Body / Suspension Roll question???

[1976DrtSport]

Hey guys , hoping I might be able to get some helpful info. My 76 dart sport tends to have a tremendous amount of body roll when turning, to the point of allowing the body to touch the tire on occasion. When its just me in the rig (im a BIG GUY), I dont seem to have an issue, when the wifes with me, or even my 12 year old daughter, when I turn, I get tire rub, and the body roll is felt, and seen easily. Hoping to figure out a way to stiffen things up to prevent this. Im running 14 inch rims with 225/60/14 tires on front 245/60/14 rears. I also will note that my front tires sit further out than the rears, in a very obvious way. Rears tires are well inside the wheel wells, but the fronts appear to almost reach outside the fenders... ( not quite, but close). I have concerns about the offset of the rims, but in the same note, the roll is still an issue even if I need to get different rims. thanks for any ideas .

 

[LS-300]

You need to check the ride height. You may have to adjust the torsion bars to handle the increased weight.

 

[pettybludart]

Does your D Sport have sway bars front and back?If you have a front sway bar,check for a broken/rotted pin.Also you may have worn/saggy leaf springs,maybe time to replace 40 yr old leafs.

 

[dukeboy440]

Hey guys , hoping I might be able to get some helpful info. My 76 dart sport tends to have a tremendous amount of body roll when turning, to the point of allowing the body to touch the tire on occasion. When its just me in the rig (im a BIG GUY), I dont seem to have an issue, when the wifes with me, or even my 12 year old daughter, when I turn, I get tire rub, and the body roll is felt, and seen easily. Hoping to figure out a way to stiffen things up to prevent this. Im running 14 inch rims with 225/60/14 tires on front 245/60/14 rears. I also will note that my front tires sit further out than the rears, in a very obvious way. Rears tires are well inside the wheel wells, but the fronts appear to almost reach outside the fenders... ( not quite, but close). I have concerns about the offset of the rims, but in the same note, the roll is still an issue even if I need to get different rims. thanks for any ideas .

The track width on the front will be wider than the rears on our cars. As for the roll, if it still has the original rubber bushings, i'd do a front end rebuild, tighten the T-Bars up and see if that helps

 

[67Dart273]

. My 76 dart sport t .

No idea what these started "with" new for suspension. But the point is, all factory suspension was pretty weak by today's standards.

YOU CAN EASILY improve handling on these cars. Other than the "basics" meaning making sure the various wear parts and bushings are OK, you need

Good shocks

Better / stiffer front T bars. If this is or was a slant car, you REALLY need heavier ones

A front anti-roll bar

Stiffer rear springs

Only way I know of to improve the front T bars is someone like Hotchkiss. I got lucky. I bought a parts car that "happened" to have some unknown "big" aftermarket bars in it.

Front anti-sway bar, you could use a factory used one if you can find one.

Rear springs, aftermarket OR what I did: Ended up junking out a car for parts, I took apart BOTH the junker and original car springs and used the longer / stiffer leaves to make one good pack with I think one more leaf than factory. It stiffened the rear RIGHT up on mine.

ALL of the above is bolt on stuff you can do at home with hand tools and a good jack an jack stands

 

[PST]

Here are the ride height dimensions if you don't have them. I would inspect your entire front end and possibly adjust or replace the torsion bars.

 

[H22A4]

Here are the ride height dimensions if you don't have them. I would inspect your entire front end and possibly adjust or replace the torsion bars.

I didn't know those ride height measurements existed! My FSM for my Scamp doesn't
have those details. Do you have the ride height measurements for a '68 Dodge Coronet 440?

 

[1976DrtSport]

many thanks for all the info guys, ill look in to this stuff this weekend a bit, sound like pretty much just needs a rebuild, and some performance parts.... it all needs to come apart to inspect properly, ill just grab the parts and do what it needs. A guy looks at the money involved in the suspension building, and sees all the other things money could go towards LOL, however, the ride and performance , is the main issue I have , I can deal with the other issues for a while, but its gotta ride nice, and be safe first and foremost. And yes for now its a /6 motor, but i plan to buy suspension for the SB v-8 as thats where it will end up in the next year or so. Any input on where to get good parts on the low budget end, would be very helpful, springs, front end kit, torsion bars, anti sway.... ETC. Thanks guys.