DOES THE HDK SUSPENSION K-MEMBER HANDLE BETTER THAN A T-BAR SUSPENSION?

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Hey Denny, any idea if the below is a 1" extended ball joint, or a 2" one? Clipped it from the QA1 instructions.

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Just curious.

It appears to have an extended stud but the ball joint is not the Qa1 over the counter 1" extended ball joint (#1210-238S) HDK has used since around 2012. BTW....long before Gerst or Qa1 even thought about building a Mopar suspension package.

QA1 1210-238S QA1 Ultimate Ball Joints | Summit Racing

just for you, once I pick them up from the machinist, I will post a picture of the 1" and 2" studs side by side
 
I think you’ve answered this before, but how much can the track width be changed? The widest track is pretty close to the later 73+ disk track right? Is the narrow track similar to the SBP drum track?

The HDK can install from 1/2" narrower (per side) than a 67-72 drum brake model to slightly wider than the 73 and up disc brake model. The beauty of dealing with small Mopar only business, HDK can...and has built what is needed at the drop of the hat.

The 1/2" narrower track width is where the silver Duster is at with 5" wide rims / 2-1/2 backspacing.

Joes track width is the opposite, even substituting the 1" wider per side B/E body LCA's to accommodate his desired, wider track width along with the CPP spindles and the negative offset rims he already owned.

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Any rim clearance issues?
Lots of space at the UBJ. Currently the limit of steering stops the tire about 1/2-3/4" away from contacting the frame rail. The next closest interference is the tie rod to the wheel. Once I have a wider wheel, the tie rod would likely contact the wheel, but the tire will contact the frame rail and pre-maturely limit steering before the limit of the rack. This would prevent the tie rod from ever contacting the wheel. Almost a happy coincidence. This has absolutely zero to do with the HDK, it's a result of my high offset wheels. Had I started with an HDK before purchasing wheels, I would have set it up with a narrower track width and sourced a set with less offset. It certainly would have opened up the available off the shelf wheels that would fit. As you know, finding +35 wheels with matching rears isn't easy.
Doesn't your tire contact the frame rail at full lock? I don't remember how close the tie rods were to the wheel on the t-bar setup.
 
Lots of space at the UBJ. Currently the limit of steering stops the tire about 1/2-3/4" away from contacting the frame rail. The next closest interference is the tie rod to the wheel. Once I have a wider wheel, the tie rod would likely contact the wheel, but the tire will contact the frame rail and pre-maturely limit steering before the limit of the rack. This would prevent the tie rod from ever contacting the wheel. Almost a happy coincidence. This has absolutely zero to do with the HDK, it's a result of my high offset wheels. Had I started with an HDK before purchasing wheels, I would have set it up with a narrower track width and sourced a set with less offset. It certainly would have opened up the available off the shelf wheels that would fit. As you know, finding +35 wheels with matching rears isn't easy.
Doesn't your tire contact the frame rail at full lock? I don't remember how close the tie rods were to the wheel on the t-bar setup.

Ok, yeah I was curious about the clearance at the UBJ just because of the extended height. I know when I was running 2” drop spindles on my Challenger I definitely lost clearance to the outer tie rod, one of many reasons those aren’t a great idea with torsion bars.

My steering stops when the tire hits the frame, but I don’t have any proper steering stops. The QA1 LCA’s don’t have any and their narrow width means the lower ball joints never hit them like the factory set up. So I actually get more steering angle than factory.

The tie rod ends are fairly close to the rim, but with 18” wheels they actually fit inside the lip of the rim so with 18’s there’s really no backspace limit other than the frame rail/steering angle.

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I don’t know that I’d narrow the track width if it meant shortening the control arms. Obviously it depends on how much, but that tighter the arc the wheel moves in the more potential you’ve got for bump steer, even if it increases camber gain. But even camber gain has its limits, if you’re gaining too much compared to the body angle you’re losing contact patch too. Ideally the camber gain would track with the lean angle of the car during cornering.
 
Ok, yeah I was curious about the clearance at the UBJ just because of the extended height. I know when I was running 2” drop spindles on my Challenger I definitely lost clearance to the outer tie rod, one of many reasons those aren’t a great idea with torsion bars.

My steering stops when the tire hits the frame, but I don’t have any proper steering stops. The QA1 LCA’s don’t have any and their narrow width means the lower ball joints never hit them like the factory set up. So I actually get more steering angle than factory.

The tie rod ends are fairly close to the rim, but with 18” wheels they actually fit inside the lip of the rim so with 18’s there’s really no backspace limit other than the frame rail/steering angle.

View attachment 1716202628

I don’t know that I’d narrow the track width if it meant shortening the control arms. Obviously it depends on how much, but that tighter the arc the wheel moves in the more potential you’ve got for bump steer, even if it increases camber gain. But even camber gain has its limits, if you’re gaining too much compared to the body angle you’re losing contact patch too. Ideally the camber gain would track with the lean angle of the car during cornering.
I have no intentions of shortening the arms. While widening my front wheels isn't exactly cheap, it's much cheaper than buying another set of wheels.
 
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