70 Ranchero front suspension lowering kit

[mmag0428]

I am looking at doing the NPD lowering kit for the front end of my friends Ranchero, I am not an engineer nor do I claim to be one, I just trying to make sense of this in my head. The kit reminds me of the G body mod where the upper control arm in is lowered about an inch or two. My question is if i lower the mounting point of the upper control arm how does this lower the car? I would think that it would raise it? Thanks in advance.

[cstmwgn]

I am looking at doing the NPD lowering kit for the front end of my friends Ranchero, I am not an engineer nor do I claim to be one, I just trying to make sense of this in my head. The kit reminds me of the G body mod where the upper control arm in is lowered about an inch or two. My question is if i lower the mounting point of the upper control arm how does this lower the car? I would think that it would raise it? Thanks in advance.

I have no clue on the specifics of the kit you are referring to but I always thought that you lowered the mounting point of ford upper control arms to improve the geometry, improve/correct camber changes. It is purely to improve the handling of the car. I would have thought that a short spring or different spring rate would have been used to addressed the ride height issue.

UPDATE: Does the coil spring sit on top of the upper control arm? I think that it does and IF it does, then you might get a little lowering as a side effect of moving the control arm mount lower but in my opinion you should not move it more than needed to correct the geometry.

[Huskinhano]

It will lower it slightly. On early Mustangs it'll lower the front end by about 5/8". When you lower the UCA, you're increasing the distance between the upper and lower spring locations, that's why it lowers it. When you lower the UCA, you raise the roll center of the front suspension which makes the car corner flatter. Ford's suspension increases positive camber exactly when you don't want to. Lowering the UCA helps by limiting it but doesn't fix the problem completely. With stock control arms you're going to be limited to 1" due to the angle of the ball joint. It's at it's limit in travel at 1". After market upper control arms tend to be a little shorter to correct the camber issue as well as changing the ball joint angle.

Caster is another issue, Ford didn't use a lot of caster. His car caster is going to be set by the strut rod, shims weren't used how ever lots of guys add shims to get more caster. If the money is there,a set of adjustable struts with rod ends makes a huge difference in how the car drives especially under hard braking. Check this company out, www.streetortrack.com I think the Ranchero's parts are the same as the Mustang. I have their upper, lower A arms, struts, roller spring perches and a camber kit on my 66. Let me say the car is a blast to drive! Even with stock parts and lowering the upper A arm along with more caster really transforms the car.

Oh yeah, check the lower control arm bushing. They get worn and it effects everything and really makes the car drive poorly.

[mmag0428]

Thank You for the quick responses. I truly appreciate it.

[mmag0428]

Yes the spring is mounted above the upper control arm