rear suspension not level

RTTTTed

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I finished my 'home' skip shift eliminator kit and removed my Viper from the blocks and floor jack. Drove it in and out of the shop and bounced it. 27 1/8" passenger side and 27 1/4" driver's side (lower on pass side). Since there is a 1/8" difference I'm assuming the susp. didn't finish adjusting from the driver's side being off the ground.

Ted
 

Martin2000GTS

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I have the same problem in my viper my rear left tire rubs all the time on bumps or dips on the high way and back roads. but theres never a problem on the other side. Its about a half inch lower on the driver side rear. I replaced both the koni shocks and replaced the ibach lowering springs with a brand new set, still no difference. Anyone looking for a set of perfect ibach lowering springs? haha. My car is a 2000 gts lowered on the ibach springs, however i do not have the 18inch stock rims as i am running 19x13 hre's with the Pilot sport tires. Any ideas what could be causeing the left rear to rub all the time? Is it my weight? 200lbs? Should I invest in a treadmill? thanks for any advice
Martin
 

costanZo

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I have the same problem in my viper my rear left tire rubs all the time on bumps or dips on the high way and back roads. but theres never a problem on the other side. Its about a half inch lower on the driver side rear. I replaced both the koni shocks and replaced the ibach lowering springs with a brand new set, still no difference. Anyone looking for a set of perfect ibach lowering springs? haha. My car is a 2000 gts lowered on the ibach springs, however i do not have the 18inch stock rims as i am running 19x13 hre's with the Pilot sport tires. Any ideas what could be causeing the left rear to rub all the time? Is it my weight? 200lbs? Should I invest in a treadmill? thanks for any advice
Martin

You don't need a treadmill you're in good shape. Just save your money anyways and keep running outside. :D

Besides we need that extra money invested in the boat for this summer! :2tu:
 

RTTTTed

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Since this 'squatting on the driver's side seems to be widespread, as stated, I'll make a couple of educated guesses.

1. Since Vipers use coil springs the extra height on the pass side si to preload that tire for equal traction at launch. Chrysler used to use bias controlled leaf springs to alter the traction while keeping the same height.

2. Upper and lower control arms are adjusted differently on each side. Unlikely, as if this was a common problem there would be a 50% chance of the driver's side being higher.

This is a question for the SRT engineers.

Ted
 

488civ10

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Hi,

Does anyone know if this was revisited subsequently in another thread? I've been searching around for a while in the forums without much to show for it. I have a similar problem on my 96 GTS, so any insight or info would be greatly appreciated. My car actually sits 1/2 an inch lower on the driver's side, BOTH front and rear. Pressure in tires are all consistent. The car is all stock, and I purchased it about 1.5 years ago from the original owner.

The car hasn't had the rear differential mount reinforcement part of the 998 recall done because the idiotic dealership that performed the recall for the first owner only did the front reinforcements. Maybe that affects/contributes to the problem?

Like Ted said, maybe this is a nut for an SRT engineer to crack.

thanks to all!

Since this 'squatting on the driver's side seems to be widespread, as stated, I'll make a couple of educated guesses.

1. Since Vipers use coil springs the extra height on the pass side si to preload that tire for equal traction at launch. Chrysler used to use bias controlled leaf springs to alter the traction while keeping the same height.

2. Upper and lower control arms are adjusted differently on each side. Unlikely, as if this was a common problem there would be a 50% chance of the driver's side being higher.

This is a question for the SRT engineers.

Ted
 

GTS Dean

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If the rear end was ever worked on the suspension arms may have been tightened while in droop on one side or vice versa if that side was tightened on an alignment rack. The change in position while tightening could also be the problem because of more or less bind on the high side. I would start y loosening every thing while on the alignment rack, bounce the car and re tighten everything at the ride height.

This is good advice. I will take slight issue though -

The Gen1 & Gen2 manuals require the suspension bushings (including the shocks) to be torqued to final spec with the car ballasted using about 400# of weight in the seats and trunk area. There is a factory spring-loaded bar that attaches to the wheel lips at BDC. This provides a repeatable reference plane that is independent of tire wear or height differences. Measure from the top of this reference plane to the bottom of the frame rails to insure that the frame is level relative to the wheels.

When the pivot bushings are torqued in the ballasted condition, they provide additional rebound control to the shock/spring system. I will tell you from experience that the difference in handling is dramatic when done this way vs anything else.

I will also add that it is quite difficult to get at some of the bolts with a torque wrench with the wheels on. Once I've got things ballasted & measured correctly, I pull the wheels at each end, put slip plates under each spindle and support the studs (with nuts on) with a jack stand. I carefully jounce the car a couple of times, then torque everything to spec.

There's so much variation in body panel alignment that I NEVER use bodywork for a suspension reference.
 

ViperGeorge

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Had the same drooping problem with my 98 RT. The droop exceeded spec so the dealer had to take action. They changed the springs and set the "design height" as described by Mark above. This procedure is described, I think, in the service manual. They loosened all the suspension points loaded the car with sand bags and went through some procedure to re-tighten everything. Essentially fixed the droop.
 

Zrxpilot

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Ive also got the same problem. Ive been tossing around the idea of installing a lowering cap on the passenger rear. Would this have any ill effects for the casual street driver?
 

ViperGeorge

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The first Viper tech I took my 98 to put a cap on one side. I thought that this was crazy and would somehow effect spring rates unevenly. Don't really know if that is true or not but I took it to another dealer and they changed the springs and "set the design height" as described above. The second Viper tech thought the first guy I took the car to was an idiot. The first dealer eventually got themselves a new tech, top notch.
 

PhoenixGTS

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The first Viper tech I took my 98 to put a cap on one side. I thought that this was crazy and would somehow effect spring rates unevenly. Don't really know if that is true or not but I took it to another dealer and they changed the springs and "set the design height" as described above. The second Viper tech thought the first guy I took the car to was an idiot. The first dealer eventually got themselves a new tech, top notch.
I think you need to find where the tech at the first dealer went to because he actually knows what he is doing. This is a chronic problem - a dirty little secret if you will - and putting in a lowering car on the passenger side and/or raising cap on the drivers side is the way to go with static height springs.

PhoenixGTS - 1998 Solid Silver with mods
 

TAILWAG

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I think you need to find where the tech at the first dealer went to because he actually knows what he is doing. This is a chronic problem - a dirty little secret if you will - and putting in a lowering car on the passenger side and/or raising cap on the drivers side is the way to go with static height springs.

PhoenixGTS - 1998 Solid Silver with mods

I agree fully. I have had lots of people look at my GTS and could not tell the difference: I guess I have a picky eye. EVERY single GTS I have seen has that problem...it might be almost unnoticeable, but it is there.

I have installed Eibachs and that took care of "some" of the difference but, my driver's side measures 27.15 inches from the ground to the fender well, and the pass.side measures 26.95. I have had someone sit on my driver's side and remeassure...the car only drops about 0.05 of an inche...so 1/4 of an inch difference is not easily noticeable but, it is still there.
 

ViperGeorge

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If you install caps on one side or the other will it change the spring rates? I would think this would effect handling particulary on the track. The 2nd Viper tech that thought this was a bad idea has proved time and time again to me that he knows what he is doing. The fact that the problem disappeared after properly setting the design height (as Mark from Woodhouse describes above) tells me that the caps were simply a bandaid. The setting of design height is described in the service manual.

As I posted before the original dealer got rid of the first tech because he didn't know what he was doing.
 

Zrxpilot

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Does anybody have one lowering cap to sell? Id like to try it.
 

REDBLACK

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Original owner of '98 GTS. Recalls done. Eibachs. Left side is lower on rear and front. Car tracks straight and handles fine. Came from the factory this way. Car appears level when looked at from the rear or front. No one has ever noticed it.
 

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