Hi All

I just bought a 1972 olds cutlass.

It has a 10 bolt rear with a pretty heavy duty sway bar.

I noticed the rear seems to be pushed over a bit.

I was wondering how do you adjust it back to center?

Thank you for your help.

 

 

It's probably not the rear that's shifted over, it's the body.

 

Before you begin considering a shift of 1/2” (or any length) is supposedly required, how did you determine this? Examine the lower control arms - they need to be of the “boxed” variety - not the open control arm variety. If you’re using the sway bar as a “gauge” from which you’re measuring distances, remove the sway bar completely and take new measurements. What are the conditions of the upper and lower control arms are they bent, show damage? If you are using the sway bar as a gauge to measure distance, as stated remove it and see if you come up with the same “seemingly” 1/2” disparity.

 

As Eric suggested, as well. If you have no driving handling issues, 1/2” is almost negligible.

 

The more I read about this, the more I realized this is probably the case. The body mounts have been changed, so this does make sense.

I will have to put it up on stands and take a better (proper) look at this.

Thank you for taking the time and responding to my question.

 

I determined it, just by looking at the body how far it hangs past the wheel one side compared to the other. I now realize this was the wrong assumption. I will have to look at this a bit more thoroughly.

Thank you for taking the time and responding to my question.

 

Nice looking car!
Steve

 

1/2" of offset is well within factory assembly tolerances. The wheel wells are designed to provide clearance for worst-case mass production tolerance stackups with stock tire sizes. The problem comes when someone installs tires that are wider than stock.

 

Well, thats the exact reason why I started looking at it. Lol.

No problem. I'll just have to invest some time and get it straightened out.

Thanks

 

That was obvious from the photos.

 

Once you establish that it is in fact the body, the fix is very easy. Just loosen all the body bushing bolts from the cowl back and shift the body back into the correct position. It can be done on jack stands, but much easier on a lift.

 

Since you guys are the experts....


Now that I have all the body mounts loose. What is the best technique to move the body?

 

I didn't mean that to sound smart ***. I have never done this. I figured id used a come along.

 

A couple of pry bars, there are holes in the frame for this purpose.

 

This seems to be a common problem, my 70S is about 3/4" to the driver's side. As said, it is the body, not the rear itself. Be thankful the body mounts were recently changed, the bolts on mine are 52 years old. I have strong feeling some would snap off.