I need to lower the drivers side my one spline (1.5") My question is which arm am i moving? The rear wishbone arm or the torsion bar leaver? Also which way does it want to be rotated in order to lower the car? I have heard/ read that was is required is to jack up under wishbones, remove the front wishbone, slide the bottom of the kingpin forward off the fulcrum pin, and lower the rear wishbone down so it is no longer under tension. Then undue the other end of the torsion bar. Does this sound right?

[MarkyB]

That sounds about right, you need to move the front arm on the drivers side up one spline.
You need to support the car after you have taken off the front part of the suspension arm.
Then take the pressure of the rear part until it's hanging down, now you can adjust it.

[bmcecosse]

It's a 15 minute job at the side of the road - I used to raise or lower my Minor at the start of rallies depending on news of how rough the roads were going to be! had it down to a fine art with one jack and no need to even take the wheel off...... Just take the weight on the rear part of the arm = loosen the nuts holding the rear part and slide the front part with king-pin still attached forwards, then lower the rear part till the weight is off - slide it off the splines -rotate it one spline UP and slide it back on the splines, take the weight again, adjust the height of the king pin till it all fits together again - do up the nuts - job done. Ideally - retrack the front wheels now.......And yes - there is a simple side-of road way to do that too.......

[Alex'n'Ane]

Thanks bmc, so no need to touch the rear part of the torsion bar/torsion bar leaver atall? So weight of car on rear wishbone, undue tie rods and other nut bolt holding on front wishbone, front wishbone off, along with kingpin (bottom), whack the rear whichbone back, up one spline, back on, jack up again, and reattach everything?

[bmcecosse]

No need to remove front wishbone/tie bar - although obviously the nut must come off. Seriously - it can be done without even taking the wheel off if in a hurry. But I suggest you should remove wheel until you get good at it!