Dart Suspension Rebuild Kit on Ebay Opinions

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Anything with a ball joint (upper ball joints, lower ball joints, tie rod ends, pitman arm, idler arm) = made in China dogshit regardless of what brand you buy. For bushings you can at least get decent Poly ones

Do you need to rebuild the whole thing? If I were you I'd go piece by piece and only replace what's needed. And before someone suggests it Moog isn't good anymore, it's just overpriced made in China garbage. Many threads on here of Moog ball joints failing.

If you really do need to replace everything all I can say is good luck I hope all of the parts last you. It's a sad state of affairs.
 
Might as well get mastercraft from orileys with warranty
 
Do you need to rebuild the whole thing? If I were you I'd go piece by piece and only replace what's needed.
To tell you the truth, I'm not a suspension expert by any means, so I have no idea really what, if anything, (besides shocks, I know I need shocks) needs to be replaced. I was thinking that eventually, I would do it all just in case.
 
In today's "global economy" it's hard to say anymore where to get quality parts. Moog has it's detractors and it's dedicated followers. I completely rebuilt the front end on both the Coronet and Dart using a combination of Moog parts from Rock Auto and PST. From PST I got their solid tie rod adjusters, poly strut rod bushings, LCA stiffening plates and T-bars (for the Coronet only). The E-Bay kit is missing the pitman arm; might as well get it from somewhere else while you're doing the rest of the suspension.
Two suggestions: you said the car needed shocks - I recommend Bilsteins; got them on both cars and love them. Second, while the front suspension is out, pull the steering box and send it to Firm Feel for a rebuild. It's going to cost you another $379, but it is worth every penny. If your steering box is worn out, replacing your front suspension won't take out all the slop.
Next to HP, a great handling car gives me the most driving enjoyment. Save up until you can replace or rebuild all steering/suspension components and then go for it.
 
To tell you the truth, I'm not a suspension expert by any means, so I have no idea really what, if anything, (besides shocks, I know I need shocks) needs to be replaced. I was thinking that eventually, I would do it all just in case.

It's good to put fresh bushings in the front end... Upper control arm bushings, lower control arm bushings, strut rod bushings, and sway bar bushings (if equipped)...

If you want to go with a kit for the suspension, I would go with PST, Just Suspension, or Mancini also sells kits... Verify what components are in the kit before ordering... Some kits don't have the idler arm, pitman arm, upper control arm bolts.. I would also upgrade to a set of 1" torsion bars available at the three places...
 
KYB has always made good quality gas shock and are reasonable. Have used them 40 plus years on E-bodies. Just another option for you.
 
I wont type out the entire story. With a quick price search ( 96 Camry oil pump, price range of 37.50 to 150.00 ) you could just about write the story yourself. Anyway... I finally learned my lesson. Going forward in this life, money saved on labor will be invested in quality parts. I'm too old to wear the "stooped hat". emefer hurt me.
Shocks are relative to nothing more than ride quality. All the other suspension components are relative to handling and tire wear. Dead shocks can shorten the life of some suspension components.
Get this... My 67 fish, Entire front suspension rebuilt almost 11 years ago. 4 new tires at same time. Today, just under 5000 miles on any of it yet the 11 yr. old tires are deemed unsafe for highway use. We can't win a battle against time. Back in March I broke a rubber valve stem causing a flat while washing the car. Soooo, quality metal valve stems was another lesson learned. Good luck with yours
 
I had Moog UCA bushing installed year ago spring. Creaking now and the front end at times will knock after sitting. Most of the front end was rebuilt by a local shop.
 
I had Moog UCA bushing installed year ago spring. Creaking now and the front end at times will knock after sitting. Most of the front end was rebuilt by a local shop.
There have been cases where upper and/or lower bushings were tightened down while the arm is positioned well out of normal ride travel/range/position. Then moving the arm to normal ride position rips the bushings apart.
 
There have been cases where upper and/or lower bushings were tightened down while the arm is positioned well out of normal ride travel/range/position. Then moving the arm to normal ride position rips the bushings apart.

I will be taking it to another guy to fix early next spring. I am done with that shop cause of this and other work. I am going to have the leaf springs done at the same time. I just don't have the $$$ to do it all now.

Very disappointed in that shop.
 
I wouldn't buy a suspension kit from eBay. Reason being that the eBay kits don't usually list part numbers or manufacturers, so it will be nearly impossible to confirm what parts you're actually getting until they arrive. With the age of these cars there's no guarantee that buying a kit for your particular year will get you all the right parts, things may have been swapped out along the way.

PST has great quality parts and is a FABO vender, so if you call them you can get a 10% discount. Plus, you can talk to someone about your specific car and confirm what you're actually going to get for parts. And on top of that, if you get something that doesn't fit they're easier to deal with on returns. Yes, it might cost more money, but IMO it's worth it for the support.

KYB has always made good quality gas shock and are reasonable. Have used them 40 plus years on E-bodies. Just another option for you.

This depends entirely on what you want out of your shocks and what torsion bars you run. The KYB gas-adjusts on my Challenger made it ride like a buckboard. Teeth rattling awfulness. Upgrading to a set of Bilsteins completely changed the ride quality of the car. You have to match your shocks capabilities to the spring rates of your torsion bars. KYB's might be ok for the horribly undersprung stock torsion bars, but start making upgrades and the KYB's will show their inadequacies. They're not what you want for torsion bars anywhere near 1" in diameter, and flat out the wrong choice for any torsion bars significantly over 1".

Shocks are relative to nothing more than ride quality.

Nothing could be further from the truth. This is 100% false, and if you believe that then your understanding of how suspension works is totally flawed. Your traction is controlled by how well your shocks work.

The reason suspension exists is to maintain tire contact with the road. It's there to maintain and improve traction, that is the primary goal of all suspension. Yes, ride quality and comfort are an important side effect of this, but don't think for a second shocks are just there for ride quality, they are there for traction. An undamped spring (no shocks) will continue to oscillate after a impact/load application. That means the load pressure on the tires oscillates too! In extreme cases that could mean losing tire contact with the road, although generally would it would mean is losing traction because the load on the tires would be oscillating, so you would gain and lose traction as pressure on the tires increased and decreased. That's underdamped oscillation. Most of us have experienced this driving around on worn out shocks- you hit a bump and the car keeps rocking even after the bump is in the rear view- that's underdamped. If you have shocks that are too stiff (like the KYB's with larger torsion bars!) the result is that the shocks limit suspension travel. That results in a overdamped system, which rattles your fillings out and can cause the tires to lose traction if they're bounced up off the road (impact is more than the travel can absorb in the amount of time needed). Ideally, you would have critically damped suspension, the shocks would match perfectly to the springs and as a load was applied the suspension would fully absorb the impact, but not oscillate any further.

Damping Graph.jpg


Typically car shocks are slightly underdamped. You get a better ride quality out of them like this than if they're overdamped, and of course you're probably not going to perfectly match your shocks to your springs buying off the shelf components. So it's better to miss a little soft for the sake of ride quality. But you are sacrificing a little traction to do that. Not likely anything you'd actually notice though as long as you're close.
 
I won't any suspension parts that are not made in North America (Canada and Mexico are still ok in my book). You won't know where a part is made if you buy it on line.

A good example is my daughter-in-law's Honda Accord. My son went to put motor mounts on the thing (something like SIX pieces, some hydraulic). Dealer was over $600 so he went to Rock Auto. Car had a vibration that wouldn't go away. He bit the bullet and went factory, problems went away.
 
I just ordered suspension rebuild from Summit including bumpstops, lower ball joints, inner and outer tie rods, idler and pitman arm, all were Moog and the boxes said made in USA!
 
Read posts #12 and #13. Keep readin um. LOL
 
PST has great quality parts and is a FABO vender, so if you call them you can get a 10% discount. Plus, you can talk to someone about your specific car and confirm what you're actually going to get for parts. And on top of that, if you get something that doesn't fit they're easier to deal with on returns. Yes, it might cost more money, but IMO it's worth it for the support.
Agreed.
To the best of my knowledge, Moog parts have not been made in the USA for several years. They are now made in China and Malasia. Those boxes may have been sitting around for a while?
 
Made in USA don't mean as much as it once did. Reason being, the quality of raw materials is pitiful everywhere. Metallurgies have been reformulated again and again. New formulas look good in lab test reports but don't survive in the field. Two best examples of the raw material factor I have...
Fords OEM brake rotors that flaked apart like Mica after exposed to salt brine. DOH! Recall
NASA paying Snap-On 9.25 for a single 3/16 allen hex 'L' key made of premium quality material. You don't travel that far from Harbor Freight, Sears, wherever, and break their tool. Both examples from at least 20 years ago.
We can't know how much Moogs cast iron and forged steel has changed over the years. We can assume that if they paid todays price for yesteryears raw materials we couldn't afford their products.
It aint all bad news though. The machined surfaces on newer material blends has vastly improved. That's part of the reason rotating assemblies like engines last so much longer today.
Bottom line... Good luck with anything you buy.
 
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