Rear end not centered

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Duster Dude

Duster Dude

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I heard it mentioned from another member that a lot of rear ends are not centered on Chrysler cars, and could be off quite a bit. I just checked my fender clearance on my 73 Duster, and the left side has about 3/4" more tire clearance than the right side. My 74 Dart was also off center. Can this be adjusted? This would make buying the proper rim and tire size very hard. Any one run across this? :?
 
Welcome to one of the issues with leaf spring rear ends. Any distortion or damage to the spring mounting along with normal factory tolerances (or lack thereof) can create this issue.

The only way to prevent it or keep everything centered is with a panhard bar or watts link. But before slapping one of these on there, you might want to check to make sure everything is square (cross measure from common points with the front suspension to keep from "crab walking") and that by "influencing" the rear back to where is should be you are not putting anything in a bind.
 
mopar drivelines are offset about 1 3/8 inch to the passenger side

the axles are produced with the pinion offset as well; with perches welded on correctly for the springs, and housing ends welded on correctly, the wheels will be centered...
 
I new I could'nt have been the only one that had seen this. I had a set of drag lites for sale on here once and people were concerned about the back space being different. In order to keep the tires under the wheel well I had to run 1" different back space on a duster.
 
My Cuda is off 5/8" and I carefully measured things to figure out why and the problem is not with the leaf springs or how much the drivetrain is offset, it's the design of the axle. With stock tapered roller bearings the right side has an adjuster that forces the right axle towards the left. The only easy way I see to perfectly center the axles is to replace the tapered roller bearings with non adjustable "green" bearings that eliminates the adjustment. Or cut the spring perches off and re-weld them on the axle housing "off center" enough to center it. Hope that makes sense, LOL
 
Wow, there are quite a few possibilities to consider. I have very limited knowledge about the mechanics on Mopars, or any car for that matter, so I guess the best thing for me to do is take it to a Mopar shop and have them repair it. At least now I have an idea what might be wrong and what the mechanic is talking about. Thanks to all for the help!:newb:
 
Duster Dude said:
Wow, there are quite a few possibilities to consider. I have very limited knowledge about the mechanics on Mopars, or any car for that matter, so I guess the best thing for me to do is take it to a Mopar shop and have them repair it. At least now I have an idea what might be wrong and what the mechanic is talking about. Thanks to all for the help!:newb:
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It's possible something is broken or bent but more than likely it's just the design. You can't repair a design, you can only modify it.
 
Another point of consideration (like you need any more) is that using the car's sheet metal is really not a very accurate way to measure how the drive train sits in the car. The factory welds could be the difference you are seeing very easily. I would make references off the frame rails on both sides to somewhere on the rear axle housing and go from there. Just my 2 cents and probably not even worth that.
 
I have the same problem on my 73 swinger . Tire to inside lip of quarter panel on drive side is 1" on passenger side it is 3/4" and tire sidewall rubs slightly . I was told that shackle bushing could use replacing or sometimes the pin on the bottom of the springs have a pin that fits into a hole on the spring perch , sometimes. They can shear , I was told to start there , sometimes just loosing u-bolts up taking a couple measurements and fighting the u-bolts back up could do the triick
 
Gee, is it like this for all manufactures, or just Chrysler? Anyway, all of you have plausible ideas, Thanks again!:banghead:
P.S. At least they look great on the side views
 

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Duster Dude said:
Gee, is it like this for all manufactures, or just Chrysler? Anyway, all of you have plausible ideas, Thanks again!:banghead:
P.S. At least they look great on the side views
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Beautiful Duster! I don't know of all the styles used by other manufacturers but I haven't seen anything but Mopars that were off center, but even if it's 3/4" off most bystanders don't notice it. It's not really that noticeable (at least not on mine which is 5/8" off) unless you squat down behind the car and pay attention to how close the tires are to the springs.

As for the entire drivetrain being offset as Megajoltman mentioned, some other auto makers did that also. They designed them that way to give the driver some more leg room.
 
Measure from the framerail centerline to the inside of the wheel opening lip. 9 out of 10 times it is the quarter panel location. It seems that the factory was not concerned about this being exact.
 
my duster is the same way , I have about 3/8" more wheel lip on one side, I forget which side it is
 
All the factory was concerned with was whether the tires they came with had plenty of room. They didn't care about slicks. lol
 
Z-dart said:
Duster dude sweet duster same year as my dart !
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Must be a good year for Mopar. I can't tell you how hard it was to choose between a Dart and a Duster. It finally came down to the first clean one that came up. I am happy with my choice, but still love the Darts to!
 
Yeah, none of this really blows me away, these old cars tolerances are large.

This type of post is what comes up when you snoop, roll it.
 
I had issues with mine as well. when I tubbed mine I noticed my rails were off compared to the quarter panels 1.5 inches between the 2. I now have 14.5" on both tubs and a correctly centered rear axle.
 
Duster Dude said:
Must be a good year for Mopar. I can't tell you how hard it was to choose between a Dart and a Duster. It finally came down to the first clean one that came up. I am happy with my choice, but still love the Darts to!
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Got any interior pics you can post , curious if there is any difference between duster or dart , and your right good year !
 
Z-dart said:
Got any interior pics you can post , curious if there is any difference between duster or dart , and your right good year !
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I hope you like Green. This car is green on green. I am thinking about adding or changing the int color. Anyway, I just bought the car and the interior is in good shape, except the driver half of the bench seat. Someone had an atomic fart ! LOL.
 

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