As far as I know the 86 IROC that I own has never been lowered, but I don't know what the previous owner could have done and anyone before that.

I noticed that everytime I hit the gas even moderately hard, the wheels spin, or I <b>sometimes</b> get that shuttering horrible feeling of wheel-hop. Feels like it's gonna shake all the bolts in my car out of their holes when I'm accelerating out of a corner or backing up too fast.

So my question is (if this attached picture works), is my LCA angle horrible compared to stock? And if not.. what exactly is the problem assuming I don't have ridiculous amounts of torque more than I should (305 tpi.. I doubt it)

 

stock suspension pieces weren't up to the task of performance w/ a stock motor. -Your angle doesn't seem to bad, but could be the culprit. Most prefer the lca's to run slightly uphill toward the front(made adjustable by relocation brackets), but unless you have aftermarket lca's and torque arm, it could make your problems worse. - If you're driving it hard enough that you're constantly experienceing wheel hoop, then you should be looking into sub-frame connectors, aftermarket lca's and torque arm anyway...

 

is it possible that sagging stock springs have caused the geometry of my lca's to get out of whack? If that's the case then that is an easy fix that I'm prolly due for anyways. Thanks for your help!

 

theres more then just the LCA angle that can create wheel hop.
first place i look on a "stock height/stock spring" car is the transmission mount.

if the mount is worn/torn, the force of hard acceleration lets it move, changing pinion angle, and giving bad wheel hop.

plus new mounts are cheap.


after that, i look at the LCA angle and the shocks.

 

hmmm, sounds good to me. Where would I look for that, do you have any pics by any chance? I wouldn't know what to look for

 

Sounds like bad u joints.

especially the backing up part.

Check the motor and trans mount too.

 

how can a bad u-joint cause wheel hop? when u joint go back that go CLUNK when you hit the gass or let off the gas or when your putting the car into gear... i don't understande how a bad u-joint can make wheel hop happen....

 

He said the car was shuddering and at low speed and when backing up too fast. He may not have "wheel hop"

A bad u joint would have slack and would not transfer the drive shaft motion fluidly to the rear end. A bad u joint would also wobble and possibly bind while twisting. This can cause the rear end to buck up and down. "shuddering"

 

ohhhh ok that means since now... i was just siting here and was liek how the hell can that happen

 

about adjustable LCAs...they should really only be adjusted if you have the relocation brackets for them right? It wont really allow you to adjust much without them right? I just got a good deal some spohn LCAs adjustable but i want to make sure they are at the right setting when i put them in. Itll be awhile before i get actual relocation brackets...car is almost stock anyway, but will be lowered and getting new rims soon. Has minor wheel hop now.

 

Adjustable LCA is only going to help you to center the rear axle in the wheel well opening. Generally this will not be all that useful unless you have huge tires and every 1/4" counts. LCA relocation brackets are designed to maintain axle location as the arm rotates. The LCA that you are buying, are the poly/poly, rod end/poly or rod/rod (rod end = spherical bearing). I do not care for the design on the poly/poly adjustable LCA because it places the adjustment in the middle. Thus the weak point is in the middle of the LCA which seems like it should be a high stress area.

 

Im my experience 3rd gen wheel hop is most often caused my soft/deteriorated LCA bushings or worn/cheap shocks. There are other posibilities of course but i would start there. An open rear can cause it as well as a bad mount on the tranny or a worn torque arm bushing and it can be compounded by saggy springs. The thing to remember is that these cars are old so most of that stuff is likely worn.

 

Unless there is something else messed up that you’re compensating for or have extremely tight clearances there is amost no reason for adjustable LCA’s. Just set them to the stock length and leave them.

Change “most often” to “always” and you’ve hit the nail on the head. Wheelhop = something is worn out or broken. If you’re not finding it get someone else that knows what they’re looking for to look. I’ve posted this dozens of times and I’ll do it again, I say this all the time and it seems like 90% of the time someone comes back with “I checked everything, nothing is worn out or broken and I still have wheel hop.” Well, you missed whatever the problem is then. I’ve yet to have someone tell me that and let me see the car that I didn’t find something wrong with it.

On another note, based on your description, if it only happens at slow speeds you might not have wheel hop but a binding or locked up posi.

 

as long as you're counting saggy springs as worn out, i agree with you entirely...

also, changing the ride height, torque arm, or putting other aftermarket parts on the car, MAY make a wheelhop condition possible with nothing worn out... but in that case, its still your fault for creating the condtion.

if you are changing the ride height, you may NEED relocation brackets.
if you do swap the torque arm CHECK the pinion angle.
if you got wheelhop after swapping shocks, check them... ect..

 

Huh, both my '83 and formula are/were lowered, Neither had LCA relo brackets, aftermarket LCA's (they were boxed stockers) or any other aftermarket hard parts back there and neither wheelhop.

Same deal with my '97 WS6, but it has LCA brackets but I felt they gave the rear too much antisquat so I'm using the stock bolt holes anyway and that one doesn't wheel hop either. I have a set of spohn LCA's that I bought for this car that I decided I didn't like an took back off sitting in the garage also....

 

These types of drawings are a disturbing new trend. I think we all need to put down the MS Paint and slowly back away...

On a more serious note, I'm gonna second what laiky said, check out those LCA bushings. If you dont know the history I would just replace them regardless, they are not that expensive. I've tried alot of different thirdgens at different ride heights with the stock LCA's and no relocation brackets and the only cars I ever had wheelhop problems with had worn LCA bushings.

 

Yea, that might be one of those things that people just don’t get… by loose we’re talking something that moves with a few hundred lbs force (you know, like what a 2 ton car changing directions on top of it might apply), not your little pansy *** pushing on it with 2 fingers. Things like worn and even disintegrating LCA bushings will only show up with A LOT of force put on them or if you disassemble it. I’ve found stuff that took me getting all 300# of me under the car (and I can do reps on a bench press with 405 as well as on a military press with 225, I mean I’m a big boy…), using 2 hands, pushing, twisting… to the point where you can see they car trying to lift off the jack stands.

Use a pry bar, use 2 pry bars, a bottle jack or start taking **** apart. If it’s wheelhopping something is worn out or screwed up, PERIOD. It’s not that you haven’t spent $$$ on the right combination of aftermarket doo dads…

My ’83 TA was lowered further then 99% of what I see on any of the boards/lists, and judging from some of CrazyHawaiian’s pics his stuff is lower then most also, lowerering the thing does not cause wheel hop.