Rear end location wrong? IM STUMPED!!!
Do think reaming out the spring perch holes a bit on both sides would help? I'll try loosing the front hanger and u-bolts and see if I gain anything!
I read something about Doctor Diff had 1/2 offset spring hangers, you think that might be a possibility?
Here are some more pics of the height, lip to rim ect you had mentioned!
Thanks for giving some ideas ! Greatly appreciate it!
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Dang! Well looks like I was wrong about the ride height, that's no help there.
Those measurements are to the inside of the quarter lip?
Again it looks like you only have ~1/8" discrepancy in those measurements side to side. So you don't have an issue without any one part or measurement, it's just that all of your parts have their tolerance off in the same direction and the tolerance stack is coming to get you.
The 1/2" offset spring hangers require the perches to be moved on the housing. They do create a good 1/2" of extra clearance to the spring on each side, but your problem isn't clearance to the spring, you have plenty there. In fact if your wheels had an extra 1/2" of backspace you'd have plenty of clearance to the quarters AND the springs with the springs still in the stock locations. So the offset spring hangers would only help you if you got new wheels with even more backspace.
And that's the main issue. Those wheels and tires would fit if you had a bit more backspace on the wheels. But with the backspace you have they're right at the maximum, and you have a tolerance stack that makes it too tight on the drivers side.
At this point without cutting/rolling the quarter lip I think all you can do is loosen up the hangers and u-bolts and try to shift the axle over. I don't know how successful that will be though, because really there isn't a whole lot of play there and it doesn't seem like there's anything actually wrong with any of your parts. Like you might get an 1/8" back but that's not going to solve your problem. Enlarging the holes in the spring perches might help you shift the axle a bit more, but it opens up the possibility of the axle shifting back over on the springs later on the road. That's the kind of thing that shouldn't happen with the u-bolts properly toqued, but pot holes and curbs happen and then you'd be stuck again.
And honestly that's part of the problem with trying to shift everything over, it's not like the rear suspension is all perfectly fixed in place, it shifts and flexes back and forth with the bushings and shackles and even the springs themselves under load. So the danger is that you try to shift it over and it
seems like you succeeded because you made some room, but in reality you didn't actually move any hard parts relative to each other (ie, the perches on the springs) and when you take it down the road it flexes back to where it was before and things rub.
Ultimately it's not that the axle isn't centered under the car, or even that the body is off a ton. You have a couple of tolerances that are well within the factory spec by themselves and you just happen to be up against them because you're very close to the maximum tire size for the car with the stock spring locations. Your wheels don't have the perfect backspace for that tire size, and the new lowered ride height you have with those springs doesn't leave you enough clearance to the body. It worked before because the body was raised up enough from the tires that it wasn't an issue.