Something binding?

[shadowj38]

2010 with 2016 front updated blue/grey rocket. I'm having trouble getting weight onto the RR spring when I'm scaling the car. It seems like something is binding up somewhere. It's bad enough I unhooked the RR shock from the reared and let the jack down and the car literally sat there. It would not drop. The rear works free with no shocks on. The shocks are not bent and move in and out freely. I'm lost. Anyone experience this?

[CCHIEF]

Are 4 bars in correct scale positions for YOUR (Likely 2010?) REAR 4 link brackets? Panhard bar at correct frame and axle heights, L to R set correctly for your frame diameter?

[shadowj38]

Yes everything is in correct locatiin

[CCHIEF]

Pictures! Pictures! Only so much you can get without actually moving weight. When you add turns in the rr take the same amount out of lr to keep rr ride height ~~correct. What weights do you have and where are you trying to get to?

[shadowj38]

So if I'm understanding you right, the RR not dropping might be normal and I just need to adjust from there? Another question, is it possible my RF spring may be too stiff and it's completely unloading the RR? My shock builder told me to start with a 325. But the guy that owned it before me said he ran a 250 in the RF. Another local in a blue front told me he was on a 275. Sorry about the questions. Just moved up from street stocks. These cars are new to me.

[CCHIEF]

No. And no....for setup purposes. You will need a bump stop with the softer RF stuff to have decent drive..... and not dig up the track and push. Something tells me you have something in the wrong location or an incorrect component. Pictures can be very telling. You should get someone very experienced to take a look at what you have so you don't spend years working around a fundamental problem. Those cars work very well when set up on the Rocket baseline, a little knowledgeable tweaking and they downright are a Rocket!

[95shaw]

Almost sounds like you have a 7 inch shock on the rear. Seen it happen before.

[tworrick]

2010 with 2016 front updated blue/grey rocket. I'm having trouble getting weight onto the RR spring when I'm scaling the car. It seems like something is binding up somewhere. It's bad enough I unhooked the RR shock from the reared and let the jack down and the car literally sat there. It would not drop. The rear works free with no shocks on. The shocks are not bent and move in and out freely. I'm lost. Anyone experience this?


we just had the same thing happen . even unhooked the 4 bars on right side . Car stills stay up in the air. no shock no spring no bars still stays up . Just found this was not like that before . Also had shocks checked and birdcages . all OK . Only thing haven tried is we lowered the j bar on frame . Thinking maybe its to low causing this . Just not sure but if you figure it out would love to know . we also checked the 5th coil shock not issues . Called Rocket they had no idea.

[Dirt2727]

Is the left front cabled up?

[CCHIEF]

What are your scale #'s? And %'s? Did you set/maintain your ride heights? Using the correct one for the rr, lr lower bar should be level to 2* uphill to frame max with correct height and location of mounts. Driver ( or his weight ) in seat. (driver is more accurate till you know where to place weight)? Pull LR axle out of splines?

[Matt49]

By chance did you set your 5th coil preload with the car sitting up on jack stands? You'd be surprised what 5th coil preload does to your rear wheel rates. If it's way off (way too much), I could see it being enough to hold the RR up.
Take the 5th coil shock/spring out completely and see if the RR still holds up. If not, there's your problem. Not the shock...but the preload on the spring.

[shadowj38]

Sorry it's been awhile since I've been on. First I thought it was the 5th coil preload being wrong. I eliminated that. Still nothing. Just for the heck of it, I put 100 pounds of lead on the RR frame rail... it finally sat on the spring and took bite out of the car. So that told me it couldn't be binding up. I took the weight off and decided to just adjust the bite out of the car with my LR. Sure enough that was the issue. I've never ran into a car that had so much bite that it wouldn't sit on rr spring. Blew my mind. But it scaled in almost perfect once I figured out what was going on.

[CCHIEF]

Any time you add turns on one side on the rear it raises the other(doesn't happen on the front). So to keep your ride heights correct, you take out from other. When you scale your car, always check if the ride heights are correct first. On a first time set up it takes longer. Once you have the car set up they usually fall right into place when you return the car to the baseline after racing it.Lr ride height is usually just a 1/4~1/2" higher than the rr.

[shadowj38]

That's what was messing me up. Rocket' s book says lr is usually 7/8 to an 1inch higher than the RR. So that's where it was set at. But with the RR set correctly it is actually only about a 1/2 inch higher.