Any Tricks for Height Adjustment Using What I've Got?

I've got the type of front adjusters shown in photo below.

As you can see the two adjusters are set at their max adjustment, I guess using some formula at IM for best compromise of ride and height.

These things are under the full spring tension of the torque tubes, right? If I loosen one isn't there a chance that it will slam to it's furthest adjustment?

The hole in the bolt is only about 1/4" deep and I don't see how an adequate leverage could be applied to make any adjustment.

So what do you have to do - take the trailing arms loose from the tubes to release all tension before you can adjust these? That doesn't seem like a good enough reason to have them on the tubes if they can't be adjusted without a full dissassembly of the suspension what good are they?

I'd like to try the car with both adjusters at their midway point but I'm afraid that if I release them I won't be able to lever them back up to their halfway.

Or am I completely missing something?

You don't have to disassemble the whole thing, but you do need to raise the car, remove the wheels, and unhook the shocks. I also found it much easier if I disconnected one of the ball joints from a trailing arm on each side so that the upper and lower could be adjusted independently.

EDIT: I just studied your picture, and it looks like one is adjusted to maximum height while the upper is adjusted to lowest height, meaning they are working against each other. I have heard that some difference between them can be used to soften or harder the ride, but that looks excessive.

Yeah, with those adjusters like that it's going to be hard to adjust without disconnecting the ball joint.

You don't get any significant difference in spring rate by making the adjusters fight each other. Mostly just overstresses one of the spring packs.

Once both adjusters are loose, reattach the ball joints and get the ride height close by setting both adjusters at once. Once you get close, moving just one adjuster one or two notches is all that's needed for fine adjustment. Then reattach the shocks.

If you can leave the wheels on, it'll make it easier to drop it down quick and check the ride height (you'll probably need to do this several times). But you might need another jack under a wheel to raise it up when moving the adjusters due to the weight.

is your suspension insanely stiff (essentially solid)?

i don't think you could adjust the torsions to be like that - which leads me to believe - someone installed the rotating adjuster 90 degrees off. this is not a bad idea

either way - like Lane said - jack it up - put on jackstands - put jack under one wheel - slightly preload - undo the set bolt and carefully undo the remaining bolt (take care at this step because if they are 'fighting' each other - it will clunk down *FAST*)

from there - fiddle around with the height by jacking the wheel up and doing up the bolts.

OK, so I can adjust these by jacking ONE wheel up or down? I get both shocks disconnected and maybe one of the two balljoints, or all four of them? Then let the adjusters go slack and would be able to move the adjusters by jacking a wheel?

Wouldn't jacking the wheel increase the spring force against me trying to put the adjusters both at their midrange? Or will they move with the wheel, turned upward by the torsion bars still connected to the wheels?

The wheels, through the trailing arms are my lever?

Mango, the toothed area of both adjusters face forward at the same height - meaning that if the nuts were removed the adjusters are in the same relative position on both tubes. The top adjuster is all the way up and the bottom all the way down. I'm thinking that I did see something in Henry's website about a 'special' adjustment they do to obtain good riding quality - maybe this is it, right or wrong. Seems kind of counterproductive to me in that it would make one tube carry too much of the weight of the car in front.

As far as I know this is how the car was delivered to it's original owner, but they could have been messed with. Henry turned it out ten years before it came to me.

The suspension this way is not solid, but my 240 lbs can't push it down any appreciable amount although the ride isn't so stiff that I'd believe it doesn't move when going down the road.

Originally it had the typical GS2 shocks but I put bilstein oil filled shocks all around for a nice improvement at both ends. With the GS2's I hit one good bump (a homemade dirty trick speedbump on one of these rural roads) and it was filling-fall-out hard. Like hitting a bump in an old Ford truck with a beam axle and trashed springs and shocks. Bone jarring really, and that's why I tried the bilsteins as I know they are especially good shock dampeners. I use them on everything because IMO they provide the nicest feel of any shock made.

The rear suspension also has individual adjusters for each short torsion tube but I can push the rear down and it moves and returns about how I like it to be. My push moves it down about an inch but I can see that the stock VW rubber limit bumpers are contacting the frame sometimes. Cutting them down is another story.

What I'd like would be to keep the car on an even stance but have the same suspension suppleness in front as I already have in back. The car is good now, but that might be perfection (as near as can be had with these VW parts)

Move with the wheel.

Disconnect either both upper ball joints or both lower ball joints, not all 4. This step is so you're not fighting two springs in different directions at once.

The lower trailing arms are connected together by the spring pack through the tube. The uppers are connected the same way. The two sets are connected together via the spindles, hence the need to disconnect the ball joints. But the spring packs are fixed to the chassis in the center with the adjusters so unless the adjusters are already loose, jacking up one side wont move the other side.

If the adjusters are completely loose, both the left and right trailing arms are free to rotate up or down together with no resistance. When you tighten the adjuster, you're reconnecting the spring to the chassis.

OK, sounds good - for sure better than I'd imagined it might be.

Justin, the trailing arms a free to move without resistance? Does that mean that there's a danger of losing the adjuster bolt that moves in and is limited by the adjustor slot?

With the adjusters as seen in my photo, which seems to be at full tensioning of the springs, will there be only a ride height LOWERING available to me, and no ride height raising?

Or, again referencing my photo, is one or the other adjuster fully tensioning it's tube while the other is fully releasing tension in it's tube?

I'd like to be very clear on what may happen when I take these things loose. Springs under load can very much be no fun although in this case there doesn't seem to be very far they can go if released incorrectly.

A friend and I were changing struts on an '81 Mazda GLC mny years back using one of those cheapo threaded spring compressors. Although a PITA to use we were getting the job done until one of the four cast steel "fingers" snapped and half released the spring from it's fully compressed state. It broke two of my buddy's fingers and tore a chunk out of his left forarm that needed 150 stitches to cover up the hole. I doubt even now that he's got full use and strength back from that although I haven't seen him since 1996.

Anyway, I don't like taking chances with spring stuff and I do very much appreciate all of you guy's input.

Ken: your adjusters are completely caterwhumpus.

Your upper adjuster is right now at about its lowest point. That tube's spring pack is right now trying to lift your car up as high as possible via your upper control arms.

Your lower adjuster, by contrast, is at or near its highest point. That spring pack is trying to lower your car, by relaxing tension on the lower control arms.

If you back off the nuts on the lower pack while the front wheels are on the ground, nothing much is going to happen. So do that first. Take precautions anyway, stand clear, etc.

Then jack up your car, pull the front wheels, disconnect the shocks and loosen the nuts on your upper tube. Probably nothing will happen then, either, because now the car is up, where that tube's springs want it to be.

But look at the lower adjuster. It will have moved toward the middle of its travel (unless the springs are shot, the pack is binding or the toothy thing is locked on the cogs).

Anyway, now get both those adjusters nice and loose, toothy things removed. Shoot some grease in your zirks to make everything nice and pliable. Stick a big allen wrench in the adjuster end and move either one of the adjusters up or down as desired.

They should move in concert and they should settle in close to parallel.

Set it in the middle, put the shocks and wheels back on, drive it around the block and see how it rides and how you like the height. If it's too low or high, repeat the procedure, gingerly, and set the adjusters either up or down as required. Keep them as close to parallel as you can--within a tooth or two.

I don't know but I been told: making them cross-eyed like that is not engineering. It's ass.

"caterwhumpus" - Good one, Ed.

Yeah, I'd say you need to get things leveled out at the mid point and then see what changes you need to make. Things certainly are, er, "caterwhumpus" in their current configuration.

I don't ever mess with the ball joints, but my adjusters are only a click or two apart. Yours have some serious tension on them, at least the upper one does! You may have to pop a ball joint. I always remove the shocks, then let the wheels hang down. Loosen the adjusters, and jack up a wheel until the adjuster is where you think you want it. Snug them down, let the car down and roll it, bounce it, and drive it a couple hundred feet. If the ride height is correct, re-install the shocks. If not, re-adjust, re-roll, and re-check. Have fun!

Sometimes the adjusters want to skip to the next spot when the car's weight is on them. This is usually because they aren't tight enough or there is powdercoat or paint in the grooves. When I tighten mine down, I tap them with a good sized hammer as I tighten the locknuts to make sure they seat all the way.

Right on, Ed! Shoulda read your post first! Oops!

I think I've got a good idea of how this works and what to do, thanks to all of you.

It'll be sometime after next Wednesday before I can tackle it but I'll come back and report the expected improvement(s).

I bought this car ten years old but with just over 4500 miles on the odometer. It really makes me wonder how much it resembles mechanically the car that Henry delivered as there have been a number of things that don't seem like what would be found in a new IM.

Ken wrote: "Anyway, now get both those adjusters nice and loose, toothy things removed. Shoot some grease in your zirks to make everything nice and pliable. Stick a big allen wrench in the adjuster end and move either one of the adjusters up or down as desired. "

That works, but beware: There isn't much of a hole to put the allen wrench in and if you use the allen wrench as a lever it can break/tear the metal around the allen socket (hole) in the stud. The prevent this, simply spin on one of the nuts enough that the outside surface is even with the top of the stud, thereby forming a collar around the stud to give it more shear strength at the top where the allen wrench fits in. (In other words, the nut will hold the stud together). That'll do ya!