Bringing suspension to ride height while car is raised

[jfo]

In the past I used my ramps to get the car at ride height before torquing front suspension bushings. I'm refreshing my control arms, etc, and have the car up on my QuickJack. After watching videos where guy's just jacked up the suspension to simulate ride height, I've been trying this approach using a jack to raise the suspension. But I can't seem to reach normal ride height before the whole car starts to lift, and I'm still about 1"-2" below my target.
Is there a trick here or something I'm missing?

[A4Mods]

two jacks, jack up the tires together. get one side up, then work the other side until you find the ride height you're looking for.

[Smac770]

I did my front control arms using my QuickJack recently. Yeah, it does lift that corner of the car off the QuickJack, but not so much that it came out of the pinch weld block. I probably stopped 1/2" short of actual ride height, but close enough.
What are you jacking up? I used the actual Audi tool T10149. Kind of annoying since the base pivots and I'm just resting it on a floor jack, not a bottle jack, so the jack pad doesn't go straight up. But it gets the job done.
https://audi.snapon.com/SpecialTools...itemId=6820108
If you're trying to jack up the suspension not at a lug bolt on the wheel hub (wheels are off), the angle might be what's making more problem for you that it did for me.

[jfo]

I did my front control arms using my QuickJack recently. Yeah, it does lift that corner of the car off the QuickJack, but not so much that it came out of the pinch weld block. I probably stopped 1/2" short of actual ride height, but close enough.
What are you jacking up? I used the actual Audi tool T10149. Kind of annoying since the base pivots and I'm just resting it on a floor jack, not a bottle jack, so the jack pad doesn't go straight up. But it gets the job done.
https://audi.snapon.com/SpecialTools...itemId=6820108
If you're trying to jack up the suspension not at a lug bolt on the wheel hub (wheels are off), the angle might be what's making more problem for you that it did for me.

A4Mods, I did try jacking both sides but was still having trouble reaching the target height.
Smac, I was using a bottle jack under the knuckle. The rubber blocks were still secure but the QuickJack was lifting off the floor at the front as the car started to tilt to the rear. I'll try again when I do the other side and I'll double check my distance from the hub centre to the fender.
I just finished torquing the new lower arm using my ramps. Got it done but it's tight under there trying to swing a large torque wrench! Much easier with the room provided by the QuickJack!

[Smac770]

Yeah, I didn't have any problem with the QuickJacks lifting (I have the 5000EXT), but I did reach out a hand to try and get more leverage when doing the 180 degrees on the curved arm subframe nut and pushed on the QuickJack and it started to slide some. My uncle was watching and caught what I was doing, so we got the front end of the QuickJack back in place real quick. :-) So yeah, none of the car was weighing on that end of that side, but the rear was still well in place. I really thing your only true option here would be to mount some massive eye bolts into the garage floor and run a heavy duty strap from one up over the inside of the car (open the doors, back the seats up and run it over the door ledges and some kind of bridge so the strap doesn't press on the console) and down to the other. This would be the only way to keep the car pressed to the QuickJack and the QuickJacks pressed to the floor to counter the lifting.

Shops have to strap the car to the lift. Service manual mentions:
Before the appropriate suspension is raised, the vehicle must be strapped to lift arms of hoist using -T10038- . The vehicle could fall off the hoist if it is not secured.

But our QuickJacks are not the immovable object that shop lifts are.

[jfo]

Yeah, I didn't have any problem with the QuickJacks lifting (I have the 5000EXT), but I did reach out a hand to try and get more leverage when doing the 180 degrees on the curved arm subframe nut and pushed on the QuickJack and it started to slide some. My uncle was watching and caught what I was doing, so we got the front end of the QuickJack back in place real quick. :-) So yeah, none of the car was weighing on that end of that side, but the rear was still well in place. I really thing your only true option here would be to mount some massive eye bolts into the garage floor and run a heavy duty strap from one up over the inside of the car (open the doors, back the seats up and run it over the door ledges and some kind of bridge so the strap doesn't press on the console) and down to the other. This would be the only way to keep the car pressed to the QuickJack and the QuickJacks pressed to the floor to counter the lifting.

Shops have to strap the car to the lift. Service manual mentions:
Before the appropriate suspension is raised, the vehicle must be strapped to lift arms of hoist using -T10038- . The vehicle could fall off the hoist if it is not secured.

But our QuickJacks are not the immovable object that shop lifts are.

Yes, I've seen that reference in the manual about using the tensioner strap to secure the car to the hoist, so it is a normal condition it seems. I will just continue to struggle using my ramps I guess. The straight arm was OK. The challenge is when you need one hand to hold the counter wrench while torquing with the other and no room to maneuver. I called on a friend for the curved arm to get that stretch.

[Smac770]

I used an offset 16/18 wrench; the opposite end would end up against something so I didn't need to hold it. When I replaced the dampers and had to put the straight lower back into place, I used that on the nut to the subframe and torqued the triple square bolt. That was the last bolt on that task. I was looking around for the wrench later and couldn't find it. Went to the store, the gas station, back. Put it up later to work on the other side and there it was, still stuck on that nut with the other end smashed against the subframe that was keeping it from turning.

I couldn't get the nut on the curved to go +180. Got them to 90 and said good enough. I check them periodically, but the only thing that seems to have moved any are the strut fork to lower straight nuts. They've back off maybe 15 degrees of the original +90. I didn't locktite anything more than what came on the bolts and nuts. Factory stuff seems to always have the blue on it if it's expected.

[jfo]

I used an offset 16/18 wrench; the opposite end would end up against something so I didn't need to hold it. When I replaced the dampers and had to put the straight lower back into place, I used that on the nut to the subframe and torqued the triple square bolt. That was the last bolt on that task. I was looking around for the wrench later and couldn't find it. Went to the store, the gas station, back. Put it up later to work on the other side and there it was, still stuck on that nut with the other end smashed against the subframe that was keeping it from turning.

I couldn't get the nut on the curved to go +180. Got them to 90 and said good enough. I check them periodically, but the only thing that seems to have moved any are the strut fork to lower straight nuts. They've back off maybe 15 degrees of the original +90. I didn't locktite anything more than what came on the bolts and nuts. Factory stuff seems to always have the blue on it if it's expected.

My latest tool...a Makita impact wrench that is rated at 750 ft/lb did the trick for the 180. I marked the bolt, gave it a short burst and it was done. It's big however, and will not fit in certain spots. I'll give it a workout when I do the lowers on the other side. So far it's been great for various jobs. But it still won't free the dreaded upper pinch bolts! I didn't want to snap off the head, so I haven't really wailed away on them yet.

[rally3]

When I did my brothers B6 A4 I made note of the angles of the arms with the wheels on the ground and set the new arms to the same angle and tightened them before attaching to knuckle

[jfo]

When I did my brothers B6 A4 I made note of the angles of the arms with the wheels on the ground and set the new arms to the same angle and tightened them before attaching to knuckle

I was thinking about that...measuring the gap between the arm and the fender or strut mount at some accessible point and then matching it when torquing. I could then jack up the knuckle to a manageable height and do the ball joint end. This would be way easier since the wheels are off with lots of room. I'll be doing the shocks also, so will have the mount bracket and upper arms on the bench to torque them.

[Smac770]

I actually noticed that with the upper control arms. As soon as I popped them off the knuckle, they flipped back up into their normal position. I should have marked the angle on the strut housing then, and torqued them before putting it back in the car. Trying to torque them with a crow foot once in the car really sucked.
I guess the same could be done for the lowers if you leave the strut fork off initially. But since you'll still have to crank it up to do the fork to lower straight and fork to sway bar connections at ride height, might as well do the lowers then also.

[Smac770]

Yeah, I have an impact (only 350), but I'm always worried about it over driving the connection. Just not a tool I've had a lot of experience feathering it for small movements.
You're up north, so I guess that's why the pinch bolt issue. I saw the vids about trying to get it off. My nut came off with a simple ratchet and the pinch bolt just slide out on one side, a little knocking to slide it out on the other side. Getting the uppers to pop out of the knuckle was more work than getting the pinch bolts out. Guess the benefit of a car that's been south of the Mason Dixon all its life.

[jfo]

Yeah, I have an impact (only 350), but I'm always worried about it over driving the connection. Just not a tool I've had a lot of experience feathering it for small movements.
You're up north, so I guess that's why the pinch bolt issue. I saw the vids about trying to get it off. My nut came off with a simple ratchet and the pinch bolt just slide out on one side, a little knocking to slide it out on the other side. Getting the uppers to pop out of the knuckle was more work than getting the pinch bolts out. Guess the benefit of a car that's been south of the Mason Dixon all its life.

Yes, I'm very cautious with the impact too. I never use it to do a final tighten except for large bolts and then only when I'm doing a stretch where I can mark the bolt and check movement. Mine has 3 torque settings, which help to do this.
I'm in a heavy salt use location...lot's of snow, ice and twisty 2 lane mountain roads, so the trucks come out more often. The difference in car undercarriage rust here(Whistler area) vs Vancouver is night and day. Vancouver can have moderate winters with less snow, ice...therefor less salt. When I work on my son's car it's like an almost new vehicle compared to mine.