'74 Dart Suspension Issues

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Nate_Kerr

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Hello everyone, I recently purchased a '74 Dart Swinger that has been nothing but problems. It ended up being rustier than I had thought, and within 24 hours of purchase it broke the torsion bar mount on the crossmember. I limped it to a friend's shop where we replaced the crossmember. Since replacing the crossmember, the car had pulled to the right a bit. I figured it needed an alignment, but I was also pretty sure the tie rod end was bad. On my way home to replace it, the car started pulling a lot harder and vibrating pretty bad above 20. It had made a noise a few times as the right front wheel up onto the driveway, so I hoped it was a ball joint. After replacing that today, I have the same issue. I have the torsion bar adjusting bolts tightened pretty far, as the front end keeps dropping down. When I set the car down after being jacked up, it sits perfectly aside from being pretty high from the the torsion bar setting. After driving it around the block, the car sits lower and the toe and camber are off. The driver's side isn't really bad, but the passenger's side is terrible. I'm assuming it has something to do with the torsion bar crossmember work, but I can't be sure. I don't know if anyone has ever had a problem like this or knows what it could be and I apologize for the long backstory, I just really want to get my new daily back on the road and any help would be appreciated
 
Here are some photos of what I'm dealing with

After setting it down from the jack:
IMG_0899.JPG
IMG_0898.JPG
After driving around the block (the driver's wheel is straight):
IMG_0893.JPG
IMG_0895.JPG
 
Check the K member for damage/ rust/ breakage where the lower control arm pins fit.
 
Bent torsion bar when the crossmember broke?
 
Sorry for taking so long to get back to everyone, I've been away from home. I appreciate all of the suggestions, but I figured out that it's a frame issue. I knew the rails were bad, but I didn't think they were this bad. I'm gonna have to replace the frame rails, so does anyone know where I could get replacements? I'd prefer to buy new, but I'll go for some out of a parts car if I have to.
 
Nate_Kerr said:
Sorry for taking so long to get back to everyone, I've been away from home. I appreciate all of the suggestions, but I figured out that it's a frame issue. I knew the rails were bad, but I didn't think they were this bad. I'm gonna have to replace the frame rails, so does anyone know where I could get replacements? I'd prefer to buy new, but I'll go for some out of a parts car if I have to.
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Rusted out?
 
Sorry to hear about your troubles. It's surprising to hear about your structural rust because the little bit of the body that we can see looks super clean in those pictures.
 
dukeboy_318 said:
Rusted out?
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Yeah, they're rotted out pretty bad. I didn't pay too much attention to the frame because the car looks really nice and I traded the guy a Fox Body Mustang with a rotted strut tower. If I can find the rails my local shop will do it for $2000-$2500, so that's what I'm gonna do
 
Currently no one is reproducing the front frame rails, you'll have to find a used set from a donor car. You can use any rails from 67-76, but it looks like your '74 might have a shock mounted front bumper? If that's the case you'll need '74 and up for the rails , or you'll have to add the shock mount bracket location to an earlier rail. Or lose the shock mounted bumper in favor of an earlier one.

Are the rails just rusted out where the suspension mounts? It's pretty common for them to rust there and you might be able to just do a patch/section if the rest of the rail is decent. But it depends on the rails of course.
 
72bluNblu said:
Currently no one is reproducing the front frame rails, you'll have to find a used set from a donor car. You can use any rails from 67-76, but it looks like your '74 might have a shock mounted front bumper? If that's the case you'll need '74 and up for the rails , or you'll have to add the shock mount bracket location to an earlier rail. Or lose the shock mounted bumper in favor of an earlier one.

Are the rails just rusted out where the suspension mounts? It's pretty common for them to rust there and you might be able to just do a patch/section if the rest of the rail is decent. But it depends on the rails of course.
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They are probably the worst where the control arms mount, but they're pretty bad all around. I'm pretty rough on my cars, so I'm going to just replace everything that seems like it could be bad. I will look into that bumper situation though, thanks for bringing that to my attention.
lilnoah said:
Try whitepunknitro
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I just pmed him and sure enough he has both rails. Thanks for referring me to him
 
Nate_Kerr said:
They are probably the worst where the control arms mount, but they're pretty bad all around. I'm pretty rough on my cars, so I'm going to just replace everything that seems like it could be bad. I will look into that bumper situation though, thanks for bringing that to my attention.
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Best way to go with rust, there's always more than what you see.

Here's some more info on the bumper issue. Early production model year '74's had shock mounted front and rear bumpers. Somewhere around December of '73 there was a production issue, and the factory started using non-shock (standard) front bumpers and brackets again. The August -December model year '74 cars only had the single mounting location for the shock mounted bumpers. After they converted back to the standard bumpers, the frame rails had all 3 mounting locations (shock mount location, plus the two standard bracket locations).

My '74 Duster was a June build, so, it has all 3 locations
img_1917-jpg-jpg-jpg.jpg


So, other than the December '73 to the end of the model year '74 cars, the rails only have one set of mounting locations. Either they have the two standard mounts up front, or they have the single mounting location for the shock mounts. This shows what the other ones look like, although the tags aren't quite right. On the shock mount bumper the tag should read something like August-December '73 (for model year '74) and 75+.
aframerails-2-copy-2-jpg-jpg-jpg.jpg


At any rate, it would be easier to get a frame rail that has the correct mounting locations for whatever bumper your car has now.
 
72bluNblu said:
Best way to go with rust, there's always more than what you see.

Here's some more info on the bumper issue. Early production model year '74's had shock mounted front and rear bumpers. Somewhere around December of '73 there was a production issue, and the factory started using non-shock (standard) front bumpers and brackets again. The August -December model year '74 cars only had the single mounting location for the shock mounted bumpers. After they converted back to the standard bumpers, the frame rails had all 3 mounting locations (shock mount location, plus the two standard bracket locations).

My '74 Duster was a June build, so, it has all 3 locations
View attachment 1715071382

So, other than the December '73 to the end of the model year '74 cars, the rails only have one set of mounting locations. Either they have the two standard mounts up front, or they have the single mounting location for the shock mounts. This shows what the other ones look like, although the tags aren't quite right. On the shock mount bumper the tag should read something like August-December '73 (for model year '74) and 75+.
View attachment 1715071383

At any rate, it would be easier to get a frame rail that has the correct mounting locations for whatever bumper your car has now.
Click to expand...
Mine came off the line in November of '73. The ones I was gonna get were off a '71, so do you think that would be too much of an issue? Could the holes be drilled to accommodate?
 
Nate_Kerr said:
Mine came off the line in November of '73. The ones I was gonna get were off a '71, so do you think that would be too much of an issue? Could the holes be drilled to accommodate?
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See if yours have the shock mounted bumper if not, no need too. If it does, get rid of the shock mount. They're worthless anyway
 
Nate_Kerr said:
Mine came off the line in November of '73. The ones I was gonna get were off a '71, so do you think that would be too much of an issue? Could the holes be drilled to accommodate?
Click to expand...

So, does it have the shock mounted bumper with the single mount?

If it does, and it probably does, if you use the '71 rails you'll either have to add the mount point for your shock brackets or convert to the earlier bumper.

It's true that the shock mount doesn't really do anything for you, but, the whole bumper is different. The non-shock mount bumpers have their bracket attachment locations in a different spot. So you have to get a set of standard (non shock) brackets, but you'd have to get the bumper that goes with them too. It may be easier to add the mounting point for the shock mount bumper.
 
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