73 Duster wont handle

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Oklacarcollecto said:
I remember you worked your butt off on this car but you got it done.

Did you every get a matched set of torsion bars?
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Yes i did worked my butt off..had the whole front end tore apart because the putman arn was hitting the tortion bar..turned out moog has about three differnt pitman arns with the same part number. I cant remember exactly what my tortion bars were but im pretty sure they were v8
 
steering box is probably worn out. and the bad tires in the front only make it worse.

also, tell us about the front wheel bearings. new? old? how were they put together, and how tight?

they should be packed about 1/2 full of grease, and installed. run them in finger tight then slightly tighten a bit more making sure the wheel still spins freely. and absolutely install new cotter pins so they cannot loosen up.

if you just run them finger tight and forget the little extra you will get sloppy steering/tracking. if the old front wheel bearings are worn out, same deal.

found you a decent article about the front wheel bearings:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/how-to/maintenance/4205243
 
moparlover said:
steering box is probably worn out. and the bad tires in the front only make it worse.

also, tell us about the front wheel bearings. new? old? how were they put together, and how tight?

they should be packed about 1/2 full of grease, and installed. run them in finger tight then slightly tighten a bit more making sure the wheel still spins freely. and absolutely install new cotter pins so they cannot loosen up.

if you just run them finger tight and forget the little extra you will get sloppy steering/tracking. if the old front wheel bearings are worn out, same deal.

found you a decent article about the front wheel bearings:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/how-to/maintenance/4205243
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I have never checked front wheel bearings but everything seems tight. last guy put disk brakes on it and said everything is new sooo
 
FYI:

Slant six with Air got 318 bars, 340 bars are not much beefier. If the car sways around you need to make sure all the suspension parts are up to spec, an alignment on a car with a bad part will not help much. A slant six is easlily within 50lbs of a small block with an aluminum intake manifold and headers. No difference in handling after a motor swap. In Fact the stronger engine should make the car handle better when powering out of a corner.

I started doing my own alignments about 25 yrs ago and can adjust the car to do what I want it to do. Caster can be set without a gauge if need be. These cars have eccentric washers/cams and can be adjusted with a wrench and socket. Moving the rear upper a-arm eccentric will change your caster, if you move the eccentric so the rear of the A-arm moves towards the engine you will increase caster. This usually does little to camber. Check your toe in before and after adjustment, minor caster adjustments will not change much if any sometimes. If the car pulls to one side you need to either increase caster on the side it pulls too or decrease caster on the side it pulls away from. Can do this by trial and error. Too much positive camber makes the car wiggy too, especially on roads with allot of tracking worn into them from big trucks.

These cars are bad about wandering if the caster is minimal or negative. Bad tires can cause pulling and wander too.

I shoot for 1/16 positive toe in. Read up on it, front end alignment is easy once you figure out the basics, then you won't have to pay for a mis-alignment any more.
 
Are you running radials onall 4 corners? Mixing bias ply and radials will cause it to wander, like you are experiencing.
 
73moparman said:
Yes i did worked my butt off..had the whole front end tore apart because the putman arn was hitting the tortion bar..turned out moog has about three differnt pitman arns with the same part number. I cant remember exactly what my tortion bars were but im pretty sure they were v8
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If you go back and read the original thread you had one 340 bar and one 318 bar. You also said one of them was bent. That could be a major cause of the problems you are now having.
 
If everything is new, ie, bushings, ball joints, shocks, steering box etc, then your straight line issue is probably the alignment or tires. Get an alignment with the numbers in the SKOSH chart posted earlier, something like -.5 degrees camber, as much positive caster as you can get (preferably like +3, but you probably won't get that without offset UCA bushings), and 1/16 to 1/8 toe in.

And you've got to fix your torsion bars. Mismatched torsion bars are a HORRIBLE idea. Get a set of 1" bars from Just Suspension or 1.03's from PST. They will do WONDERS for your cornering ability, and won't ride harsh either. Even if your 340 car had matched 340 bars they would need to be changed to have the car handle well. But, that probably isn't the source of your wandering issue.

Also, it sounds like you're still considering some items as "new" just because a previous owner told you so. Maybe I'm a jerk, but I never trust anyone on that stuff. Verify that everything is actually new and/or working properly. And, of course just because its "new" doesn't mean its installed properly or the right part for the car.

Finally, have you checked the steering box mount? They have a tendency to crack at the K frame. A new steering box that moves around when you turn the wheel won't do you any good. Have someone turn the wheels back and forth while you look at the steering box. If the box moves any at all, you need to fix the mount.
 
Sounds like you need to add caster. Adjustable uppers will give you the caster and create a more stable wheel. It looks like you ride may have a big rake to it. That also changes your caster. You can get the uppers from RMS that way if you ever convert to alterkation you will have the $400 arms ready.
 
Alright everyone sounds like the main concern right now is caster and tortion bars so thats where i will start! Thanks everyone for all the great info..not sure when ill get to it but ill be sure to post the results. Thanks!
 
73moparman said:
Sooo what do u suggest i do?
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Im sorry i took a while to answer you. I cannot lie and tell you that I am the most experienced I can only tell you about my experiences with my car and other Mopars that Ive worked on. roadrunners and GTX's are the same. the thing is, unless you want to put money into your car, its hard to get that hot rod look man really (with wider than 7 1/2 in tires) in my picture i have my front end about an inch and 3/4 higher than i would like. only because the inside of my tires were wearing out and i tried to save them. but every time i re-aligned my front end it was the same thing. but i am also running 10 1/2 in tires on all fours. drop spindles are the way to go. but you have to have the b-body disc brake conversion to run modern tires like mine. (not sure if you have done that already) eventually i want to rip my suspension out and put coil overs or air ride for the road course. but i feel you man, my car should be 3 inches lower right now :banghead:
 
73moparman said:
Ill have to order a pair...
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I would think that would cause the car to pull to one side when you accelerate hard or get on the brakes. Even if it sits level from side to side the difference in spring rates is going to cause some unbalance.

So everything on the front end is not new.
 
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