1964 Valiant "Get Runnin & Drivin"

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RustyRatRod said:
Of course you can! It sounds great, Mike!
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Thank you, it was important I knew you seen that video, late evening putting her back after a family and friends get together.. good food and listening to my two boys and granddaughter yack.
 
So I couldn't sleep yet again tonight and went out and disassembled the lower control arms I got from @littleredcoffin. Thanks buddy, as usual, your generosity is much appreciated. They are in great shape and all I need to do is blast them to get the surface rust off and then I can assemble them.

I have the stiffening plates to weld to the bottom as well as the delrin bushings and matching pivot pins from @BergmanAutoCraft. Thanks for the great deal on those, Peter. You're an asset to this hobby and very much appreciated.

Here they are all disassembled and ready to clean. They don't look like much, but they will help speed the suspension rebuild process a little, since I will be swapping these out rebuilt, for the originals on Vixen now. Baby steps, but still progress, right?
VIXEN CONTROL ARMS.JPG
 
And of course now I cannot find my control arm stiffening plates. No tellin where they are. They're gonna be tough to find too because they're flat. Dammit all. lol
 
4spdragtop said:
I bet you could run a couple straps instead of a complete plate??
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I thought about that. I'm also thinkin the pair under Vixen now and the pair I have to rebuild made it this far without them. So what's 60 more years? lol
 
RustyRatRod said:
And of course now I cannot find my control arm stiffening plates. No tellin where they are. They're gonna be tough to find too because they're flat. Dammit all. lol
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Did you put them in Vixen ?
Something that small and flat will be hard to find, if your slow as Molasses, I can't think of anything as slow as I am, looking great Rob.
Sleep is important and hope you figure out why your not getting it.
 
If your luck is like mine, you put them where you could find them....and you know the rest of that story! When I quit looking for something is when I usually trip over it. Do your sway bar tabs bolt on or will you weld new ones to these arms?
 
JDMopar said:
If your luck is like mine, you put them where you could find them....and you know the rest of that story! When I quit looking for something is when I usually trip over it. Do your sway bar tabs bolt on or will you weld new ones to these arms?
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Naw, I have the bolt on ones that bolt to the shock bolt. I actually like those, because you can kinda angle um like you want um.
 
I need to read back thru your thread here and see which front sway bar it was that you used. Seems like I remember you being pretty happy with it, and I need to get one for my 65 Barracuda.

:thumbsup:
 
JDMopar said:
I need to read back thru your thread here and see which front sway bar it was that you used. Seems like I remember you being pretty happy with it, and I need to get one for my 65 Barracuda.

:thumbsup:
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I used the Addco bar, but I used some universal mounts from Energy Suspension, because the attaching hardware from Addco is chinsey, but the bars themselves are good.
 
The last couple of times I've driven Vixen, I've noticed a tad bit of play in the steering. Not much mind you, but enough that it's noticeable. Today, I got under her and as Kitty was turning the wheel back and forth, I noticed the gearbox moving back and forth. So I removed the bolts one by one, cleaned them and the washers with the wire wheel on the bench grinder. Then I sprayed each hole with brake cleaner and blew them out, put blue Locktite on the bolts and torqued them to spec. Fixed it right up. So make sure yall check your gearbox bolts occasionally, as they do work loose. Especially those with manual steering.
 
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Great information, I will double check mine, and do as you did, pull them out one at a time, clean and place them back with a blue or orange thread locker.
 
had that happen to my demonmany years ago..

funny, when my buddy got his geberal lee onthe road, finished drag week and put some additional miles onit he called bitching about how the car has slop in the steering. with all the garbage parts out there these days i totally understand him jumping right to bad parts.. he experiemced a bunch of that while restoring the car... anyway, i told him to check the steering box. he said he torqued it to proper specs and all while putting it together.. told him my previous experience i had with the demon.,. i get a call two days later saying, you were right the box loosened up..lol
 
That's very strange to me.
In all my time with dozens of Mopars over dozens of years, I've never had a steering box loose.
...and I drive them pretty hard and even off road sometimes.
 
YY1 said:
That's very strange to me.
In all my time with dozens of Mopars over dozens of years, I've never had a steering box loose.
...and I drive them pretty hard and even off road sometimes.
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Same here, never on any of my E bodies or A bodies, but I did have one loosen up on a ramcharger not long ago.
 
YY1 said:
That's very strange to me.
In all my time with dozens of Mopars over dozens of years, I've never had a steering box loose.
...and I drive them pretty hard and even off road sometimes.
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I never have either. Or at least, not that I noticed.
 
We had the manual box loosen up on my old '67 Dart hardtop (440). We also had the K-member bolts loosen up. It's pretty obvious what's going on. BUT, had a neighbor back in the 1980s (we shared a driveway). He had a '70s 1/2t Power Wagon. We were both getting ready to back out and I saw his steering box move. There was a mounting bracket on those years and his had broken in two...
 
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JDMopar said:
@Jim Lusk My 88 D100 2WD steering box wiggles because the frame is cracked where the PS box bolts on. Gonna fix it when I install the 5.9 Magnum.
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Mine still moves a VERY slight amount. So, when I put her down for the disc brakes, I'll be doing some reinforcement to the K frame too. You do know there's a factory reinforcement bracket to fix your problem, right? I actually have one to go on my rat truck.....IF I ever finish it. lol
 
RustyRatRod said:
Mine still moves a VERY slight amount. So, when I put her down for the disc brakes, I'll be doing some reinforcement to the K frame too. You do know there's a factory reinforcement bracket to fix your problem, right? I actually have one to go on my rat truck.....IF I ever finish it. lol
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Yep...it has a brace on it already. I did like you, and got my wife to turn the wheel while I eyeballed it. Chunk of the frame flexes back and forth. I plan on downing it this winter and fixing it. I have a good running, low mile 5.9 Magnum with all the wiring and computer to install, so I'll fix the frame and get the steering box to sit still while I have it apart and have some room to work.
 
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