One front wheel sit farther forward than the other????????????

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duster360

duster360

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I have a 67 Dart and just put on a new set of tires and the passenger side front wheel sits almost 3/4" farther forward than the drivers side which causes the tire to hit the fender when I turn it. I recently rebuilt the whole front suspension and did the 73+ disc brake conversion. What is going on????
 
I recently did the conversion and haven't been to the alignment shop. Just eyeballed the alignment. I am not driving the car yet. It will likely be another month before I get it ready to hit the streets. Still have a few more things to do. Would the alignment cause it to sit forward farther than the other side?
 
how long have you owned the car? could someone have built a rocket out of it in the past?
Guys would offset the front tires so when they drag race, they cross the laser with the left tire, and the barely noticeable offset would buy them a few fractions of a second off of the start. read about it, look up mopar missle or motown missle.
 
Bent spindle or strut rod? Strut rod not fully seated in bushing? Bent lower control arm? The caster adjustment being off could move the tire farther forward too.
 
The car was completely original when I bought it. It was a Dart 270 with a 273 V8, 904, 7 1/4" rearend. I even have the original window sticker for the car. So the racecar theory is definitly out. I knew it would lean in or out and could be turned in or out but I didn't realize they could be moved forward or back by being out if alignment. Strut rods are straight as I had to replace one of them because it was bent. I recently did the front rebuild so I am sure everything is out of alignment.
 
There is no visible damage. I will try and take some measurements on the frame. It is my understanding that the strut rods are prone to bend sometimes just by hitting a big pot hole in the road. It was bent where it slides inside the lower control arm. My Duster had a strut rod bent in the same exact place.
 
duster360 said:
... Strut rods are straight as I had to replace one of them because it was bent. I recently did the front rebuild so I am sure everything is out of alignment.
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Right there I suspect.

Did the replacement strut rod come out of a 73-76 A-body or a 67-72.

IIRC, there is a slight difference between the mounting flange points.

Also a B/E body are also longer, but will fit and look real close by eye. Believe me I know. And one side was moved forward from the other. I think around 1".
 
duster360 said:
Replacement came from 67-72
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Measure the distance from strut washer (inside K-member) to the Lower Control arm hole on both sides and compare. Just to make sure. Just can't assume much with these 40 year old cars.
 
Measured them earlier today, I don't remember the exact measurement but they were the same. Think they were somewhere around 16 1/2". Car is not running yet but I rolled it out of the garage today and had to do some turning moving around with it and the the same to get it back in and I guess everything has settled a little and the measurement is closer to being only 3/8" difference from rear side of tire to fender. But that little bit is a mile when there is tire clearance problems. If I had that 3/8" on the other side I would be in good shape.
 
A good alignment may make a world of change :). Start there.
 
I believe you may be right. I should have it running by next weekend. I will try to have it in the alignment shop within the next 2 weeks and go from there. I do appreciate all the help that I am getting. If the alignment doesn't work at least I have this thread to fall back on and start again.
 
............Set back is designed it to help road stability...........usually its 5/8ths inch...yes caster will definately affect the placement of ur tire...kim
 
It is called setback, which can be measured on modern alignment machines.

However, I am not sure how it would help any, as it makes turns on the short side easier than the other. A weird feeling to say the least.

I did a post on doing a real alignment a few months ago, which most ignored...However, if done properly, the car will track excellent with little to no correction even at high speed.
 
My 64 Dart is the same way. When I was fitting for the american racing wheels years ago I had them mount a tire and we mounted it on the drivers side and everything cleared. Well after having the other side mounted and making a turn I found out the same thing you did. Passenger side was farther forward. We ended up modifying the fender. When I was restoring my Dart I tore my car down the the unibody and I never saw any signs of a wreck. Also I measured from front to rear using centerline of rims and could not find 5/8 difference from drivers side to passenger side. I did use disc brakes from a newer a-body. After fixing my car to have clearance I started to look at other a-bodies and most had the same thing going on the passenger side. Jayson
 
jysnflem said:
My 64 Dart is the same way. When I was fitting for the american racing wheels years ago I had them mount a tire and we mounted it on the drivers side and everything cleared. Well after having the other side mounted and making a turn I found out the same thing you did. Passenger side was farther forward. We ended up modifying the fender. When I was restoring my Dart I tore my car down the the unibody and I never saw any signs of a wreck. Also I measured from front to rear using centerline of rims and could not find 5/8 difference from drivers side to passenger side. I did use disc brakes from a newer a-body. After fixing my car to have clearance I started to look at other a-bodies and most had the same thing going on the passenger side. Jayson
Click to expand...

I started noticing the same thing you did after I got to looking at other Darts.
 
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