Question-car leans to one side

[Deleted User]

The 54 Hornet Special I am restoring sits about 1 to 1 & 1/2 inches lower on the passenger side than on the driver side, front and back. Given that there is no evidence that this car has ever been hit, tires all the same size, etc, how do you determine if the problem is the front or rear spring? Or is there another possibility?



Thanks for any help you can provide.

Doug

Unknown

any chance you had those front coil springs out ? believe it or not, there is a 'Left' and 'Right' , the right-hand side (passenger) is a heavier rate spring, Hudson did this to compensate for the extra weight of the intake/exhaust manifold.



hope this helps in some way, I know it's not all that much info.



'47HUD

[Deleted User]

47 Hud, thanks for your response. No, have not had the springs out yet but maybe a former owner did. Who knows? I am going to remove the springs for detailing. Are the springs marked in any way as to which side they are?



Doug

[Deleted User]

dougc_portland wrote:

The 54 Hornet Special I am restoring sits about 1 to 1 & 1/2 inches lower on the passenger side than on the driver side, front and back. Given that there is no evidence that this car has ever been hit, tires all the same size, etc, how do you determine if the problem is the front or rear spring? Or is there another possibility?



Thanks for any help you can provide.

Doug

I had the same problem. I told my girl friend to lose 60 pounds....

[Deleted User]

It's probably the front springs. My car was high on the right side when I got it. The off-balance spring loading made the car handle badly. I thought the the car looked a little high anyway, so I heated up the right side spring to level it out. If you want to try this, be sure to do it at the bottom of the spring, not the middle and just a little bit at a time. The car handles much better now and I'm not out the expense and trouble of putting in new springs.

Lee ODell

dougc_portland wrote:

The 54 Hornet Special I am restoring sits about 1 to 1 & 1/2 inches lower on the passenger side than on the driver side, front and back. Given that there is no evidence that this car has ever been hit, tires all the same size, etc, how do you determine if the problem is the front or rear spring? Or is there another possibility?



Thanks for any help you can provide.

Doug

Doug, provided there is no frame or suspension damage, a quick and easy way to isolate your problem is to measure side to side measurements at the front and at the rear. If the side to side measurement difference is greater in front than the rear, the problem is in the front. If the difference is greater in the rear than at the front then the problem is in the rear. Measure at the wheel well down thru the wheel center to the ground. That will only take you a few minutes. You can double check by taking another set of measurements from the frame. However, because of the leaning of the car the frame measurements will be some what less than at the wheel well. Good luck. Lee

Unknown

Doug,



Your car has the Hudson lean. I've seen it on many Hudsons with original front springs. Originally, the springs each had a colored stripe across there center to identify which side they went on. Red was right and white was left. They are probably gone by now. Anyway, Hudson recommended replacing both springs if there was a height difference between them of 1/2 inch or more.