Advantages of upper/lower aftermarket control arms except more adjustment
During alignment
Which ones are good yet not a lot of $$$
During alignment
Which ones are good yet not a lot of $$$
Advantages of upper/lower aftermarket control arms except more adjustment
During alignment
Which ones are good yet not a lot of $$$
What do you mean reinforce lca’s
I’ve got the same setup as you and the car really handles well
It’s got SS springs and KYB gas adjust
Shocks I know that there are better one’s out there but I’ll wait for a while
I got tube UCA and they required modification of the mounting location (cutting and welding). Not all require that, but be sure to know before you buy.
I’m done here definitely not into anything that is not bolt on and has a frig factor LOLI know the Firmfeel UCA didnt require mods. Can’t speak to he others.
I’m done here definitely not into anything that is not bolt on and has a frig factor LOL
Adjustable strut rods are absolutely necessary if you use poly or Delrin LCA bushings. The factory length strut rods WILL be the wrong length.
good yet not a lot of $$$
I’m done here definitely not into anything that is not bolt on and has a frig factor LOL
Wrong question. The biggest advantage to tubular UCA's is the additional adjustment. If you're running radial tires you want more caster than what the factory parts can get you. Even with stock UCA's and the offset UCA's bushings installed for maximum caster, about the most you can get for caster is +3.5°. Which is still a pretty small caster number, especially for a power steering car. +5° caster will dramatically improve the stability of the car, and you won't get that without tubular UCA's because of the additional caster most of them have built in.
As for cutting, if the UCA has a tight "V" shape some clearancing might be necessary. Both the Firm Feel and QA1 UCA's should fit without this. Non-adjustable PST and Magnumforce UCA's, as well as some others, will require a little cutting on the mount, shown here. It doesn't effect the strength any, just a cosmetic change
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I would avoid heims at the UCA for a street car. Running a set like that on my Challenger on the street I was only able to get about 7 to 10k miles out of a set of heims before they needed replacing. I try to stay with bushings at the UCA.
Tubular LCA's don't do much. A boxing plate on a set of factory LCA's will dramatically improve things, especially if you take the play out of them before you weld the boxing plate on. Jim Lusk has a great video on this
One advantage to the QA1 tubular UCA's used to be that they added about 1" of suspension travel back into the suspension for a lowered car. The recent redesign to add a bump stop removed this advantage, although, if you have a seriously lowered car you can still remove the bump stop they added and gain back that clearance.
Adjustable strut rods are absolutely necessary if you use poly or Delrin LCA bushings. The factory length strut rods WILL be the wrong length. And regardless, the factory strut rods build additional binding in to the suspension that you can eliminate with an adjustable strut rod. Unlike heims at the UCA, I've had great luck with heims at the strut rods, the set on my Challenger has done 70k miles and it still nice and tight. If you have rubber LCA bushings the factory strut rods are ok, but for anything other than a cruiser there are advantages to using adjustable strut rods.
Can you elaborate on this? Do poly LCA bushings place the LCA in a different location? I've got a set on my 66 Dart with stock strut rods and didn't notice any issues when I reassembled it, though I haven't put any miles on the car yet either.
I went with tubular UCA’s to replace my old stock ones. Direct bolt-in replacement for 73 and later, for 72
Yeah you’re right I planning serious upgrades and I can’t go cheap nowHow much of a friggin can you take from an accident that was the cost of using cheap suspension parts?
Yeah you’re right I planning serious upgrades and I can’t go cheap now
What brand?
I had to modify my 1965 Valiant to use PST upper control arms (I'm pretty sure those are what I used. Straight tube-design?) Someone provided an image earlier where you have to cut the mount. (Not sure if the instructions said to add reenforcements to replace the metal you are removing, but I did that too... seems like a bad place to weaken the original design.)PST non-adjustable. Put them into a 64 dart and they went right in to the stock location. Haven’t swapped the spindle yet (just arrived).
I had to modify my 1965 Valiant to use PST upper control arms (I'm pretty sure those are what I used. Straight tube-design?) Someone provided an image earlier where you have to cut the mount. (Not sure if the instructions said to add reenforcements to replace the metal you are removing, but I did that too... seems like a bad place to weaken the original design.)
Lots of good info. 72nublu has good background info.
I’m a vendor, make and sell many parts into this market. Having a pro touring style Dart for 37 years and competing in everything from Real Street Eliminator to Optima Ultimate Street Car has given me some experience.
The adjustable arms I sell allow a large range of adjustment, but more importantly it doesn’t rely on eccentrics to align. Given larger tire sizes and universally inept alignment techs, this style arm takes a lot of guesswork out of alignments. The Delrin bushings I make are superior to any urethane considering their hardness and longevity. The adjustable strut rod ensures the lca bind free movement.
My site is Bergmanautocraft.con. Many of these parts are in the suspension section. I’m available by phone,email, text and messenger most of the time.
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Wrong question. The biggest advantage to tubular UCA's is the additional adjustment. If you're running radial tires you want more caster than what the factory parts can get you. Even with stock UCA's and the offset UCA's bushings installed for maximum caster, about the most you can get for caster is +3.5°. Which is still a pretty small caster number, especially for a power steering car. +5° caster will dramatically improve the stability of the car, and you won't get that without tubular UCA's because of the additional caster most of them have built in.
As for cutting, if the UCA has a tight "V" shape some clearancing might be necessary. Both the Firm Feel and QA1 UCA's should fit without this. Non-adjustable PST and Magnumforce UCA's, as well as some others, will require a little cutting on the mount, shown here. It doesn't effect the strength any, just a cosmetic change
View attachment 1715719324
I would avoid heims at the UCA for a street car. Running a set like that on my Challenger on the street I was only able to get about 7 to 10k miles out of a set of heims before they needed replacing. I try to stay with bushings at the UCA.
Tubular LCA's don't do much. A boxing plate on a set of factory LCA's will dramatically improve things, especially if you take the play out of them before you weld the boxing plate on. Jim Lusk has a great video on this
One advantage to the QA1 tubular UCA's used to be that they added about 1" of suspension travel back into the suspension for a lowered car. The recent redesign to add a bump stop removed this advantage, although, if you have a seriously lowered car you can still remove the bump stop they added and gain back that clearance.
Adjustable strut rods are absolutely necessary if you use poly or Delrin LCA bushings. The factory length strut rods WILL be the wrong length. And regardless, the factory strut rods build additional binding in to the suspension that you can eliminate with an adjustable strut rod. Unlike heims at the UCA, I've had great luck with heims at the strut rods, the set on my Challenger has done 70k miles and it still nice and tight. If you have rubber LCA bushings the factory strut rods are ok, but for anything other than a cruiser there are advantages to using adjustable strut rods.