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Rear end offset

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I wanted to throw this out there. I was looking at my Boss from behind down the driver side, and noticed the rear wheel seemed to stick out further than the passenger side. I went back and forth and sure enough, the driver side is definitely further out. The passenger side is well under the fender well, but the drivers side is out a little. Didn't measure yet, but it's noticeable. When I searched online, I found other mustangs seem to have this offset issue, even the GT500. I had it on a 93 5.0 I had. Anybody else noticed this? I read in other forums that if you want your rear end centered, you have to get an adjustable panhard bar. Other member feedback please.
 

BLAZN BOSS

How much are you talking?...........to move the rear over then you would misalign the pinion from the transmission. multiple weird driveshaft angles.
 
It's typical for the solid rear axle Mustangs, but usually it's minimal unless you lower the car. You can re-center it with an adj panhard bar for a couple hundred bucks and it won't cause any issues with your driveline angles. I had one on my GT500 until I went with a Watts link which allows you to recenter the rear axle. Personally I wouldn't worry about it on the Boss unless you plan to install lowering springs. If you do that you'll probably want one, but still probably won't NEED one.
 
I just measured. When holding a level up against fender, driver side touches tire. Passenger side has about 3/8 inch between level and tire. This seems to be on a lot of mustangs. There must be some point to it. I'm hoping some other members check their Boss, or GT. want to make sure it's not just my car, which based on what I've read, I doubt.
 
cloud9 said:
It's typical for the solid rear axle Mustangs, but usually it's minimal unless you lower the car. You can re-center it with an adj panhard bar for a couple hundred bucks and it won't cause any issues with your driveline angles. I had one on my GT500 until I went with a Watts link which allows you to recenter the rear axle. Personally I wouldn't worry about it on the Boss unless you plan to install lowering springs. If you do that you'll probably want one, but still probably won't NEED one.

That's what I have read. Only really matters if you lower the car. I can live with it. I just dont understand why Ford can't center a rear end from the factory. It's noticeable visually and just bothers me because I like things perfect. Now I just look at it every time I walk by the car.
 
Steve it's not adjustable, but I believe they used firmer bushings than the GT. The Boss got firmer bushings throughout the suspension, so I'm only speculating that included the panhard bar.

As far as centering from the factory, it might be just the natural arc a SRA moves through that explains the static position. i.e. they put it slightly offset to the driver side to accommodate the arc it will travel through during loading/unloading.

Go to the bottom of this page to see an animation of a SRA using a panhard bar:

http://www.miracerros.com/mustang/t_suspension.htm
 
Gary, you may be correct, that link showed the arc, and now I can at least see the point to the offset. I hope you are correct as to that possibly being the reason for the offset.
Thanks

Anyone else see this on their Boss or Mustang?
 
Tflong24 said:
Gary, you may be correct, that link showed the arc, and now I can at least see the point to the offset. I hope you are correct as to that possibly being the reason for the offset.
Thanks

Anyone else see this on their Boss or Mustang?

Mine is the same as yours. It bugs me too. If / when I lower her I'll get an adjustable panhard bar to fix it. ;) I almost bought the Steeda Boss springs and panhard bar while they were on sale for Christmas but I waited to long and now there no longer on sale. :(
 
As you lower the rear end, the axle shifts to the driver side. Since our cars are lowered 1mm more than the GT in the rear, it's possible that's enough to cause the slight shift in the axle, since I'm sure both cars use the same panhard bar for cost reasons.
 
As long as I know it's "normal" from the factory I can live with it. I do plan on lowering at least the rear some day. I feel the front is set up pretty well but the rear sits up too high. As long as I can keep the handling the same, I will lower the rear slightly, and at that point maybe add an adjustable bar. Believe it or not, I am trying not to alter this car too much. Unless its a mod that is a simple bolt on for power, I don't plan on doing much. I did do an oil seperator that I am very happy with, and I plan on getting the aeroforce gauge to use as a shift light among other things. Not taking the car to the strip, just hopefully a little fun track duty sometime, nothing serious. This is a wonderful car that I purchased over an M3 for its simplicity.
 
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A good Watts link with adjustable arms is really the best answer too bad only Griggs makes a decent setup. I made my own and it may be put it into production. This the first prototype kind of crude but it works great.

IMG_1622.png
 
908ssp said:
A good Watts link with adjustable arms is really the best answer too bad only Griggs makes a decent setup. I made my own and it may be put it into production. This the first prototype kind of crude but it works great.

IMG_1622.png

Cortex racing makes a very nice watts link http://www.cortexracing.com/store/suspension/2005-2012-mustang/watts-link/

I had the same problem with a 05, and when I lowered it it was really out of whack, used a BMR adjustable panhard bar, but the watts link solves this problem with a much better solution.
 
Tflong24 said:
I just measured. When holding a level up against fender, driver side touches tire. Passenger side has about 3/8 inch between level and tire. This seems to be on a lot of mustangs. There must be some point to it. I'm hoping some other members check their Boss, or GT. want to make sure it's not just my car, which based on what I've read, I doubt.

You got me thinking so I went out to the garage and held a level up also. My rearend seems to be centered. Measured a 1/4 inch on both sides. So, I really don't know if it is "normal" to have some offset.

Now, I had ordered a brand new SS back in 2000 and it was offset in the rear. Very noticable and it bugged the hell out of me too. When looking at a rear view of the car, it sagged on the passenger side also. I took it into the dealer and they replaced a coil that was out of tolerance. It helped but didn't cure completely. I had other issues with the SS also. 2nd gear popped out under medium aceleration so they replaced the synchros, headlights mis-aligned, the paint on the SS hood was crap and didn't match the rest of the car, etc. There must have been NO QC at the GM plant in Canada.
 
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ilesjohn said:
908ssp said:
A good Watts link with adjustable arms is really the best answer too bad only Griggs makes a decent setup. I made my own and it may be put it into production. This the first prototype kind of crude but it works great.

Cortex racing makes a very nice watts link http://www.cortexracing.com/store/suspension/2005-2012-mustang/watts-link/

I had the same problem with a 05, and when I lowered it it was really out of whack, used a BMR adjustable panhard bar, but the watts link solves this problem with a much better solution.

I like the dif cover and the rocker in double shear but they should have put the rod ball ends in double shear as well. Rework the rocker and that would be a class act. I hadn't seen that one before. Those monstrosities with clamp on steel towers hanging off the rear end are awful.
 
Steeda also makes a Watts link, but it says it will not fit the Boss 302 on their website. it's really weird because it fits a regular GT.

i am seriously considering a Watts link if my car won't center when i install the FRP springs.
 
I was out at Infineon watching Corvette Racing shake down the new C6Rs and I ran into Filip, the owner of Cortex racing. I asked him about why the watts pivot rod end linkage attachments were in single shear. He had a very clear and interesting response. He pointed out the center pivot bolt sees all of the lateral cornering loads but each linkage bolt splits this load and only sees 1/2 of the total. One link is always in compression and the other in tension. He said that if you made the linkage bolts double shear they would be over designing those relative to the center pivot which would not make the system any stronger but the assembly would take up more space and weigh more with no benefit. This makes a lot of sense to me.

Here are a couple pictures I found of the Cortex system being installed in a Boss 302 LS.

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/pWYZnANn5XmH99c7a-1WEdMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=directlink
https://picasaweb.google.com/102238046544191725125/JohnIlesBOSS302LS?authkey=Gv1sRgCIuzoKHdl6zp2wE#5699193832768710946

pWYZnANn5XmH99c7a-1WEdMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0

SIek27aJl0ORKnEU-2PUCtMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0
 

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