I used the original 72 A Arm. The kit comes with an adapter sleeve. The sleeve works and the joint seats just fine. However I am in search of the 73-76 A Arms since I am going to use the offset bushings. Since I have them torn down again going to do it right.
Front disc brake conversion on Demon-Now alignment is way off. Needing help!
- Thread starter luckyconv
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Offset bushings is the way to go, without a doubt if you are rebuilding arms.
I bought a big ball joint set of arms on here that were already rebuilt with stock bushings. The alignment shop was able to get it aligned, but only 1 degree of positive caster. The offset bushings would have allowed for more like 3-4 degrees of positive caster. It drives fine with the 1 degree and I really doubt the average street / strip car would notice a difference in 2 degrees of caster either way...
I bought a big ball joint set of arms on here that were already rebuilt with stock bushings. The alignment shop was able to get it aligned, but only 1 degree of positive caster. The offset bushings would have allowed for more like 3-4 degrees of positive caster. It drives fine with the 1 degree and I really doubt the average street / strip car would notice a difference in 2 degrees of caster either way...
2 Darts
A-body Addicted
If the front end was setup with the FSM specs, the difference between the feel of the FSM specs and the Skosh is significant. Like you, the chassis on the 73 I tried this on would not give me all of the positive caster I wanted without offset bushings. On one side we could get +4º caster, the other side would only go to +2.5º, IIRC. I settled for +2.5º set for both sides and used the minimum "Max perf street" settings. I made too many changes (BBP DB, 15x7 rims, 205/60-15 tires) at once to be able to say how much of the change in alignment made. Cumulatively, the transformation was metamorphic. Steering turn-in was markedly sharpened, attributed to the alignment change.
72 FSM (Preferred):....Caster.....│Camber ....<all>....Toe-in │
Manual steering.............-.5º.....│Rt. +.50º .......... .125 " .│
Power steering.............+.75º....│Lt. +.25" ........... .125" .│
I figure the reason that the factory didn't go farther was the lack of general acceptance of radial tires in 1972. Radials are much more tolerant of negative camber than bias or even bias belted tires are in terms of tread wear.
goldduster318
Overzealous Car Modifier
I've had my car at 1.5 degrees caster, 3 degrees caster, and now 7 degrees caster.
My camber is -1 and the toe is 1/16" per side.
All I'm going to say is that you guys at 1.5 degrees or less are missing out. The car would wander in the "rutted" roads quite a bit. The 3 degrees helped a lot, but still wasn't great. Since I have hotchkis arms I went to 7 like they recommended. Totally amazing. Drives like a brand new car now. I have 275's on it in the front and don't get pulled around at all.
My camber is -1 and the toe is 1/16" per side.
All I'm going to say is that you guys at 1.5 degrees or less are missing out. The car would wander in the "rutted" roads quite a bit. The 3 degrees helped a lot, but still wasn't great. Since I have hotchkis arms I went to 7 like they recommended. Totally amazing. Drives like a brand new car now. I have 275's on it in the front and don't get pulled around at all.
You don't need them to install the disks, but you will need a new alignment regardless after installing everything you need for the disks.
The point of the offset bushings though is to get you an alignment that works with your radial tires. The stock specs were for bias ply tires, and are WRONG for radials. The FSM calls for negative caster and positive camber. That is a disaster for radials. Radials need slightly negative camber and positive caster. In other words, the opposite of what bias ply's need.
The SKOSH chart is what you want to use. Even it is a little conservative on the amount of positive caster. This is especially true if you have power steering. Without offset bushings it's pretty much impossible to get more than +2.5 to +3 degrees of caster. That's not horrible, and will be fine on these cars for what most people use them for. If you start looking for performance handling, you need more.
So, you don't need offset UCA bushings to install the BBP disks. That doesn't matter at all. You should get offset bushings if you run radial tires though, and that applies to everyone- BBP disks, SBP disks, SBP drums, whatever. If you have radial tires and want them to handle and wear properly, you should consider offset UCA bushings. And if you're rebuilding the suspension, the UCA bushings should be replaced anyway, so you might as well use offset UCA bushings and make getting the proper alignment that much easier.
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