Suspension problems

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Conner70dart

Conner70dart

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South Western, Ontario
Hey guys I’m a 17 yr old guy and I just bought a 1970 Dodge Dart. I had it on the road for a few weeks and hit a big bump and now the front driver side corner of the car sits low. I have changed the front shocks and it sits in the same position. I noticed my front driver side lower control arm rubber bushing is squished against the frame stopper compared to the other side. When I jack the driver side corner up, it helps to level the car out and the rubber bushing is no longer squished. I was just curious on what could cause this and how to fix it. Thanks
 
Check the torsion bar, it may have broken.
The torsion is a long bar inboard of the frame, one end goes into the lower control arm, the other back near the transmission mount.


Alan
 
Is there a lot of rust? Could have a rusted out cross member, where the torsion bar mounts, at the rear of the torsion bar. The adjuster bolt could have stripped...
 
Mopar Tim said:
Is there a lot of rust? Could have a rusted out cross member, where the torsion bar mounts, at the rear of the torsion bar. The adjuster bolt could have stripped...
Click to expand...
There is rust where the torsion bar mounts on the transmission end, the adjuster bolt on the passenger side is 1/2 inch below the lower control arm and the driver side is flush, could I adjust that first before I fix the rust where the torsion bar is mounted?
 
It sounds like the torsion bar just twisted in the crossmember. The bar itself is probably not broken, but it rusted around the weld in the crossmember enough that it came loose. If you have the wheel off and the shock absorber disconnected, can you move the control arms up and down with little to no resistance?
 
Welcome to fabo.

It is really helpful to take photos and post them in your post.

From your description i think the advice already given is the first place to look
 
This is where the torsion bar is mounted near the transmission. I think like you guys have stated that this is the problem.

109F5B86-4355-4AE1-82F0-716766427A6E.jpeg
 
Ugh. That crossmember is bad, especially to the left. Any junkyards with intact A bodies? You need a crossmember.
 
Valiant63 said:
It sounds like the torsion bar just twisted in the crossmember. The bar itself is probably not broken, but it rusted around the weld in the crossmember enough that it came loose. If you have the wheel off and the shock absorber disconnected, can you move the control arms up and down with little to no resistance?
Click to expand...
As I recall when I was changing the shock the control arms were stiff. Thanks for helping me out!
 
I would find a good unrusted doner car and cut out the entire crossmember left to right side and replace your entire crossmember
 
I wish I had a parts car here with a good crossmember to cut out and send to you. The one you have there is not repairable as you can see it's rusted out fairly badly and will never be strong enough of someone tries to weld a patch in it. Hopefully someone local has one or someone can send you one fairly cheap. If they can't, let me know and I will see what I can do to get one from somebody I know.
 
I wish you were nearby as I would love to work on the car with you and show you some little things that I know how to do. That left hand side of the crossmember needs to be chiseled out, or drilled out away from the body parts and then a new one, or used one, needs to be spot welded back into place. Also, the torsion bar needs to come out of it first. Jack it up safely and look online here as it how to take a torsion bar out safely without marking it up. If you put any gouges in the torsion bar it will be junk. You may want to get a professional to help you.
 
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That is quite a involved job. Nothing I would suggest you handle on your own. The front frame rails are attached to the torsion bar cross member also.
The front and rear frame rails need to be looked at also.
 
Thanks to everyone for your help! I was able to get 2 very well known mopar guys to fix both crossmembers! The car sits level now. Thanks to everyone for helping diagnose the problem!
 
Glad you got it fixed. Have you got any pictures of it? Just be on the lookout for other Rusty areas on your car like where the upper control arms mount to the frames.
 
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