74 Duster front end too stiff

Steve Agrella said

Bump stops installed, stock torsion bars for a 360, upper and lower control arms are stock, ride height was set to clear front tires.
As far as the alignment goes I couldn't tell you what they set it too, I don't think its bottoming out, its the sharp dips that its having issues with.

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More than likely your ride height is still lower than stock. Mine was when I was running 225/60/15’s on my Duster. Which means with stock torsion bars there’s a really good chance you are bottoming out. What’s the distance from the top of LCA bump stop to the frame at ride height? From the LCA to the frame?

With the factory wheel rate these cars are massively undersprung. Like almost half what an equivalent size modern car would be. The bump stops are used pretty frequently even at stock ride height with stock torsion bars. All you have to do to check is put a dab of grease on the top of the lower control arm bump stop and drive over the bumps you’re talking about. If there’s grease on the frame when you get back, viola, you’re bottoming out.

You also have a mismatch between your shocks and your torsion bars. The bilstein rcd’s, awesome as they are, were intended to be used with larger than factory torsion bars. That doesn’t mean they won’t work with factory bars, but you’re not getting what RCD intended for ride quality and handling performance.

And finally, you’d better figure out what your alignment specs are. Because usually big chain shops like that will only use factory specs. And since you’re running radial tires, you do not want factory specs. That won’t cause the problem you’re describing, but it will give you poor handling characteristics.