front suspension jamming...wont come back up???

[814CWE]

just bought a car stood in a damp garage for 7 yrs


got it running ,,,but the front suspension is sitting on its bump stops

jack it up and it comes off the bump stops...sits at normal height till u push it down,,,it makes a groaning sound,,then just sits "low rider"
you have to physically lift the wing to lift it back up to its normal ride height

the creaking and moaning from the front suspension is rather audible

any clues?
im thinking maybe seized shocks,,but ive not stripped it down to check

help??

[graham in aus]

Top Arm bearings seized / dry / rusted?

Knuckle joints creak and groan, but unlikely to actually hold car down, probably as you said, shocks or top arms or combination of all!

Another early one??

[814CWE]

morning sir



not this time,,,its a runabout for the winter

a low milage pre-production sidewalk 1995 in charcoal

it has the most ludicrous sidewalk transfers ever seen,,no wonder they were changed prior to launch

took me 2 days to free off clutch arm,plunger,,fit new slave and master...
the spi was rusted solid..fuel cut off valve buggered,,,had to drain a full tank of gone off petrol that wouldnt even light with a match!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


handbrake cable has snapped,brakes all rusted up,along with the brake pipes,heater matrix leaking,, exhaustrotten from the cat converter back...

and all these suspension issues,,plus lots more,,,,but it has the best shell ive seen for a long long time...the underside is totally factory fresh....which makes a change!!!!!!

ill have a look today,,,see what is jamming

[Chalkie]

Odd that the bodys sound and the surspention is buggered haha

I had this issue on drivers side :/ had to strip all of it out

New shock - Old one leaking.
Rebuilt top arm with bearings
cone left in Boiling hot water just to free the cone off

cleaned it all rebuilt it and it was fine till the rear valence fell off

[guru_1071]

its the top arm seizing in its bearings

can be a swine of a job to get the top arm out (particually in situ) , ive had to hack them out with a grinder before, the groaning is a sure sign that the pin wont just slide out nice and free, thast for sure!

not a fun job

[InimiaD]

Did that job this morning, and by heck it took some persuading to get the pin out.
Just as well the subby was out of it's doner shell.

The pin was rusted solid around the bearing.

[ricardo]

My top arms were painful! Left over weeks soaking in brake fluid, penetrating oil, etc, all I could think of. Lots of hammering
On this one, had to cut the pin to remove the arm from the subframe, only then managed to free the pin: hammer + forcing it to rotate. Hope yours are better

[814CWE]

had a look top arms move freely
its really low atthe front

looks like nuckle joint or sagged cones...?
sitting on its bump stops