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  • Hey this is another video by Pet Rock. Today I'm going to be measuring and adjusting the

  • front end ride height on my '03 Dodge Durango 4x4. This is something that you want to do

  • prior to getting an alignment to make sure that your alignment is correct and that the

  • camber and caster is properly set by the alignment shop. Some alignment shops won't check the

  • ride height like they are supposed to. So it's a good idea to do it yourself and make

  • sure that the suspension hasn't sagged at all or anything like that. In my case the

  • suspension has actually sagged. So much so that the lower control arms are pretty much

  • resting on the lower bump stops which they shouldn't do. That puts excessive stress on

  • the ball joints and can cause them to prematurely fail. So I'm going to adjust them today. It's

  • actually really simple to do. Just a couple measurements. All you need is a tape measure

  • and a wrench. Thats it. And maybe a calculator if you're bad at math. So this video does

  • not apply to two wheel drive Durangos and Dakotas. This is specific to four wheel drive

  • because the front end suspension components are completely different. The first thing

  • you want to do is put your truck on a level surface. You don't need to raise the hood

  • . I just happen to have mine open from working on some other stuff. You want it firmly on

  • the ground with the suspension holding up the weight of the vehicle. You don't want

  • it on jack stands. You don't want it jacked up at all. You want it at its normal ride

  • height. As I mentioned earlier, my truck is on level ground right now in my garage and

  • yet the lower bump stop is pretty much straight up against the lower control arm. That shouldn't

  • happen. There should be a nice air gap between those two. Once you've got it on a level surface

  • you want to bounce the suspension a little bit to let it settle. So now you want to take

  • a measurement. While it's advisable to have the tire fully inflated it really doesn't

  • matter. This measurement works regardless of what size tire you have installed or rim

  • or anything like that mainly because it works off of center points and a delta, or difference,

  • between those two points. So you want to take your tape measure and measure from the floor

  • to the center of your center cap. In my case it's about fourteen and a quarter. So you

  • take that measurement and you right it down. Go underneath the truck and measure the distance

  • from the ground to the center of the rear lower control arm bolt head. It should be

  • the one on the inside. This is a little tough to do on camera but you can just measure it

  • like that. In my case it's about ten and five eighth inches. So now we do a little bit of

  • math. The measurement between the ground and the center of the passenger side front wheel

  • was fourteen and a quarter inches. Then the measurement between the ground and the center

  • of the rear pivot bolt at the rear of the lower control arm was ten and five eighths

  • inches or 10.625. So to complete the measurement you subtract the two and you get 3.625 inches

  • or three and five eighths. Now the spec says that the delta between, or the difference

  • between those two measurements should be 2.9 inches, plus or minus 0.12 inches. So if we

  • subtract 2.9 we get 0.725 inches. That means that my suspension is out on the passenger

  • side 0.725 inches and I need to raise it up that much. Now I need to measure the drivers

  • side. The procedure is exactly the same so I'm not going to film it. I'll just come back

  • with the results. Ok, so here are the measurements from the drivers side. I got between the ground

  • and the center of the drivers front wheel 14.375 inches or fourteen and three eighths.

  • For the measurement between the ground and the center of the rear lower control arm bolt

  • I got ten and nine sixteenths which is roughly 10.563 inches. You subtract the two and you

  • get 3.812 inches. Then to find out how far out of spec it is subtract 2.9 and you get

  • 0.912 inches. This is why you want to measure both sides because you might get different

  • values on either side of the truck. So now we know ho far out of spec my suspension is

  • now we need to adjust it. And for that we move underneath the truck. We are over at

  • the passenger side torsion bar and torsion bar key and it's adjuster bolt. So you want

  • to turn this clockwise to raise the vehicle up. And counter clockwise to lower it back

  • down. I've already put some penetrating oil on the bolt up here and down in here and inside

  • to help loosen it up so it will be easier to turn. This will take some force because

  • you are literally lifting the entire truck by this bolt. So you want to get a long breaker

  • bar and a 5/16" or a 24mm socket. Preferably a six point rather then a twelve point so

  • you can get as much bite on the sides of this bolt head as possible. You don't want to strip

  • this thing out. So make sure you have the proper sized socket and along breaker bar.

  • So another thing you want to do is take a sharpie or some other kind of paint pen and

  • mark the bolt. So as you can see I've already marked mine right here and this pointing straight

  • sideways so I can keep track of how many times I've turned this thing around. When you set

  • up your socket on your breaker bar you want to try to make it so that it matches that

  • line.So it's going about the same direction. This will help you keep track of how many

  • times you have turned the screw and adjusted the ride height. So when you are raising and

  • lowering the vehicle you never want to lower the vehicle to it's final position. You always

  • want to lower it past where it needs to go and then raise it up to it's final destination.

  • In our case we are going to be raising it up to where we need it to be. If by chance

  • we pass the mark that we want to get to we lower it past that point again and then raise

  • it back up to where we need it to be. This ensures that there is proper tension on this

  • bolt and on this key right here to ensure it works properly. Each full turn of this

  • bolt roughly equates to about an eighth of an inch of travel up or down depending on

  • the direction you turn it. So you can use that as a general rule of thumb to get you

  • in the ball park. Once you're close to where you need to be, then you move to the other

  • side and adjust it so that it's close to where it needs to be. Then you measure again. You

  • want to do both sides at the same time because if you raise one side up its going to put

  • more pressure on the other side and that's going to effect your measurement. You want

  • it level whenever you are making your measurements. So you want to have them at about the same

  • height at almost all times. I'm going to adjust both sides and be right back. So while doing

  • these measurements the distance between the floor and the center of the wheel is not going

  • to change. It's going to be the same no matter what you do. What's going to change is the

  • distance between the ground and the rear bolt on the lower control arm. So to find out what

  • measurement you want to shoot for you just add this to this. So 10.563 or 10.625 and

  • you get 11.475 and 11.35. So these are the two numbers I'm going to shoot for to try

  • to get the ride height to where I want it to be. So before you take your new measurements

  • you want to bounce the suspension up and down again like that. Ok I've reached my mark.

  • I have it at eleven and three eighths which is about 11.375. I was shooting for 11.35.

  • So that's close enough. As I stated earlier you never want to loosen to your final position.

  • You always want to tighten it to it's final position. You don't need to loosen it very

  • far. So in my case all I need to do is loosen it about that much. About an eighth of a turn.

  • If you notice preciously it was pointing this way. Now it's pointing here. And then put

  • it back to where I want it to be. Which in my case is straight across. Now I'm at my

  • preferred ride height. You want to double check your measurement by bouncing the front

  • of the truck up and down a few times and then remeasuring the distance between the ground

  • and the rear bolt on the lower control arm. In my case I'm at 11.375 and I was shooting

  • for 11.35. So I'm within that .12 inch threshold. So I'm right where I want to be. You can see

  • that there is now about a half inch to three quarters of an inch of clearance between the

  • bump stop and the lower control arm. This will likely make my ride a lot smoother because

  • it's not going to be bouncing against the bump stop as often. The shock absorbers will

  • be allowed to do what they are supposed to do and the ball joints won't be taking the

  • brunt of the hit. So one thing you want to make sure you do after making this adjustment

  • is getting an alignment and making sure that your camber and caster are properly adjusted.

  • Changing the ride height does effect your alignment so you need to make sure that it's

  • back into spec. So that's pretty much it. I hope you liked this video. If you have any

  • questions, comments or concerns please leave them in the comments section below. If liked

  • this video give it a thumbs up. If you want to see more videos like it please subscribe.

Hey this is another video by Pet Rock. Today I'm going to be measuring and adjusting the

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