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Lopsided

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pseudomike

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Guys:

Anyone ever noticed that their truck sits about 3/4" low in the drivers side front. I got 4 new springs, new shocks, and all new poly bushings and mine is sitting about 3/4" lower in the driverside front. The rear measures out right on?? I tried two different sets of front springs...the latest are new and still 3/4" low. The rears are new as well. I'm beginning to think that it's because of all the weight on the driver's side, the PS box, column, brake booster, exhaust. Doesn't seem like that would weigh enough to do this but it's driving me batty. I've checked for bent frame/shackle but don't see anything. Maybe they are all like this? Any ideas? I'm ready to weld a 3/4" plate on top of the axle to cure it.
 
I have this same problem.. mine's sitting 2" low on drivers side. Maybe it's because I'm a skinny ol' man with a heavy ass? :dunno:

:D
 
pseudomike said:
Guys:

Anyone ever noticed that their truck sits about 3/4" low in the drivers side front. I got 4 new springs, new shocks, and all new poly bushings and mine is sitting about 3/4" lower in the driverside front. The rear measures out right on?? I tried two different sets of front springs...the latest are new and still 3/4" low. The rears are new as well. I'm beginning to think that it's because of all the weight on the driver's side, the PS box, column, brake booster, exhaust. Doesn't seem like that would weigh enough to do this but it's driving me batty. I've checked for bent frame/shackle but don't see anything. Maybe they are all like this? Any ideas? I'm ready to weld a 3/4" plate on top of the axle to cure it.
Click to expand...

If you do a search on here you will see it has been discussed many times, some say it's the weights of driver, steering wheel all kinds of things, but I know it's mostly the torque of the engine that constantly twists the truck in one direction making a bigger impact on one side.
I don't care about it, it could be even a twisted frame from that twisting force.
 
Wouldn't surprise me if it's twisted...truck was plowed for the first 18 years of life...thats a lot of tourque over the last 20 something years. I think I'll make a 3/4" plate and bolt it to the leaf pack.
 
Definitely not the first with this issue....and apparently 3/4" aint bad. I think I will just get a 1" zero rate. Probably sounds crazy but it really pisses me off when I look at it and know it's there.
 
pseudomike said:
Definitely not the first with this issue....and apparently 3/4" aint bad. I think I will just get a 1" zero rate. Probably sounds crazy but it really pisses me off when I look at it and know it's there.
Click to expand...
Did you try swaping springs from side to side?
I wouldn't do anything to add height to one side, it's just wrong.
I would spend a couple of hundreds to take it to a frame shop and check it and fix it if it's twisted. Otherwise, if you think weight on one side is the culprit you can add weight to the other side. More batteries or something :D
 
pseudomike said:
Definitely not the first with this issue....and apparently 3/4" aint bad. I think I will just get a 1" zero rate. Probably sounds crazy but it really pisses me off when I look at it and know it's there.
Click to expand...

Same here. That's the first thing I notice every time I look at my truck. I've thought about the zero rate thing on that side but have decided against it. Oh well....
 
I'm probably worrying too much about it...but I was pondering on the ride to work and devised a quick test....I'm gonna take the bathroom scale...with some plywood and say a 4"x4" piece of lumber...and make a rig with my floor jack to jack up the drivers side fram rail way out in front. Then I'm gonna jack it up until I'm sitting pretty level and see how much weight it would take to level it. If it's 200-300lbs it may well be explained by the extra weight on the driver's side..any more than that I know I got a problem.

I was also thinking about the frame flexing...very plausible...but the body lined right up when i put it back on? Also, there is a giant fisher plow from bolted to it 3/8" plate steel all the way back to bump stops. That would be some really hard stuff to bend, but I guess it's only bolted on. Maybe the guy who installed it had one side jacked up causing the frame to twist or something and then tightened it in place...all things to consider.
 
I could probably shim the sway bar on one side rather than a zero-rate if it were a weight issue. After all that is what the sway bar is for?
 
my truck sat low on the driver side, probably due to driver weight and only using the driver side fuel tank. When I put a lift on with new front springs, then only the rear on the driver side sits low. If you put new front springs on and the front still sits low, could be frame abuse from all those years of plowing.
 
Very possible. I will dig into it more and take some good measurements. Anyone got an idea where the best place to measure would be? My fuel tank is also mounted between the frame rails...I converted it years ago with a 31 gallon tank out of a Suburban so thats not playing in.

If the rear is level and the frame is twisted/bent it must be bent up in the front somewhere? I know I had a blazer that I would jump around the farm for fun and I bent the frame (eventually) right behind the front spring shackle. That seems to be the weakest area so maybe I will start there? I could probably run a laser level from that area and measure both pass and drivers side to the frame ear where the bumper goes.
 
3/4" isn't bad at all. If it bothers you maybe a 1" add a leaf on that side? Then your 1/4 low on the other side ;)
 
Yeah..the more I think about it the more I say to myself an add a leaf or 1" zero rate would suffice..right or wrong i'll gurantee it woun't effect how it drives if it's allready bent?
 
I thought I was the only one with a slumping K-5. I have all new springs too,and still the same thing. I replaced the front ball-joints and it seemed to help with the lean, the joints were trashed.:dunno:
 
I thought about the ball-joits too...maybe a spindle? The balljoints in there are brand new. not a mile on them. So I measured the axle tube to the ground and it was dead nuts.

After some thought I searched the internet for frame specifications on these trucks and found this page...

http://www.chuckschevytruckpages.com/framespecs.html

Nice set of specs, and good for short/log/blazer/sub frames.

With this in hand I went to work with my tape, square, and laser level. After about 2hrs of investigation I am pretty sure the frame is indeed twisted. I am also fairly sure that the twist lies between the forward rear shackle mounts and the transmission crossmemeber, It may be more localized than this and only extends to the cab mounts. That was hard to tell because it has driveshafts, exhaust, tranny etc in the way. It appears that the spiral is downward to the driver's side. I think this makes sense because it would cause the frame rails to meet the axle un-squarely and would reusult in unequal loading of the driver's side front suspension.....this making it sit lower on that side. I haven't put together (in my mind) the way the torsion forces of the rear axle/motor/transmission work into this but I presume they are the culprit.,,,kinda like one of those rubber band engine effects.

So the issue becomes how do I fix this correctly? Well, I called my buddy who was an autobody guy and he called their frame repair guy. Apparently (according to this guy) this is fairly common...and he specifically noted the excessive flex found in the frames of '70s-'80s GM full-size trucks. He went on to talk about the grade of steel used in these frames and how the original intention by GM was for them to flex, much so like a spring, and like a spring with abuse they will sag over time. Well that was fine and dandy,but he really wasn't interested in trying to fix it.

So I think I will try to fix it myself...yeah I'm pretty sure going into that I cannot get it perfect. What I am thinking of doing is putting the truck in 4wd, articulating the crap out of it with one tire on the hood of an old firebird and then fabricating some x-braces where I think the most flex is occuring. I'm going to bolt them in for the trial and error bit obviously. Then I'll let it back down and see where it sits. Better? worse? who knows. Maybe it won't work at all...at which point I think I will definitely just slap a leaf or zero-rate on one side.

Well sorry for the long post. just wanted to keep you guys updated and get your thoughts. I'll be in the backyard with the neighbors making redkneck jokes.
 
since removing the sway bar on my truck it sits lopsided to which ever side has the more full gas tank. also if I dont load the bed exactly evenly it will sag to the heavier side.
 
I'm sticking with the "I've got a fat arse" theory. It's alot easier to think I can lose weight than fix the suspension. The one constant that exists when these rigs move, is 99.9% times a driver is sitting in the front seat. Over time, it's bound to make a difference.
 
Did you replace the body mounts with poly bushings? I had the same problem with my K20. When I replace the body mounts it fixed it.Good Luck
-Lance
 
i had an ex plow vehicle that sat uneven and it was because the previous owner parked his plow vehicle on the side of a hill near his house and it sat on the ground un even for like 20+ years and the springs sagged bad. Im sure the frame was twisted as well, but it didn't bother me, i just wheeled it. Not to long after i realized the springs sagged, i twisted the stock springs on a trail and snapped the main leaf right at the front mount near the bumper and drove all the way home on the military wrap of the second leaf wondering why right turns didn't exist.
 
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